Court security

Threats against federal judges in recent years have caused the U.S. Marshals Service to figure out ways to better protect the jurists.

A new training video is being issued to 7,000 criminal justice officials across the country, USA Today reports.

Threats against judges and prosecutors are expected to increase for the sixth straight year in 2009, exceeding 1,300 incidents.

The Marshals Service said in a statement: "The mounting number of threats ... against America's judges and courts has prompted the U.S. Marshals Service and local and state law enforcement agencies to take sweeping measures in recent years."

The new training video was viewed at a recent national conference on court and judicial security in Florida where such matters as courthouse design and construction were discussed to improve security.

In 2005, Chicago federal Judge Joan Lefkow's husband and mother were murdered by a man upset over her ruling in a medical malpractice suit, USA Today notes. Not long after that, a rape suspect shot to death a judge, court reporter and sheriff's deputy in an Atlanta courtroom.

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, who oversaw the 2007 criminal trial of a former top aide to then-Vice President Dick Cheney, received death threats at the time. "I think there is a changing mentality," he told the newspaper. "You see incidents of witness intimidation. That same kind of mentality carries over to threats against judges."

It is regrettable that judges need greater protection. But law enforcement must have the manpower and technology to ensure their safety.