Croatian Judiciary Faces Chaos: Fewer and Fewer Judges
More than a third of the judiciary is over 60, and each judge averages 723 new cases annually. Young people shun the profession, while cases keep piling up.
More than a third of the judiciary is over 60, and each judge averages 723 new cases annually. Young people shun the profession, while cases keep piling up.
Croatia's judiciary is facing a serious staffing crisis that threatens to further stall an already overloaded system. Not only is there a shortage of judges, but their numbers are steadily declining, the average age is rising, and young lawyers' interest in the judicial profession has all but vanished. The situation is best illustrated by the fact that 35 percent of the judiciary is over 60, meaning that in the coming years, the system will lose a significant portion of its experienced judges.
Croatian courts receive more than 1.2 million new cases each year, with approximately 1,660 judges to handle them. As the Association of Croatian Judges warns, this number is constantly changing as people retire. "In European terms, we are among the most overburdened judges," said Ivana Bilušić Kujundžić, spokesperson for the association and a judge at the High Criminal Court.
When the numbers are broken down, the situation becomes even more dramatic. Each judge in Croatia receives an average of 723 new cases per year, or roughly 60 cases every month. Such a workload, coupled with a simultaneous decline in the number of judges, creates pressure that may not be visible from the outside but is suffocating the system from within.
Krešimir Devčić, a judge at the Zagreb County Court who has been in the judiciary for 40 years, describes how investigations cannot pause even during annual leave. "Investigations cannot stop, and I personally usually take my vacation in July, so in August I walk into a backlog that isn't visible from the outside, but the investigation center works non-stop," Devčić explained.
The aging of the judiciary is most evident at the Velika Gorica County Court, where the youngest judge is 50. Kornelija Kallay Blažeković, president of that court, notes that many female judges have retired, and there is no younger staff to replace them. The situation is also dire at the Velika Gorica and Novi Zagreb Municipal Courts, where a decline in the number of judges in criminal divisions is being felt.
"Our judges at the Velika Gorica County Court-the youngest is 50-many female judges have retired, and we have no younger staff," said Blažeković. She added that they do not know why interest in the judicial profession has declined. "We don't yet have an answer as to why there's been a drop in interest in becoming a judge at a municipal or county court; simply put-as we like to say-the pool has dried up. We don't have many candidates; very, very few actually apply," she said.
That the judicial profession was once highly respected and sought after is confirmed by Dina Lijić, a relationship counselor and owner of the website brak.hr, who graduated in law in 2014 but knew right away she didn't want to work as a judge or lawyer. "I remember that even while I was studying, it was very difficult to get a position as a judge at one of our courts; you first had to complete an internship as a court advisor and attend the Judicial Academy, and even then, there was no guarantee you'd get a job at a court," Lijić recalled.
Positions that were once extremely attractive and in high demand now struggle to find candidates. The system finds itself in a situation where there simply aren't enough interested individuals for judicial positions, and those who remain in the system, like Judge Devčić, stay out of enthusiasm. "I can say that one naturally gets tired over time and reaches a certain level of saturation in this job, but something always pulls you back; there's always a spark, an enthusiasm that keeps me going," Devčić concluded.
