Legal casuistry and problems of professional burnout of judges

Kuzmina Anna Sergeevna ORCID: 0000-0001-5864-7120 PhD in Psychology Leading Researcher; Altai State University 656049, Russia, Altai Territory, Barnaul, Lenin str., 61, office 302 annakuz87@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Dovgan' Kseniya Evgen'evna PhD in Law Leading Researcher; Altai State University 61 Lenin Ave., Barnaul, Altai Territory, 656049, Russia kovalenko1288@mail.ru

Introduction

Improving law enforcement is one of the most important conditions for the development of a modern state. The goals of legal regulation, the effectiveness of its application, as well as the quality of legal qualifications depend on many factors: the level of development of rule-making, socio-economic development of the state, legal awareness, professional and personal qualities of law enforcement subjects and their ability to assess the conditions of actual circumstances.

The legal casuistry of law enforcement is aimed at studying the historical, philosophical, logical, psychological and legal foundations that are interrelated. The dynamics of public relations and the expansion of the sphere of rule-making actualize research in the field of legal psychology, in the ratio of psychological and legal aspects of legal casuistry. The central subject of law enforcement is judges, persons who are empowered to administer justice in accordance with the procedure established by law. In the process of performing duties on a professional basis, qualification errors may occur, the appearance of which is caused by various reasons: violation of logical laws and errors in the construction of logical syllogisms, underestimation of factual circumstances, violation of the rules of systemic interpretation, including psychological reasons related to emotional exhaustion and professional burnout.

In this regard, the theory of legal qualification without a proper assessment of psychological research seems incomplete. In relation to legal casuistry, legal qualification is considered as a narrow concept. The study of the issues of professional burnout of judges in connection with their logical and legal abilities to carry out legal qualifications makes it possible to enrich legal casuistry with new data as a science. Such studies allow us to model risk factors that can lead to errors in the process of judges' professional activities. The study of the problems of professional burnout of judges is one of the components of legal casuistry, which allows for a modern assessment of law enforcement activities.

Literature analysis

In the context of an ever-increasing burden on judges, the study of the issue of professional burnout of judges becomes relevant.

The effectiveness of legal qualifications is related to the stability and quality of legislation. In the context of modernizing modern life and a large number of challenges, the amount of workload on representatives of the judiciary is increasing. Emotional exhaustion that occurs with excessive workload, as a rule, leads to a decrease in motivation in activities and the level of legal qualifications ^{[1; 2; 3; 4]}.

Professional burnout should be considered as an outcome of chronic stress – a pathological condition requiring therapy, which is reflected in the inclusion of burnout as a diagnosis in the International Classification of Diseases and Health-related Problems (ICD-11), in the section "Problems related to employment or unemployment" under the code QD85 ^{[5; 6; 7; 8; 9]}.

In the cognitive theory of psychological stress by R. Lazarus, psychological stress is defined as a reaction to the peculiarities of interaction between a person and the outside world. In this regard, the response to stress depends on cognitive processes, life experience, way of thinking and assessment of the situation (assessment of a possible threat) by a particular individual ^{[10; 11]}.

To. Maslach and S. Jackson in their scientific papers presented the concept of professional burnout, which is considered classic and is actively used to diagnose symptoms of professional burnout in representatives of different professions. The concept includes a combination of three symptoms of professional burnout:

1. Emotional exhaustion is a condition in which a person runs out of emotional resources to interact with other people.

2. Depersonalization is a process in which a person is alienated from himself, other people and work.

3. The reduction of personal achievements is a feeling of underestimation, devaluation of one's professional abilities and achievements, and a decrease in professional competence ^[12].

The work of representatives of the judiciary is characterized by a high level of responsibility. Perfectionism, expressed in a person's desire for perfection, is associated with experiencing severe stress in the workplace. Perfectionism is a predictor of various mental disorders, maladjustment, emotional disorders and a decrease in the quality of tasks performed.

Therefore, the task of identifying the interrelationships of perfectionism, strategies for coping with stress and symptoms of professional burnout of representatives of the judiciary is highly relevant and timely ^{[13; 14; 15]}.

The aim of the study was to identify the relationship between the symptoms of professional burnout, manifestations of perfectionism and coping strategies of representatives of the judiciary.

The subject of the study is the professional burnout of representatives of the judiciary.

The scientific novelty of the research. The severity of the symptoms of professional burnout of representatives of the judiciary was revealed, the relationship between the symptoms of professional burnout and manifestations of perfectionism was determined. It is theoretically justified and empirically proven that the symptoms of professional burnout among representatives of the judicial corps are interrelated with the use of maladaptive coping strategies and high demands on oneself, fixation on one's own imperfection.

Research methodology: the concept of professional burnout V.V. Boyko, K. Maslach, the concept of coping strategies by R. Lazarus, the three-factor concept of perfectionism by A. B. Kholmogorova, N.G. Garanyan.

The hypothesis of the study: it is likely that the symptoms of professional burnout among representatives of the judiciary are interrelated with maladaptive coping strategies and manifestations of perfectionism.

The empirical research was conducted anonymously and voluntarily using Yandex forms. The study involved judges aged 35 to 45 years in the number of 42 people, 18 men and 24 women with an average work experience of 7.4 months. The results of the study are recorded in the databases "Factors of reducing professional burnout of representatives of the judiciary" (Certificate No. 2024623959 dated 09/06/2024), "Strategies for coping with stress of representatives of the judiciary" (Certificate No. 2024623944 dated 09/05/2024) ^{[16, 17, 18]}.

Research methods and techniques:

To determine the symptoms of professional burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduction of professionalism), the questionnaire of the level of mental burnout (MBI), developed by K. Maslach and S. Jackson, adapted by N.E. Vodopyanova and E.S. Starchenkova, was used.

The scales of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization have direct values, the higher the indicators, the higher the development of the symptom, the scale of reduction of professionalism has the opposite values, the higher the indicator on the scale, the lower the development of the symptom. This is important to take into account when understanding the results of the study.

The questionnaire "Copping strategies" by R. Lazarus was used to study coping mechanisms. The authors of the questionnaire, S. Folkman and R. Lazarus, used in the article the version adapted by T.L. Kryukova, E.V. Kuftyak, M.S. Zamyshlyaeva.

The three-factor questionnaire of perfectionism by A.B. Kholmogorova and N.G. Garanyan allows us to identify manifestations of perfectionism in the following aspects: concern about assessments from others, high standards and requirements for oneself, negative selection. The questionnaire consists of 18 statements, which are distributed on three scales: 1) concern about the assessments of others in unfavorable comparisons with them; 2) high standards and requirements for oneself; 3) negative selection and fixation on one's own imperfection. The first scale tests socially prescribed perfectionism, the second—Self-directed perfectionism, and the third — perfectionist cognitive style.

Methods of mathematical and statistical data processing: analysis of averages, Mann-Whitney U-test, Spearman correlation analysis using the statistical package "SPSS Statistics 27.0".

The results of the study

Table 1 shows the average values of indicators of symptoms of professional burnout in the group of women and men who are representatives of the judiciary.

Table 1

Comparative analysis of the average values of indicators of symptoms of professional burnout of representatives of the judiciary by gender

The results presented in Table 1 show that female judges are characterized by higher rates of symptoms of professional burnout, but the application of the Mann-Whitney U-test did not show significant differences, which may be due to a large range of data and the severity of symptoms of professional burnout, depending on personal characteristics and symptoms of coping with stress, and not it is related to gender.

The highest rates among the representatives of the judicial corps were revealed by the symptom of emotional exhaustion, the least pronounced is the symptom of a reduction in professionalism. The symptom of emotional exhaustion is associated with a decrease in mental tone, increased fatigue ^[16].

Spearman's correlation analysis was used to identify the relationship between indicators of perfectionism and symptoms of professional burnout.

The use of Spearman's correlation analysis revealed the presence of positive correlations of the symptom "Emotional exhaustion" with indicators of perfectionism "High standards" (r=0.489; p=0.05) and "Negative selection" (r=0.632; p=0.02).

The negative correlation of the symptom "Reduction of professionalism" with the indicator of perfectionism "Negative selection" was revealed (r=-0.691; p=0.05).

A positive correlation was obtained between the symptom of professional burnout "Emotional exhaustion" and the coping strategy "Taking responsibility" (r=0.526; p=0.01) and a negative relationship with the coping strategy "Positive reassessment" (r=-0.644; p=0.01).

Positive correlations of the burnout symptom "Reduction of professionalism" with the coping strategies "Self-control" (r=0.365; p=0.05), "Problem solving planning" (r=0.418; p=0.03), "Positive reassessment" (r=0.516; p=0.01) were obtained.

Discussion of the research results

The development of the symptom of emotional exhaustion in the representatives of the judicial corps is associated with high standards and requirements for themselves, as well as with fixation on their own imperfections.

The fixation of attention on negative information, their own imperfections among the representatives of the judicial corps is associated with a decrease in the sense of professional competence, a negative assessment of their professional activities and opportunities for professional development.

The strategy of taking responsibility involves the recognition of a person's role in the emergence and solution of problems, the excessive severity of this strategy can lead to unjustified self-criticism, acceptance of excessive responsibility, feelings of guilt and the development of a symptom of emotional exhaustion ^[17].

The results of the survey showed a high workload among the representatives of the judiciary, the effectiveness of their activities is associated with the exact observance of the deadlines for the consideration of cases, the number of court decisions rendered, the number of decisions appealed and overturned in higher courts, which is due to the high level of acceptance of responsibility by judges for the decisions made. All this is also a risk of the formation of symptoms of professional burnout.

The strategy of positive reassessment is associated with the possibility of rethinking the problematic situation as an incentive for professional and personal growth. Such a philosophical attitude to a problematic situation prevents the development of a symptom of emotional exhaustion.

The productivity of professional activity, interest in work, a high assessment of one's own professional competence, a positive perception in the professional sphere among representatives of the judiciary is associated with purposeful overcoming of negative emotions, a rational, purposeful, systematic approach to solving problems, the possibility of a positive rethinking of a problematic situation ^[18].

A decrease in professional and personal self-esteem, a decrease in the sense of professional competence among representatives of the judicial corps is associated with a low level of self-control, impulsivity, emotionality in solving problems.

The paper draws the following conclusions:

1. The most pronounced symptom of professional burnout among representatives of the judicial corps is a symptom of emotional exhaustion, manifested in a decrease in mental tone, increased fatigue.

2. The risks for the development of a symptom of emotional exhaustion among representatives of the judicial corps are manifestations of perfectionism associated with fixation on negative information and excessively high demands on oneself. Fixing attention on negative information is also a risk factor for reducing the sense of professional competence, a negative assessment of the representatives of the judicial corps of their professional activities.

3. Positive reassessment, a high level of self-control and planning in solving problems prevent the development of symptoms of professional burnout. The strategy of taking excessive responsibility involves the development of a symptom of emotional exhaustion among representatives of the judiciary.

Conclusion

Thus, the paper obtained results on the relationship of symptoms of professional burnout with the personal characteristics of representatives of the judiciary. The presence of symptoms of professional burnout negatively affects professional productivity and leads to a decrease in the level of legal qualifications.

The results obtained in the study expand the available information about the peculiarities of the personal qualities of representatives of the judiciary, which affect the level of legal qualifications.

The limitations of the study are the geographical representation of the sample, limited only to the territory of the Altai Territory.

We see the prospects for research on this topic in expanding diagnostic tools to assess a wider range of personal qualities of representatives of the judiciary and their interrelationships with the symptoms of professional burnout. In addition, the possibility of a differential study of the symptoms of professional burnout, depending on the length of service, the level of workload, and the specifics of the cases under consideration, can be noted as prospects.

The results of the study can be used in the analysis of subjective aspects in matters of legal qualification.