Scientology Justice
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The Scientology Justice system is a means for a Scientology organization to take action against a member whose conduct or actions are viewed as highly destructive or offensive by an executive within the organization. The actions employed are a Court of Ethics, a Committee of Evidence, and a Board of Investigation.
These actions are intended to provide a system rather than completely arbitrary decisions made by an executive, as seen in many modern corporations. In theory, Church members are supposed to have protections built into the system, based their activities, skills, and other factors. However, these methods are very similar to a military tribunal rather than a court of law.
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[edit] Court of Ethics
A court of ethics is convened by an ethics officer or church executive senior to the church member being charged. The offenses being accused are of non-serious nature and the sentences are at the discretion of the person who convened the court of ethics. The court is not supposed to engage in investigation, but rather operate only on known evidence. There is no means of recourse from the sentence of a court of ethics.
[edit] Committee of Evidence
A committee of evidence is usually referred to by the abbreviated term, "Comm Ev" and is a tribunal that deals with serious offenses. In principle, the comm ev is only convened at a church member's request or when there is evidence of serious wrongdoing by a church member.
In practice, those who have had negative experiences with comm evs maintain that a Scientology organization can simply ignore requests by a church member for a comm ev if the actions of one or more church executives would be viewed negatively as a result, or a Scientology organization can convene a comm ev against a church member whose actions are viewed as threatening to vested interests of one or more church executives. In the latter case, charges against a church member can be based on false accusations with no evidence whatsoever, and the comm ev is, essentially, directed to find a way to confirm the charges. A set of wild card charges often used to set-up a church member for punishment, are violations of any ten points of the 1965 policy letter "Keeping Scientology Working" written by founder, L. Ron Hubbard. (The ten points in this policy letter were not criminalized by L. Ron Hubbard, as per the implication of the discussion in that policy letter, many church members were not fully following these points and he urged them to work harder at doing so. The criminalization of these points occurred in January 1991.) These ten points are very general, thus anyone can be accused of violating some of them to some degree. "Violators" are deemed guilty of high crimes and can be declared a suppressive person and expelled.
There is a method of appeal of such abuses that extends to the International Justice Chief, but that is no guarantee any abuses get remedied.
[edit] Administrative procedure
Administratively, the comm ev is initiated by a convening authority, usually the LRH Communicator of the organization. This person does so at the request, usually, of another church executive who makes formal accusations of violations of church ethics codes. A chairman, a secretary, and two to five other members are chosen by the convening authority who are "senior" to the accused. No one may object to any person who has been chosen to serve on the comm ev. Their task is to read and hear evidence for and against the accused church member. They have two weeks to complete the comm ev. After reviewing evidence, the secretary and members vote on whether they think the accused church member is guilty or not guilty of each of the presented charges. There is no standard method of voting. Conviction on a charge is by majority vote. The comm ev then recommends punishment, which in principle, must be done in accordance with L. Ron Hubbard's policies, but in practice, is arbitrary. The outcome of a comm ev is issued in a document called the "Findings and Recommendations". All comm ev members must sign this document whether they agree with it or not. The Findings and Recommendations require approval of the LRH Communicator, the Continental Justice Chief, and the International Justice Chief. Disapprovals on this document are rare, but the Recommendations can be changed to lessen the severity of the punishment. The only means of recourse are: A review comm ev, where the committee is supposed to just listen to the recordings and review the documents of the original comm ev, then issue new Findings and Recommendations, or a petition by the accused church member to have the comm ev cancelled, which is directed to an executive highly-placed in the church hierarchy. The review comm ev has the option of making new recommendations which can be more harsh than the original.
[edit] Comparison with Trials by a Jury
The comm ev resembles a military tribunal more than it does a jury trial or a court martial: There are three to six voting members versus six or twelve on a jury. A comm ev requires a majority quota for conviction, while a jury trial requires unanimity. Due process of some form is present in jury trials, but absent in comm evs. A felony jury trial requires charges to be unanimously approved by a grand jury to proceed, while a comm ev can be initiated on executive accusation alone. There is citizen access to jury trial proceedings and documents as a means of oversight, while comm evs are done with some level of secrecy where even other church members cannot review the evidence and testimony. Jury members must be peers of the accused, while voting members of a comm ev must be seniors of the accused church member. (In practice, comm ev voting members are always church staff members.) In jury trials, the accused may retain legal counsel for assistance in court. Comm ev policy explicitly bars any legal representation. Jury trials have strict rules for evidence, while comm evs can use certain forms of hearsay, such as an offhand comment scribbled on a piece of scrap paper. A jury trial allows testimony by witnesses on material fact. A comm ev allows this in principle, but in practice, a comm ev chairman may arbitrarily refuse testimony by a relevant witness. Jurors can vote on charges with impunity based on the facts and the law. Comm ev members face being comm ev'd themselves if the convening authority believes they were not aggressive enough in pursuit of the comm ev findings. This provides a grand opportunity for a pre-ordained verdict. Both the comm ev and military tribunal suffer from the separability problem. Even if there is no manipulation otherwise, individual charges voted on simultaneously can produce an outcome that is unsatisfactory to all parties. If sequential voting were used, it would necessitate some members having to change their votes based on prior verdicts. However, there is no guarantee that any voting members would do so.
[edit] Tool of Coercion?
When L. Ron Hubbard devised the comm ev in 1963, there were considerably fewer church offenses designated and published than there are at present. The number of charges brought against church members in comm evs has increased over the mid-1960's. At the time of its inception, the comm ev may have had favorable acceptance compared to what existed previously. Nevertheless, most Scientologists presently dislike comm evs and will take or not take certain actions for fear of them. Commonly heard phrases in the Church of Scientology are: "If I don't, I will be comm ev'd" and "If I do, I'll get comm ev'd."
The kinship of the comm ev to a military tribunal gives it the same vulnerabilities to injustice, namely paradoxical verdicts and trial "rigging". The use of multiple accusations from altitude, generalities (such as the Keeping Scientology Working violation), inconclusive evidence, no standard method of voting, semi-secretive proceedings, vague rules of evidence, possible retaliation against voting members, and no application of fundamental justice, wreak havoc on justice within the Church of Scientology. Since 1980, the Commodore's Messenger Organization International has exerted influence over comm evs held at Scientology organizations staffed by Sea Organization members. This is usually accomplished by "discussions" with the comm ev chairman so as to preserve plausible denial. Any church members who object to the comm ev or its unjust results are often accused of "snarling about justice".
After 1966, Hubbard did not do any further development of the Comm Ev as he did with other administrative subjects. This contradicts his own statement from the Flag Executive Briefing Course, "Progressive and dynamic technologies actually do not cease to develop, they continuously refine."
It could be said that the comm ev procedure was motivated by L. Ron Hubbard's disdain for and utter rejection of law courts. Unfortunately, this includes basic inalienable principles of justice, the foremost being, natural justice.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
Note: HCOPL is an abbreviation for Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letter, the senior policies of the Church of Scientology.
HCOPL 7 September 1963, Committees of Evidence, Scientology Jurisprudence, Administration of
HCOPL 22 September 1963, Concerning Committees of Evidence
HCOPL 7 February 1965, Keeping Scientology Working Series 1
HCOPL 24 February 1965, Addendum to HCO Policy Letter of 7 Sept. 63 Committees of Evidence, Scientology Jurisprudence, Administration of
HCOPL 26 May 1965, Courts of Ethics
HCOPL 17 July 1966 Issue II, Evidence, Admissibility of in Hearings, Boards or Committees
HCOPL 7 March 1965RB Issue I, revised 8 January 1991, Suppressive Acts Suppression of Scientology and Scientologists
7101C18 SO FEBC Flag Executive Briefing Course transcript of lecture 2, page 3, paragraph 6, sentence 2 "PR Becomes a Subject"
[edit] External links
- Scientology Ethics and Judicial Matters: Scientology Justice
- An account of a committee of evidence
- HCO Manual of Justice
