Imagine you're charged with a crime and brought into court. You might expect that the judge sitting across from you has a deep legal background, that they're a lawyer of some kind. But in the North Country? That's probably not the case.

That’s because New York is one of roughly 20 states where people who aren’t lawyers can get elected judge — and one of an even smaller group of states that endows its "non-lawyer" judges with authority over criminal cases. In New York, you don't need a law degree — or a degree of any kind — to serve as a judge at the town or village level. But at that level, judges still set bail, send people to jail, and hold trials.

According to recent data from New York's Office of Justice Court Support, approximately 61 percent of local judges across New York State — that's about 1,145 people — had no formal legal education before they were elected.

That number's even higher in the North Country. In the 12 counties that make up our region, 85 percent of local judges aren't lawyers.

Exactly what are town and village courts?

These aren't the grand old county courthouses that we see scattered across the North Country. Local courts — known as "justice courts" — are far more modest. There are more than 1,000 of them across the state. They're usually tucked away somewhere in a town hall or municipal building with sufficient space. For the most part, these courts are funded by the towns and villages that host them, and the justices that preside over them are municipal employees.

Your local court is where you go if you get hit with a speeding ticket or traffic ticket. If you get arrested for any kind of crime, officers will take you to the nearest town or village court as soon as possible for an arraignment. The justice can set bail for all but the most serious felony offenses. He or she will decide whether you have to stay in jail, or if it's safe to release you until the next scheduled court date.

Bigger crimes, including felony rape, murder, and assault, will eventually move up to a bigger court. Judges at the city level and above are required to be lawyers under state law. (They're also state employees, with salaries paid by the New York Unified Court System.) But there’s a whole class of crime that stays in local courts, including some domestic assaults and restraining orders, evictions, and small claims cases where the amount of money in dispute is less than $3,000.

As we'll be reporting over the next few days, some of these cases can get pretty complicated, pretty fast.

How many judges aren't lawyers?

Town and village court justices make up the majority of all judges in New York State. More than half of these justices are not currently attorneys — and they're mostly concentrated in rural areas, including the North Country.

(According to data from state court officials, this distribution has stayed pretty constant over the past decade.)

Across the rest of the state, your chance of getting called before a local judge who's also a registered attorney is three times higher than in the North Country.

Experts say there are lots of reasons for this disparity, including a shallow pool of lawyers who live in rural areas and would be willing to serve as judges. The hours are highly irregular. And the state mandates annual training sessions, which can require travel and last as long as a week.

David Gideon is president of the New York State Magistrates Association, a lawyer, and a local judge himself in Onondaga County. Gideon says each municipality decides what to pay its local judges — and it can be as little as a few thousand dollars a year.

"Honestly, there are some courts where I look at what the judge is being paid for the work being done in that court and I wonder, 'Why?' It has to be community service on their part," Gideon says. In short, he added, it's not a very appealing job.

So...why does this matter?

As you'll hear over the next few days, judges who aren't lawyers have a steep learning curve ahead of them once they get elected. They have to learn a huge amount about our laws and procedures — and fast. And many of the defendants in these courts don't realize it's even possible that they could wind up before a judge with no formal legal background.

Ruth Green is from Waddington, a small village in St. Lawrence County. Green has deep roots in the North Country and was no stranger to the justice system by the time she appeared in Canton town court this winter. "I've got charges pending for a DWI," Green said. "I was in a household that ended up getting busted for manufacturing methamphetamines."

That created a cascade of legal problems — many of them serious. Green came to Canton court in January to answer for a charge of allegedly taking an acquaintance's car without asking. The judge who heard Green's case did not have a law degree and, at the time, had only been on the bench for less than a month.

Green wasn't aware of any of that until she talked to a reporter after the hearing. "That’s their life that he’s literally putting in his hands! To tell them whether you’re free to go or you’re going to jail or prison — it just makes no sense," Green said. "But good to know."

It's important to point out: Nothing bad happened to Green during her hearing. But there's a long, well-documented history of things going wrong in New York's town and village courts — little things, including court fees not getting collected, logged appropriately or sent to the right place. But big errors in judgment and in ethics can also happen. Some justices have stolen money or tried to use their power to help friends or family members.

Most recently, in the North Country, there's been a rash of alleged sexual misconduct by sitting town and village court justices. Two of those cases involved non-lawyer judges and resulted in criminal convictions; one former justice is currently serving a prison sentence.

Such serious misconduct is the exception, not the rule among local judges. But it's worth asking some questions.

How did we get here? Who wins and loses in this system? And is there a better way?

That's what NCPR will be exploring over the days and weeks to come. We'd like to ask for your help. If you've had an experience in town or village courts that was good, bad – or just plain memorable – please tell us about it.