P036 - Exploring Career Trajectories of Russian Judges: an Empirical Research of Judicial Biographies Based on Judicial Qualification Board Unstructured Documents Using Text Mining

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Abstract

We can answer the question of who judges Russian citizens in a very limited way - mainly due to survey research conducted about 10 years ago (Volkov, Dmitrieva & Titaev, 2015), including the professional background of Russian judges (Volkov & Dmitrieva, 2015). In addition, there is no unified database of Russian judges. In my study, I use text mining techniques to obtain from unstructured textual decisions of Russian Regional Judicial Qualification Board (JQB) information about judges' previous employment, professional and socio-demographic characteristics. A previous study based on Judicial Qualification Board data covered 957 biographies of candidates who wanted to be judges for the first time in 2014-2015 (Dmitrieva, 2021). My study cover all texts of regional JQB decisions on the first recommendation of judges for appointment and help formulate the most typical career trajectories of Russian judges and add to the understanding of the structure of the judiciary in Russia, while the data collected will further clarify the impact of the professional background of Russian judges on judicial decision-making.

Author

• Lika - Kapustina, HSE