Scientology Justice

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 offensive by an executive within the organization. The two actions employed are a Court of Ethics and a Committee of Evidence.

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.

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 conclusive evidence of serious wrongdoing by a church member. In practice, 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 portrayed 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 are based on false accusations with no evidence whatsoever, and the comm ev is 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 occured in the mid-1980's and likely by someone other than L. Ron Hubbard.) 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.

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 who are "senior" to the accused, 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 or not they think the accused church member is guilt 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" which 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 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. 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 hearsay, such as a offhand comment scribbled on a piece of scrap paper. A felony jury trial requires charges to be unanimously approved by a grand jury to proceed, while a comm ev is initiated on accusation from altitude alone.

When L. Ron Hubbard devised the comm ev in 1963, there were considerably fewer church offenses designated and published than there are at present. Currently, the number of charges brought against church members in comm evs has markedly increased over the mid-1960's.

The kinship of the comm ev to a military tribunal give it the same vulnerabilities to injustice: The use of multiple accusations from altitude, generalities (Keeping Scientology Working violation), inconclusive evidence, no standard method of voting, semi-secretive proceedings, vague rules of evidence, and no application of fundamental justice, inherently wreak havoc on justice within the Church of Scientology. On top of this, church staff members serving on a comm ev can be subjected to coercion by interested seniors to coax a particular verdict.