The Chief Judge is the highest office within the Justice Department of Mega-City One. Several characters have held the post over the years. Most do not last more than a few years, with several having been deposed by their fellow Judges, assassinated, or overthrown in civil wars.
open/close all folders
Eustace Fargo
Eustace Fargo, nicknamed the "Father of Justice", born in 1999, was the founder of the Justice System of immediate sentencing. Originally a prosecutor for the US government, his reforms to the Justice Department were his answer to due process becoming unworkable as a result of sky-high crime rates and gangs intimidating courts. He was put into cryo-stasis after a failed suicide, though he spent some time with his cloned sons on the few occasions he is let out of cryosleep.
- Big Good: Founded the Judge system in order to combat rising crime levels. During the Atomic Wars he advises Goodman and Solomon on legal methods to depose Booth. On his death-bed, he was aware that the Justice Department was growing corrupt and expressed his anguish over it, and pleaded with Dredd to pursue its dismantlement, as it had never been intended to be a permanent solution.
- Bungled Suicide: He tried to kill himself for failing the rules of celibacy among the Judges that he himself instituted. It didn't take, and he was revived later.
- Death Faked for You: After his failed suicide, his aides Solomon and Goodman covered up the incident and instead convinced the public that Fargo had heroically died in the line of duty. He continues to advice his successors from behind the scenes after that.
- The Faceless: Not at first, but was retconned into being so in "Origins" so as to keep his appearance the same as Dredd's. Before that, he was shown as looking rather like Conan the Barbarian.
- He Who Fights Monsters: He ultimately despairs that he has destroyed the American Dream. He created the Judges in an attempt to establish order, not to oppress the people.
- Human Popsicle: After his Bungled Suicide, he is put into stasis so that medical technology can heal him once it advances sufficiently. He is reawakened during the Atomic Wars as an advisor and again at the end of "Origins" so he can speak to his son one last time. The cryonics system suffers a fault that causes the fluids to infect his organs, leading to his death.
- My God, What Have I Done?: In Origins, it's revealed that Fargo regrets having ever created the Judges, arguing that the system has completely destroyed the American Dream, and now just perpetuates itself rather than trying to rebuild what has been lost. He is visibly disturbed when he sees how cold and detached young Joe and Rico behave towards America's promised Pursuit Of Happiness after their schooling.
- Lantern Jaw of Justice: He was well known for his impressive jawline, and passed it on to his clones.
- Polar Opposite Twins: Eustace was a self-righteous stickler for the law; his twin brother Ephram was considerably more relaxed and disliked his brother's holier-than-thou attitude. This led Ephram to eventually move out of their hometown.
- Principles Zealot: He expanded the Justice Department to the monolithic apparatus it became with complete power. He was so determined to uphold his principles that he even tried to kill himself for not being able to uphold them in a moment of weakness.
- Truly Single Parent: His "sons" Joseph and Rico were cloned from his own genetic material as a roundabout attempt to reincarnate the father of justice. He nevertheless only saw them a few times during his short periods out of cryo-stasis.
- Violence Really Is the Answer: The Judges were a drastic step taken because due process had become useless due to witness intimidation and corruption, to the point that criminals had to be gunned down en masse in the street just to restore a semblance of order. Most of the world would adopt Fargo's system as well.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He invented the draconian modern justice system as a last resort to stop the endless crime wave sweeping America's mega-cities, intending to relinguish power back to the people at some point.
Hollins Solomon
Originally one of Fargo's two Deputy Chief Judges, he took over the role of Chief Judge after Fargo's Bungled Suicide. While he later resigns, he remains on the Council of Five and serves as Goodman's closest aide during the war. It was he who came up with 'The Judgement Of Solomon', a 100-year sentence in cryo stasis for Bob Booth.
- The Lancer: Like Goodman, he is initially this to Fargo. He and Goodman are this to each other, swapping roles when Solomon steps down as Chief Judge.
- Meaningful Name: His last name is a reference to King Solomon the Wise. His own Judgement Of Solomon is a solution to Justice Department's dilemma regarding President Booth; They can't bring themselves to execute him, but he needs to be punished for his crimes. Solomon's conclusion is to let posterity decide.
- Retcon: "Origins" explains how he'd been Chief Judge after Fargo and how Goodman was in the role for 43 years; He succeeded Fargo and later stepped down, but joined the Council Of Five.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: He's the only Chief Judge whose fate after his time in office is unknown. Even Francisco and Sinfield are returned to the streets and shipped to Titan respectively.
Clarence Goodman
The Chief Judge when the strip begins, Clarence Goodman was originally one of Fargo's deputies and led the city through the Atomic Wars and up until The Day The Law Died, where Cal has him assassinated.
- Big Good: He's Chief Judge during the strip's earliest days. On the advice of his predecessor, Judge Solomon, he builds Justice Department up to rival the U.S. military and leads a coup against President Booth.
- The Lancer: Alongside Solomon, he is Number Two to Fargo. He's also this to Solomon when Fargo attempts suicide.
- Long Runner: He spent 43 years as Chief Judge before Cal, his Deputy Chief Judge, had him assassinated.
- Meaningful Name: Clarence Goodman. He is easily the most liberal chief judge portrayed in the strip.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He takes Dredd's advice on numerous scenarios and allows him a huge amount of autonomy. He's also popular with the city's juves if their asking for autographs is any indication.
- Retcon: His initial title is Grand Judge, but this is quickly changed.
- Older Than They Look: Before his death, it's explicitly stated that he has regular rejuvenation treatments, which explains how he spent 43 years as Chief Judge.
Cal
Former head of the SJS, who, after having Goodman assassinated, rises to power. After becoming Chief Judge, he becomes a lunatic tyrant, enacting bizarre laws, making his pet goldfish a Judge and even tries to have the entirety of Mega-City One gassed to death. Dredd eventually killed him by throwing him off the Statue of Justice.
Easily the worst person to hold the office, his short but disastrous tenure had long-lasting consequences for the Justice Department as a whole, which put in a lot more checks and balances (as well as on the SJS itself through Smiley) to prevent a similar figure from taking over.
- Ambition Is Evil: Wants to become a dictator, so murders the current Chief Judge.
- Ax-Crazy: He displays as much mental stability as his inspiration, which has none.
- Bad Boss: For the minor infraction of one of his Mooks missing a button from his uniform, he makes him perform his duties in his underwear. He also injects Judge Slocum with a paralysing agent and pickles him alive because he thinks it'll prevent Slocum from getting wrinkles from worrying too much.
- Berserk Button: Questioning his sanity is guaranteed to send him into a rage and pass out death sentences.
- The Caligula: He's mad as a brush and enacts all sorts of insane laws, such as ordering the execution of the entire city in alphabetical order, appointing his pet goldfish as a Judge and outlawing happiness. Kind of obvious, considering that he's named after the infamous Caligula.
- Caligula's Horse: He makes his goldfish Deputy Chief Judge, whom he then uses to pass unintelligible laws to confuse the citizens. He's later torn-up when Dredd and Slocum arranged an "assassination" of his assistant.
- Card-Carrying Villain: He embraces being a horrible leader, proudly calling himself a "tyrant's tyrant". The guy even has a portrait of Adolf Hitler in his office.
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Is drawn to resemble John Hurt's Caligula in I, Claudius.
- Disney Villain Death: He's finally killed when Fergee throws the both of them off the Statue of Judgment, sending Cal and several of his followers plummeting to their death.
- The Dreaded: Thanks to his general insanity, people are too scared to cross him out of fear of what he'll do.
- Evil Counterpart: Yes, Cal actually has an evil counterpart that is worse than he is, and who managed to kill his universe's Dredd and took over the world. The difference? That version wasn't insane, just pure evil. That allowed him to act and think rationally, rather than acting like a lunatic on an intense power trip.
- A God Am I: His sanity slips so far that he believes that he can control gravity even as Fergee grabs him and jumps off the Statue of Judgement with him.
- Internal Affairs: His start in the Special Judicial Squad allowed him to obtain detailed portfolios on the other Judges that he could use to blackmail them during his rise to power.
- Legion of Doom: An alternate version of Cal assembled a group of iconic Dredd villains from alternate universes where they had won, consisting of himself, Kazan, Rico, Fink Angel, Murk The Unkillable, Don Ape and Captain Skank.
- Meaningful Name: His name is just a shortened form of Caligula.
- Multiversal Conqueror: His counterpart from a world where Cal killed Dredd and still rules Mega-City One bands together all the supervillains from alternate dimensions to conquer Dredd's one.
- Psychopathic Manchild: When the citizens don't want to take part in his "celebrations", he goes out of his way to making lives miserable, from including banning happiness to trying to kill everyone.
- Repressive, but Efficient: For all his insanity, he scares everyone so much that the trains run on time and the time taken to deliver mail is drastically reduced. This actually ends up being part of his undoing.
- Sanity Slippage: As The Day The Law Died wears on, he gets crazier by the day, at one point even hallucinating the ghosts of past Chief Judges mocking him.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: He considers himself the living incarnation of the Law, allowing him to reign with impunity.
- The Starscream: Takes over the position of Chief Judge by having Goodman stabbed in public.
Griffin
Former principal of the Academy of Law who helped Dredd in organizing a resistance movement against the mad Cal. Became the new Chief Judge following Cal's death, serving from 2101 to 2104. He was assassinated by Dredd during the Apocalypse War.
- Brainwashed: After he's captured by the East-Meg One Judges, he's brainwashed to spout pro-East Meg One propaganda.
- Eyepatch of Power: Wears a prominent black eyepatch.
- Forgiveness Requires Death: Once Dredd manages to snap him out of his brainwashing, he finds himself guilty of treason and sentences himself to death. Dredd complies.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He appointed Judge Smiley to head Black Ops in 2101 to prevent an internal threat like Cal from ever occurring again. Unfortunately, this turned out to be the biggest mistake in Griffin's life, as Smiley came to the conclusion that Mega-City One's population was unsustainable and needed a heavy culling — and so he covered up knowledge that East Meg One was planning a massive invasion. This led to the Apocalypse War and the deaths of 400 million people in Mega-City One, including Griffin himself.
- Veteran Instructor: Like all Academy teachers he was a veteran of the Justice Department, even teaching Dredd himself.
Hilda McGruder
Hilda Margaret McGruder was Mega-City One's first female Chief Judge, serving from 2104 to 2108 (after the Apocalypse War) and 2112 to 2116 (following Necropolis). Generally recognized by fans as having the best tenure as Chief Judge after Goodman, notably being the first Chief Judge to hold the post twice.
Known for her iconic beard and no-nonsense attitude, the former which she acquired as a mutation after spending four years bringing the Law to the Cursed Earth as part of her Long Walk. However, the radiation sustained during her time in the Cursed Earth eventually forced her to resign on account of dementia, which was affecting her decision making, and died during one final patrol Dredd granted her so she might die with her dignity intact instead of forced euthanasia.
- 10-Minute Retirement: After the incident with Shojun The Warlord, she resigns and takes the Long Walk. After four years of Walking the Earth, she returns to the city with Dredd during Necropolis.
- Bearded Lady: During her Long Walk she grows a goatee, which she keeps for quite some time despite several Judges asking her to shave.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: During her second term, she speaks to herself and makes very questionable decisions. This can be attributed to her time in the Cursed Earth.
- Face Death with Dignity: Courtesy of Dredd, who busted her out to go down fighting against some criminals in the Cursed Earth instead of being forcibly euthanized.
- Internal Affairs: She started out in the SJS before she was promoted to Chief Judge after the Apocalypse War.
- Iron Lady: She's quite obviously based on Margaret Thatcher. During her terms she proved a strong-willed leader and one of the most competent Chief Judges of the Meg, until her Sanity Slippage took its toll.
- I Was Quite a Looker: She originally looked much more youthful and attractive before taking the Long Walk.
- Last Stand: During the final hours of Judgment Day, she and the other Judges assembled in Hondo City elect to go out fighting off the zombie horde on the frontlines rather than wait for the inevitable. Subverted when Dredd and Johnny Alpha defeat Sabbat in the nick of time.
- Resigned in Disgrace: Twice, she resigns of her own volition when her position as Chief Judge becomes untenable. The first time she takes personal responsibility for the Seven Samurai incident and takes the Long Walk, not returning until Necropolis. During her second term, her Sanity Slippage becomes worse over time until Dredd finally convinces her to step down and retire gracefully.
- Royal "We": During her second term in office, she continually refers to herself in the plural as a sign of her increasing Sanity Slippage.
- Sanity Slippage: Her time in the Cursed Earth didn't do wonders for her sanity. She's still sane enough to aid Dredd in taking back Mega-City One from the Dark Judges, but eventually she went crazy enough to begin the Mechanismo program of robot judges despite clear evidence it was accident-prone to compensate for the loss of Judges after the Necropolis arc. Her madness continued to grow during her second term until she was forced to step down during the Wilderlands arc.
Thomas Silver
Thomas Silver became Chief Judge after McGruder resigned over the Seven Samurai incident. He was more hardline than any of his predecessors on the issue of democracy, ruthlessly crushing any dissenters. He was also responsible for the events that led to Necropolis when he replaced Dredd with Kraken, ultimately leading to the death of sixty million citizens and Silver himself.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: His fate is left ambiguous during "Necropolis", with the most persistent rumours being that he either killed himself or became the plaything of Judge Death. Turns out both of these are true. After shooting himself, Death brings him back as a zombie with all his faculties intact just to torture him. He escapes the city and hides in a burial pit until the threat is dealt with and tries to reclaim the office of Chief Judge.
- Bungled Suicide: Double subverted. His suicide attempt succeeds, but Judge Death brings him back as a zombie. He notes that he should have committed suicide the way Judge Odell did; By putting his lawgiver in his mouth and setting it to Hi-Ex.
- Democracy Is Bad: He was one of Mega-City One's most authoritarian Chief Judges, ordering Dredd to strike down peaceful democratic marches in the city by any means necessary. This directly contributed to Dredd's faltering faith in the system and taking the Long Walk.
- Dirty Coward: Dredd considers him one for his actions during Necropolis - shooting himself in the head, then running away and hiding among the dead until things were safe again after Death resurrected him. Dredd notes that as a Judge, Silver was supposed to have higher standards.
- Fate Worse than Death: The Dark Judges murdered him and then resurrected him as a zombie so they could continue to torment him.
- Kill It with Fire: When he comes back as a zombie to reclaim his position, Dredd sentences him for gross dereliction of duty before incinerating him.
- Our Zombies Are Different: He's brought back with all his mental faculties intact so Judge Death can torture him.
- Veteran Instructor: He was an old Judge when he took office, having taught at the Academy of Law for several years because he needed a cane to walk after being wounded in action.
Hadrian Volt
Hadrian Volt was elected as Chief Judge in 2116, after McGruder resigned for a second time. In comparison to his predecessors, he was less hardline and instituted many reforms for both judges and citizens alike. Volt committed suicide after the Second Robot War, blaming himself for the losses Mega-City One suffered.
- Ambiguous Situation: According to Cal's blackmail files, Volt was accused of unlawful execution early in his career and the SJS declined to investigate it. It's never confirmed whether the accusation was true or not.
- Ate His Gun: While Volt's suicide proper is offscreen, the gaping exit wound in the back of his corpse's head heavily implies this was the way he went out.
- Driven to Suicide: Kills himself after the second robot war, having blamed himself for not doing enough to prevent it.
- Propaganda Hero: Volt posthumously becomes one - to keep civilian morale intact after the Second Robot War, Hershey ordered a story of Volt dying in a heroic Last Stand against Narcos' robots to be concocted and disseminated as the "official" version of events.
- Sound-Only Death: Volt's suicide is signalled by the sound of a Lawgiver firing, accompanied by Dredd and DeMarco's reactions.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He instituted more liberal reforms, such as reinstating the Council Of Five and the office of mayor, as well as procedures to benefit the welfare of judges, such as a mandatory eight hours of natural sleep every two weeks to prevent Sleep Machine Psychosis.
Barbara Hershey
Barbara Hershey is Dredd's long time colleague and one of the longest-serving Chief Judges. Was replaced by Francisco after she lost a reelection, but returned to the big chair after Chaos Day.
- Action Girl: As a Judge, this is a given. She's partnered off with Dredd on many occasions and gotten through it, even when more experienced Judges have fallen.
- Da Chief: She's the Chief Judge and she knows it, having no problem reprimanding Dredd to keep him in line.
- Fair Cop: Her looks are noted by Sov Judge Brylkreem and PJ Maybe has a fetish for her authoritarian figure. It's also mentioned copies of her head are also popular for dominatrix sex droids.
- Faking the Dead: Her euthanasia was actually a cover for her taking the Long Walk. Believing that Judge Smiley's influence was too dangerous unchecked and that he had poisoned her (hence her "disease"), she decided to go undercover and hunt down his agents to uncover the truth and a possible cure.
- Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: She's rarely ever seen with a helmet. Unlike Anderson, there's no justification given.
- Mercy Kill: She takes the euthanasia option when she's too weak to carry on from her illness.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: She is quite close with Dredd, taking advice from him on various matters.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: When Francisco takes over, she's packed off-world to a quiet colony posting, only returning after Day Of Chaos.
- Secretly Dying: Caught a microbial off-world, that kept eating her away from the inside for years, and was a likely factor in her eventual resignation. She kept it under wraps from everyone, even Dredd, the entire time. It's implied that it might be the result of Judge Fear's powers, as he shows his face to her over a comm screen. However Dredd later discovers it was Martin Sinfeld, using one of PJ Maybe's toxins.
- Sci-Fi Bob Haircut: Wears her hair in a perfectly even fringe. Depending on the Artist, it's almost exactly the same shape as a Judge helmet.
Dan Francisco
Judge Dan Francisco was a propaganda judge with his own reality tv show. Dan would patrol the streets with cameras following him and would have to make arrests in the most entertaining manner possibly. After the mutant issue, he runs for Chief Judge and wins. Wounded on election day, in practice his deputy, Sinfield, runs the city until Dredd ousts him. He remains in office until Chaos Day, where he resigns having presided over the city's worst disaster.
- The Atoner: After Chaos Day, he goes back to the streets, hoping to make up for his failure to prevent the disaster by making a difference as a street judge.
- Awesome, but Impractical: His style of judging. Since he's followed around by tv cameras, he has to perform his duties in a manner that entertains the public. This results in him being badly injured on a number of occasions.
- Everyone Has Standards: Francisco is against mutant integration into the Meg, however, unlike many other Judges he does want them treated humanely. An example of this would be him insisting on and funding the development of quality settlements, despite push back.
- Ideal Hero: Viewed as this by much of the local populace, in his vid days with a very dedicated fanbase to him.
- My Greatest Failure: Francisco considers his failure to prevent or at least mitigate Chaos Day to be this, which is a major factor in his resignation.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: He's based on Barack Obama, even using a similar election slogan.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Francisco outright refuses the plan of mass euthanising all infected citizens when it is first posed to him, viewing it unnecessary and wrong. This decision leads to much more deaths and the plan has to be implemented in the end anyway.
- Propaganda Hero: He built his popular reputation on his hit show The Streets of Dan Francisco, and he appeared to be a decent street Judge, but his track record as Chief Judge is highly negative. Supporting the mutant crackdown was bad enough, but he was later unable to prevent Chaos Day during his tenure because of several bad calls he made, ultimately resigning in disgrace.
- Puppet King: He's put in the Chief Judge's office by a group of hardliners opposed to Dredd's stance on the mutant issue. Thanks to his injuries and a dose of SLD-88, Sinfield becomes the de facto leader of Mega-City One until Dredd manages to oust him. Subverted when he stays in office until Chaos Day.
- Put on a Bus: Francisco returns to the streets after Chaos Day and his subsequent resignation, vanishing from the strip outside of one solo story.
- Resigned in Disgrace: He accepts responsibility for Chaos Day and resigns so that his successor can start with a clean slate. Ironically, he's replaced by his predecessor Hershey, who was her own political baggage, but at least 90% of the population didn't die on her watch.
- Shoot the Fuel Tank: He both averts and exploits this trope in his solo story. When faced with a group of perps who shoot at him from behind heavy cover, he puts a couple of rounds in the fuel tanker behind them, covering them in fuel. He threatens to follow up with an incendiary round, which is enough to convince them to surrender.
Martin Sinfield
Francisco's Deputy Chief Judge, he's the one really pulling the strings behind the anti-mutant campaign. Becomes Acting Chief Judge after Francisco is hospitalized. He's so bad that Dredd sees running for the office of Chief Judge himself as a better alternative to Sinfield being in charge.
- Desk Jockey: He was in charge of Traffic Division and Administration prior to becoming Dan Francisco's Deputy Chief Judge. He's one of the few Chief Judges with little to no street experience.
- Dragon-in-Chief: During Francisco's tenure as Chief Judge, he was the one who was really in charge.
- Facial Horror: Like all Titan inmates, he is surgically modified to survive the harsh conditions of the penal colony.
- Hate Sink: There's nothing likeable about this guy. Sinfield is a Politically Incorrect Villain who usurps his own boss using mind control drugs, is a Dirty Coward who's never been a Street Judge or combat veteran, and his fondness of his younger clone is really just evidencing his own narcissism. Even his own minions only support him because they're trying to ride his coattails.
- Jerkass: After Silver and Cal, he's probably the least pleasant individual to hold the office of Chief Judge. He ends up undoing all the work Dredd does in getting mutants equal rights and spends more time trying to undermine Dredd than actually running the city.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Him pressuring the mayor to increase taxes on citizens, oblivious to that mayor secretly being a serial killer at that, is what sets off a chain of events leading to Sinfield being deposed.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: If nothing else, his goals are significantly less horrific than earlier Arc Villains who've tried to destroy Mega-City One. Sinfield is just a corrupt and vindictive administrator.
- The Man Behind the Man: He's the driving force behind Francisco's campaign for Chief Judge. Since Francisco ends up wounded, Sinfield ends up as Acting Chief Judge and ends up controlling Francisco using SLD-88.
- Nepotism: He pulls strings to get his clone a cushy desk job.
- Manipulative Bastard: He's more a politician than a judge, having only been in administrative and traffic roles. He is the real driving force behind Francisco's reign as Chief Judge. He ends up using one of PJ Maybe's methods to take complete control of Mega-City One and exiles any naysayers, including Dredd, into the Cursed Earth to run the mutant townships.
Logan
Dredd's former protégé and assistant, he accompanies Dredd on the expedition to recover Fargo, where he is wounded in the process. Later, he survives an encounter with Judge Mortis during Chaos Day.
After eventually recovering, he is promoted to Sector Chief of Sector 6, before being recommended to replace Hershey as Chief Judge in the wake of the Smiley scandal.
- An Arm and a Leg: A recurring theme with him. He loses an arm due to an infected gunshot wound in the Cursed Earth. While regrowing it, Mortis rots his new arm off. After that, regrowing arms becomes impossible for him, so he gets a prosthetic instead.
- Big Damn Heroes: In spite of being badly wounded, he comes to Dredd's aid against Booth's army with all of his team's bikes in tow.
- Desk Jockey: Due to Dredd's infamous aversion to paperwork, he ends up writing all Dredd's reports. During "Origins", he laments being overlooked for plum jobs and persuades Dredd to let him come along.
- Good Is Not Nice: When Accounts Judge Maitland looks like she might leak a potentially-damaging document concerning the Justice Department's post-Chaos budgeting to the press, Logan authorises the SJS to start surveillance and even deport her to Titan if absolutely necessary, though he does immediately order them to back down once Dredd pacifies Maitland.
- Handicapped Badass: His bad hip prevented him from being in an active role. Nevertheless, he insists on going with Dredd during the mission to recover Fargo. Despite being badly wounded early in the mission, he arrives at Booth's camp to save Dredd and his team.
- Tuckerization: He's a homage to a fan named Stewart Perkins, alias W.R. Logan, who died in 2016.
- Unexplained Recovery: Was fatally shot through the spine in the Grud is Dead radio drama, only to show up alive in comic with no explanation.
- 0% Approval Rating: His appointment of Harvey, a robot judge, to the Council Of Five earns him the disapproval of just about the entire city.
