NCJ Number
84780
Date Published
1982
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This selection addresses the political undercurrents involved in designing and implementing methods to evaluate judges' performance.
Abstract
Although evaluation methods are frequently justified as necessary to ensure the accountability of judges and the maintenance of the professional quality of the judiciary, the debate over how to best evaluate judicial performance has become heavily oriented as a professional matter which is best left in the hands of legal professionals -lawyers and judges. However, the legal profession has chosen to approach judicial competence in terms that are highly abstract. Their evaluation methodology refers to qualities which are either unobserved by those outside the legal process or are simply inaccessible to objective measurement. The result is a professionalization and concomitant depoliticization of the debate over judicial evaluation, which effectively excludes public influence. Judicial performance should be compared not against vague professional standards of excellence but against prevailing value standards which do include public attitudes. The selection includes 28 references.