Evaluating Judicial Performance: Editors’ Introduction

Authors

  • Francesco Contini Istituto di Ricerca sui Sistemi Giudiziari (IRSIG-CNR)
  • Sharyn Roach Anleu Flinders University
  • David B. Rottman National Center for State Courts

Keywords:

Judicial performance evaluation, quality of judiciary, courts and judging, empirical research and courts, methodologies for judicial evaluation, performance studies, Evaluación del rendimiento judicial, calidad del sistema judicial, tribunales y hecho de

Abstract

The articles in this issue tackle the conceptual issues associated with defining good judging and the purposes of evaluating judges, and ask such questions as: What values are central to the judicial role? What knowledge, skills, abilities, and other qualities are important to judicial performance? What does scholarship tell us about judging and judicial performance? What are the challenges in measuring judicial performance, the extent to which existing evaluation programs can capture what it means to be a judge, and the potential for developing multi-method evaluation programs? An underlying theme is the nature and desirability of linking evaluations of individual judges with evaluations of the court system and the ways in which results from performance evaluation can be incorporated into educational and other programs designed to promote improvements in the quality of the judiciary.

The papers cluster around three major themes: (i) Conceptual and methodological issues; (ii) Experiences of evaluating judges; and (iii) Empirical research findings.

Los artículos de este número abordan aspectos conceptuales asociados con el hecho de juzgar de forma correcta y los propósitos de evaluar a los jueces, y plantean preguntas como: ¿qué valores son básicos en el rol judicial? ¿Qué conocimiento, aptitudes, habilidades y otras cualidades son importantes para el rendimiento judicial? ¿Qué nos dice el mundo académico sobre el hecho de juzgar y el rendimiento judicial? ¿Cuáles son los retos en la medición del rendimiento judicial, hasta qué punto los programas de evaluación existentes pueden capturar lo que significa ser un juez, y el potencial para desarrollar programas de evaluación multidisciplinares? Un tema subyacente es la naturaleza y la deseabilidad de unir evaluaciones de jueces individuales con evaluaciones del sistema judicial, y las formas en las que los resultados del rendimiento judicial se pueden incorporar en programas educativos, y de otro tipo, diseñados para promocionar las mejoras en la calidad del sistema judicial.

Los artículos se agrupan alrededor de tres grandes temas: (i) temas conceptuales y metodológicos; (ii) Experiencias de evaluar a jueces; y (iii) Resultados de investigaciones empíricas

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Author Biographies

Francesco Contini, Istituto di Ricerca sui Sistemi Giudiziari (IRSIG-CNR)

Francesco Contini is a researcher at the Research Institute on Judicial System of the Italian National Research Council (IRSIG-CNR), where he is coordinating the research area "Quality assessment in justice systems". He studies the institutional transformations of European judiciaries with focuses on case management, performance evaluation and e-justice. He has written various articles and books on such topics, among which “Judicial Evaluation” with Richard Mohr (VDM 2008), and ‘ICT and innovation in the public sector’, edited with Giovan Francesco Lanzara (Palgrave 2009). He has collaborated with international organizations in judicial reform programmes in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Istituto di Ricerca sui Sistemi Giudiziari (IRSIG-CNR), Bologna

Sharyn Roach Anleu, Flinders University

Sharyn Roach Anleu MA Tas, Ll B Adel, Ph D Conn is Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor at Flinders University, Adelaide, a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and a past president of The Australian Sociological Association. She is currently undertaking research (with Professor Kathy Mack) on the judiciary and their courts funded by the Australian Research Council. Flinders University. GPO Box 2100. Adelaide SA 5001. Australia

David B. Rottman, National Center for State Courts

David B. Rottman is a principal court researcher at the National Center for State Courts. His current research concerns the effectiveness of specialized courts, minority group opinions of courts, and methods for evaluating judicial performance. With Tom Tyler and Judges Kevin Burke and Steve Leben, he co-founded www.proceduralfairness.org to promote implementation of procedural justice principles to all aspects of court operations. He previously worked at the Economic and Social Research Institute in Dublin, Ireland. He holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Illinois at Urbana.

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How to Cite

Contini, F., Roach Anleu, S. and Rottman, D. B. (2014) “Evaluating Judicial Performance: Editors’ Introduction”, Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 4(5), pp. 836–842. Available at: https://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/view/562 (Accessed: 23 April 2024).

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 5 (2014): Evaluating Judicial Performance

Section

Introduction

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