Judicial Accountability & Evaluation Resources

Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System

• IAALS University of Denver
• National Map  with Judicial Performance Evaluation Information
• State Summary of Judicial Performance Evaluation Programs

American Judicature Society

• AJS
• State Summary of Judicial Performance Evaluation Programs in connection with judicial retention elections.
• Judicature magazine, article by Rebecca Love Kourlis and Jordan Singer of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, offers a good summary of JPE programs
• Judicial Retention Evaluation Programs in Four States, 1998 report examines judicial evaluation programs in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado and Utah
• AJS’s Center for Judicial Ethics acts as a clearinghouse for information about judicial ethics and discipline. Judicial ethics and discipline also is the subject of the
• Judicial Ethics Forum

National Center for State Courts

• NCSC
• FAQ page on Judicial Evaluation Programs    
• State Summary of Judicial Performance Evaluation Programs  
• NCSC Judicial Ethics Resource Page

Other resources, as identified by a National Center for State Courts resource guide:

• Kourlis,Rebecca Love et al. Shared Expectations: Judicial Accountability in Context. Denver: Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (2006).  Covers reasons, goals, and evaluates best approaches to JPE, while outlining history and practices in several states. Appendices in the full report include model surveys for attorneys, jurors, and litigants; overview of JPE programs; requirements by state; and model self-assessments. 
   
• Transparent Courthouse: A Blueprint for Judicial Performance Evaluation. University of Denver, Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (2006).  This resource can be used to help courts design a program to improve accountability through judicial performance evaluation.  The book includes basic tenets and values inherent in such programs, a checklist to guide those starting program, benchmarks, sample statutes and court orders, and model surveys. 
   
• Black Letter Guidelines for the Evaluation of Judicial Performance. American Bar Association  (February 2005).  The document provides a list of categories that should be investigated when evaluating the performance of judges: goals of the program, uses of the program, dissemination of the data from the evaluations, administration and support, criteria of the evaluation, and methodology. 

The views expressed on the Justice at Stake resource pages do not necessarily reflect those of the Brennan Center for Justice.