Evaluating Judges

Abstract

Evaluations of judges based primarily on survey techniques have increased in popularity and use. Performance evaluations of the judiciary could have important effects on the selection and retention of judges, as well as on public opinion about the judiciary. Although evaluation efforts have increased in this area, there has been little analysis of the results beyond the presentation of descriptive findings. This article presents a detailed analysis of a multiple attribute judicial evaluation survey, with particular attention to the effects of questionnaire design and testing for differences between respondents. Since such evaluations typically use a self-selected sample of lawyers, the overall lack of substantial differences in average evaluation by various subgroups of lawyers is an important argument for the continued use of self-selection for respondents.