Methodologies for Measuring Judicial Performance: The Problem of Bias

<p>Concerns about gender and racial bias in the survey-based evaluations of judicial performance common in the United States have persisted for decades. Consistent with a large body of basic research in the psychological sciences, recent studies confirm that the results from these JPE surveys...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jennifer Elek, David Rottman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law 2014-12-01
Series:Oñati Socio-Legal Series
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ssrn.com/abstract=2533937
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Summary:<p>Concerns about gender and racial bias in the survey-based evaluations of judicial performance common in the United States have persisted for decades. Consistent with a large body of basic research in the psychological sciences, recent studies confirm that the results from these JPE surveys are systematically biased against women and minority judges. In this paper, we explain the insidious manner in which performance evaluations may be biased, describe some techniques that may help to reduce expressions of bias in judicial performance evaluation surveys, and discuss the potential problem such biases may pose in other common methods of performance evaluation used in the United States and elsewhere. We conclude by highlighting the potential adverse consequences of judicial performance evaluation programs that rely on biased measurements.</p> <hr /><p>Durante d&eacute;cadas ha habido una preocupaci&oacute;n por la discriminaci&oacute;n por g&eacute;nero y racial en las evaluaciones del rendimiento judicial basadas en encuestas, comunes en Estados Unidos. De acuerdo con un gran corpus de investigaci&oacute;n b&aacute;sica en las ciencias psicol&oacute;gicas, estudios recientes confirman que los resultados de estas encuestas de evaluaci&oacute;n del rendimiento judicial est&aacute;n sistem&aacute;ticamente sesgados contra las mujeres y los jueces de minor&iacute;as. En este art&iacute;culo se explica la manera insidiosa en que las evaluaciones de rendimiento pueden estar sesgadas, se describen algunas t&eacute;cnicas que pueden ayudar a reducir las expresiones de sesgo en los estudios de evaluaci&oacute;n del rendimiento judicial, y se debate el problema potencial que estos sesgos pueden plantear en otros m&eacute;todos comunes de evaluaci&oacute;n del rendimiento utilizados en Estados Unidos y otros pa&iacute;ses. Se concluye destacando las posibles consecuencias adversas de los programas de evaluaci&oacute;n del rendimiento judicial que se basan en mediciones sesgadas.</p> <p><strong>DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN</strong>: <a href="http://ssrn.com/abstract=2533937" target="_blank">http://ssrn.com/abstract=2533937 </a></p>
ISSN:2079-5971