Gender & Race Bias in the Proposed Judicial Performance Evaluations: Some Preliminary Findings

Abstract

Unfortunately, Clark County has a reputation for being one of America’s most preeminent "judicial hell-holes." The Elizabeth Halverson saga is just the latest embarrassing tale of judicial incompetence that threatens the independence of the judiciary. With the passage of Senate Joint Resolution 2, however, the state of Nevada is contemplating a complete overhaul of the way in which judges are selected and retained. As part of this proposed transition, a comprehensive system of state-sponsored judicial performance evaluations (JPEs) would be created. The proposed JPE program, found in Nevada Judicial Evaluation Pilot Project: Final Report (NJEPP Report) and the Nevada Judicial Evaluation Project: Supplement to the Final Report (NJEP Supplement), is the subject of the Nevada Supreme Court Article VI Subcommittee Meeting on February 21, 2010. We have found compelling evidence to suggest that the survey instrument in the proposed JPE system is likely to suffer from significant gender and race bias.

Keywords: judicial performance evaluations, gender bias, race bias, assessment