Unfortunately, existing mechanisms in New York lack both the depth and breadth to provide information on judges and judicial candidates in a truly meaningful way. This need not be the case.
Across the country, states have adopted judicial performance evaluation (JPE) programs that provide continuous, comprehensive assessments of the skills that each judge or judicial candidate brings to the bench.
In this essay, we describe how JPE programs work, consider what lessons those programs offer for judicial screening and judicial selection in New York, and explain how both the citizens and judges of New York would benefit from an official, comprehensive JPE program.
