In Support of Measuring Court Performance
Resolution 14: In Support of Measuring Court Performance
WHEREAS, the Conference of Chief Justices and Conference of State Court Administrators continue to promote judicial governance and accountable state Judicial Branch institutions that provide the highest quality of service to the public; and
WHEREAS, judicial accountability can foster an environment where other branches of government and the public understand the judiciary's role and are less likely to interfere with the judiciary's ability to govern itself; and
WHEREAS, the Conference of Chief Justices and Conference of State Court Administrators have adopted Resolution 23, In Support of Principles of Effective Judicial Governance and Accountability, which identifies the core elements of judicial accountability for state court systems; and
WHEREAS, judiciaries need performance standards and measures that provide a balanced view of court performance in terms of prompt and efficient case administration, public access and service, equity and fairness, and effective and efficient management; and
WHEREAS, there is a need to develop benchmarks for court performance measures so judiciaries can assess their own progress and allow courts to compare their performance with similarly situated courts; and
WHEREAS, well-conceived and practical court performance measures are increasingly valued not only as tools for incremental quality improvements of court programs and services, but also as the means for major policy reform and organizational transformation; and
WHEREAS, the effective use of court performance measurement can fundamentally change the way courts do business; and
WHEREAS, the National Center for State Courts has developed an initial set of ten core court performance measures called CourTools; and
WHEREAS, as part of CourTools the National Center for State Courts has developed a sixstep process which judiciaries can use to implement a court performance measurement system (CPMS);
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Conferences urge:
- State courts to develop and test a balanced set of court performance measures using the CourTools and the six-step implementation process as models; and
- State courts to collaborate with the National Center for State Courts as these measures are developed to learn from the experiences of other court systems and, to the extent possible, encourage the use of consistent methodologies which are necessary for comparability; and
- The National Center for State Courts to establish a clearing house for court performance measurement and management solutions including the application of information technology and to serve as a resource center for courts to test and gain experience from the use of various court performance measurement systems.
Adopted as proposed by the CCJ/COSCA Court Management Committee at the 57th Annual Meeting on August 3, 2005.