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SJC
APPOINTS JUDICIAL PERFORMANCE EVALUATION COORDINATOR
Boston—The
Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court, in consultation with
the Chief Justice for Administration and Management of the
Trial Court, today announced the appointment of Mona R. Hochberg
as the new Judicial Performance Evaluation Coordinator. Working
with a committee of judges from each of the Trial Court Departments,
Ms. Hochberg is responsible for developing and managing the
performance evaluation program for judges by building on the
initiatives already underway in the Trial Court. The goal
of the program is to enhance the performance of individual
judges and the judiciary as a whole.
Supreme
Judicial Court Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall said, "
I am delighted that we have the resources to advance the judicial
performance enhancement program. Like all dedicated professionals,
judges want to perform consistently at their peak and welcome
constructive opportunities to learn how they can improve.
We are fortunate to have excellent judicial educational resources,
such as the Judicial Institute and the Flaschner Judicial
Institute. A well crafted judicial enhancement program will
give judges an additional tool to achieve their professional
goals."
Chief
Justice for Administration and Management Barbara A. Dortch-Okara
said, "Judicial performance evaluations provide a reliable
means for determining current and future training needs in
areas such as case management, judicial demeanor, and specialized
legal fields. Not only do judges benefit from the program,
but the public does as well because it gives citizens added
confidence in the judicial process."
In
1989, the SJC established a judicial performance enhancement
program in which each Trial Court Department designed its
own process for judicial evaluations under the supervision
of a committee appointed by the SJC. New statutory provisions
on judicial evaluation were included in the 1993 court reform
legislation. The appointment of the Judicial Performance Evaluation
Coordinator will provide the courts with a resource to allow
them to further develop their programs.
The
Committee on Judicial Performance Evaluation participated
in the selection of the new Evaluation Coordinator and will
work closely with her.
"The
task of putting together a program to evaluate judicial performance
of all judges in Massachusetts is a daunting one, given the
sheer number of courts and the substantial differences among
them in the kinds of litigation they handle," said Judge
Janet Sanders, Presiding Justice of the Concord District Court
and a member of the committee. "But we on the committee
are committed to developing such a program, and Ms. Hochberg
has the background necessary to assist us in this effort.
We look forward to working with her in this very important
endeavor."
Ms.
Hochberg’s duties will include developing questionnaires for
use in judicial performance evaluation programs, assessing
other evaluation instruments and data collection methodologies,
designing procedures to ensure quality and integrity of data
and to protect the confidentiality of judges and anonymity
of lawyers, preparing materials for public disclosure, in
accordance with SJC Rule 1:16, and monitoring judicial performance
evaluation programs in other jurisdictions.
Ms.
Hochberg previously worked for BOTEC Analysis Corporation
in Cambridge as a Senior Research Associate where she conducted
a major evaluation of the Federal Comprehensive Communities
Program for the National Institute of Justice, and directed
an evaluation of substance abuse treatment programs in three
Massachusetts county correctional facilities. She has also
been a research analyst for the Harvard Family Research Project
of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. From 1985 to
1991, she worked for Mt. Auburn Associates on various public
policy research projects. She was also a consultant at the
Center for Research on Women at Wellesley College from 1996
to 1997. Ms. Hochberg has made numerous presentations to diverse
audiences on public policy issues during her career, and has
written extensively for professional journals and publications.
A
resident of Newton, Ms. Hochberg received a master’s degree
from Tufts University in 1984 and a bachelor of arts degree
from Sarah Lawrence College in 1978.
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