Press Release  Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct publishes Annual Report covering 2018 activities

Boston, MA — On June 27, 2019, the Commission on Judicial Conduct’s Executive Director, Howard V. Neff, III, published the Commission’s 2018 Annual Report, covering its activities from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018. 

The Commission reports that 379 complaints were filed with the Commission in 2018, and out of those complaints, 56 were docketed for investigation or Commission Screening.  In order for a complaint to be docketed for investigation or Commission Screening, it must allege specific facts that, if true, would constitute judicial misconduct or disability. 

The Commission conducts a Commission Screening into some docketed complaints, including stale complaints and anonymous complaints, to determine whether the complaints meet the necessary threshold to be investigated.  In 2018, the Commission dismissed thirteen complaints after Commission Screening and forty-five complaints after investigation (including three complaints dismissed with an expression of concern to the judge).

Of the complaints received in 2018, 205 were submitted through the Commission’s online complaint form, which first became available on July 22, 2015.

The Commission considered 73 complaints filed in 2018 and previous years and disposed of 60 of them in 2018.  Of the 73 complaints considered by the Commission in 2018, 58 were dismissed upon the Commission’s finding of no misconduct.  Two complaints that were subject to an Informal Adjustment or Agreed Disposition were actively monitored by the Commission in 2018 and one of those complaints was successfully closed.  One complaint was resolved through a Commission Rule 13A submission to the Supreme Judicial Court. 

The Annual Report includes statistics for the year 2018; overall statistics dating back to the year 2014, a copy of the Commission’s enabling statute, a copy of its Rules, and a copy of the Code of Judicial Conduct, which became effective on January 1, 2016.

The Commission’s statute and rules, and a copy of the 2018 Annual Report are available on the Commission’s website: www.mass.gov/cjc.

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