News  Supreme Judicial Court’s Judicial Performance Evaluation Program Will Also Seek Evaluations of Judges in Barnstable, Dukes, and Nantucket County Juvenile Courts

The Supreme Judicial Court previously announced resumption of the Judicial Performance Evaluation Program, which allows members of the bar, court employees, and jurors to provide anonymous, confidential feedback about judges both to the judges themselves and to court leadership. In addition to judges who sat in any Essex County Court, any Middlesex County District Court, the Boston Municipal Court, or the Chelsea District Court, judges who sat in Juvenile Court in Barnstable County, Dukes County, or Nantucket County in the last two years will also be evaluated.

In October, attorneys will receive an email directing them to an encrypted website where they can anonymously respond to questionnaires about judges before whom they were scheduled to appear in the preceding two years. Judges will not receive copies of completed questionnaires. Instead, responses submitted about each judge will be aggregated into a single confidential evaluation report. Judges will discuss these evaluation reports with their Chief Justice with the goal of fostering professional development and self-improvement.