Performance Measurements – The Cartwheels of the Modern Court System
The purpose of this study was to establish a comprehensive framework for the statistical measurements of the performance of the court systems. This 3-year study relied on a combination of observations, unstructured interviews and statistical data, which were administered in several court locations, business lines and jurisdictions, supplemented by evidence from other countries. The result is the compilation of fifteen statistical measurements classified into two broad but complimentary categories, namely, productivity metrics and time lag metrics. Together, these metrics provide a wide-ranging means for monitoring and evaluating court performance. This study found that the application of scientific methods to quantify and track court productivity is an essential facet of modern court management and that the careful application of specific mixes of productivity metrics are vital to establishing a comprehensive profile of judicial performance which will inform critical policy interventions to enhance the efficient delivery of justice.
The Caribbean Journal of Criminology (CJC), a publication of the Institute of Criminal Justice and Security (ICJS), The University of the West Indies (UWI), is a multi-disciplinary, peer-reviewed journal, published annually, and financed by the four campuses of The UWI. The CJC primarily aims to promote critical examination of the complex and persistent crime and security problems in the Caribbean.
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