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THE LEGAL BRIEF
VOLUME 42, ISSUE 3
(Continued from page 26) Bias in Judicial Performance Evaluations, the Problem and Proposed Solutions by Andrea Răchită and Judge Rebecca Glasgow
Thurston County Bar Association Judicial Evaluation Survey Results 2021 Would Vote to Reelect or Would Support Continuing as a Commissioner
Rank
% Respond- ing Yes
Demographic
Number of Catego- ries Average Above 4.0
1
90% - 95%
white man
4
2
90% - 95%
white man
4
3
90% - 95%
white man
4
4
90% - 95%
white man
3
5
80% - 90%
white man
4
6
80% - 90%
white man
2
7
80% - 90%
white woman
2
8
80% - 90%
white woman
3
9
80% - 90%
white man
3
10
70% - 80%
white man
2
11
70% - 80%
white woman
1
12
70% - 80%
woman of color
0
13
60% - 70%
white woman
1
14
50% - 60%
white woman
0
15
50% - 60%
woman of color
0
Of course, a variety of factors could be at play, but a nationwide review of studies of judicial evaluations reveals that bias often plays a role in judicial evaluations like the TCBA ’ s. Since the 1980s, studies have shown that judicial performance evaluations like the TCBA ’ s have a tendency to disproportionately disfavor BIPOC and female judicial officers. For example, review of a decade of judicial evaluation survey results in Clark County, Nevada showed that female and BIPOC judges were given consistently lower retention scores than their white and male counterparts. This and other studies have shown that women and BIPOC judges are significantly less likely to score at the highest end of the range and significantly more likely to score at the low end of the range. One study concluded: After controlling for a number of important indicators of judicial performance, women scored nearly 12 points lower out of 100 than men; minority judges scored 21 points lower than white judges . This pattern continues throughout the rest of the analyses. Women and minority judges were significantly less likely to receive “ more than adequate ” ratings and were significantly more likely to receive “ not adequate ” ratings.
(Continued on next page)
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