Implement and Use Court Performance Measures: Ostrom and Hanson’s Article Analysis

Introduction

Court performance is the capacity of courts to fulfill their core functions, such as securing justice and liberty, settling disputes, upholding the rule of law, giving equal protection, and ensuring due process. Measuring court performance is critical to ensuring that courts uphold these fundamental ideals. As such, Ostrom and Hanson’s (2007) paper “Implement and Use Court Performance Measures” highlights the need to assess court performance to ensure they accomplish their essential functions.

According to the authors, including clear performance indicators in court administration can help gauge the court’s effectiveness in reaching essential objectives such as justice, fairness, and speed. This paper argues that the article’s argument is well-reasoned and addresses essential concerns surrounding the importance of performance measures in measuring courts’ performance.

Article Analysis

The main point of the piece is convincing because it emphasizes the need to assess court performance to guarantee that they are accomplishing their primary goals. Using performance measurements can potentially improve court administration and leadership, resulting in improved outcomes for all parties involved (Ostrom & Hanson, 2007). The authors claim that courts may be compared using the same criteria. This is crucial because it undermines the commonly held belief that courts are too fragmented and scattered to allow for comparison along comparable dimensions (Ostrom & Hanson, 2007).

Furthermore, the authors contend that the most pressing issue in increasing knowledge and information on court performance is creating a viable set of metrics that allow success in establishing core goals (Ostrom & Hanson, 2007). This claim is worthwhile because it is critical to have a set of measurements relevant to the court’s mission, purpose, and strategic plan. This approach ensures that the appropriate items are being measured and the results are used to make meaningful adjustments.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the article under analysis argues why measuring courts’ performance is crucial. The use of performance measurements can assist in identifying areas where courts need to make changes and may contribute to a more focused conversation about institutional performance. One can guarantee that the judges measure precisely what they should while employing the results to make meaningful changes by defining metrics relevant to the court’s mission, objective, and overall strategy.

Reference

Ostrom, B. J., & Hanson, R. J. (2007). Implement and use court performance measures. Criminology and Public Policy, 6(4), 799–805. Web.