R.I. Sup. Ct. R. 7.3
REGULATIONS OF THE JUDICIAL PERFORMANCE EVALUATION COMMITTEE
Preamble
7.3(a) Establishes broad confidentiality for JPEC materials and reports:
1. All records and information obtained and maintained by the Committee are required to be kept confidential.
2. All information, questionnaires, notes, memoranda, electronic and computer data, and any other data obtained in the course of a judicial performance evaluation is required to be kept confidential.
3. The identity of any person who provides information in the course of such an evaluation shall be kept confidential.
7.3(b) Provides how the material may be used: i.e., the very limited exceptions to confidentiality:
1. Individual data and results shall be provided only to the judge being evaluated and to the chief or presiding judge of his or her court, who shall review the data with the judge being evaluated.
2. Evaluation information in summary form, without reference to the names of individual judges, shall be provided to the Supreme Court, to be used for the purposes of improving the administration of the judiciary, developing judicial education programs, and providing the public with information about judicial performance.
3. Evaluation information shall not be used to discipline an individual judge or be disclosed to the Commission on Judicial Tenure and Discipline, except as required by the Canons of Judicial Ethics (Code of Judicial Conduct).
The purpose of these regulations is:
1. To confirm the requirement of confidentiality and to clarify its application;
2. To provide for consistent treatment of evaluation records;
3. To establish the limits of the use of evaluations;
4. To establish uniform regulations for the disclosure of the results of performance evaluations.
5. To provide for sanctions for the violation of the confidentiality rules.
Based on the experience with the pre-existing superior court evaluation program and the clear benefits of disclosure of individual data to judges in that court, the release of individual data to judges being evaluated is recognized as important to the evaluation process. Judges who have been evaluated and for whom there are a number of individual evaluations should have the opportunity to review the individual evaluations at the time of the evaluation and thereafter. To that effect, each judge shall be custodian of the individual questionnaires and evaluations upon the conclusion of the evaluation. Each judge's retention of the individual questionnaires and evaluations shall none- the less be subject to the confidentiality requirements of these regulations.
Confidentiality of the records of the JPEC is critical to the willingness of individuals to participate in the evaluation program and to provide responses to questionnaires and the like. Accordingly, confidentiality is critical to the success of the program. The confidentiality that is at issue here is not a privilege personal to the judge under evaluation. The requirement of confidentiality has positive benefits to the judicial performance evaluation system and to the committee, irrespective of its benefits to the individual judge. Accordingly, the requirement of confidentiality cannot be waived by an individual judge. Thus, under the regulations adopted by the JPEC, no judge is authorized to disclose the results of an evaluation or to disclose any information concerning an evaluation, except as provided by Rule 4.3 and these regulations. This is true whether the evaluation is positive or negative.
Breach of the confidentiality requirement would have a serious effect on the success of the evaluation program. Furthermore, breach of the confidentiality may affect the interests of judges subject to evaluation and of those providing raw data for the purpose of evaluation. Thus, these regulations specify the nature of sanctions that may be imposed upon a person who violates the confidentiality requirement.
Regulation 1. All material to remain the property of the JPEC and to be subject to JPEC control for purposes of confidentiality/destruction.
All material of any kind whatsoever gathered or received by the JPEC for the purpose of evaluating a judge or judges, including but not limited to all information, questionnaires, notes, memoranda, electronic and computer data, and any other data obtained in the course of a judicial performance evaluation, shall be the property of the JPEC.
The chair of the JPEC shall be the legal custodian of all such records or materials, except those custody of which has been transferred to an individual judge.
The JPEC shall establish internal procedures for the control of all such material in order to assure its confidentiality.
The JPEC shall establish internal procedures for the destruction of confidential material relating to an individual judge, upon such terms and conditions, and at such times, as the JPEC shall determine. Material, custody of which is transferred to an individual judge, shall be kept or destroyed, at the discretion of the individual judge.
Regulation 2. Disclosure of individual questionnaires and evaluations and statistical summaries to the chief or presiding judge and to the judge under evaluation for purpose of conducting evaluation; disclosure of summary information to Supreme Court.
The JPEC shall collect and retain in its care, custody, and control all information, questionnaires, notes, memoranda, electronic and computer data, and any other data obtained in the course of a judicial performance evaluation.
The JPEC shall segregate all such data by individual judge, in order to permit biannual evaluation of each judge.
The JPEC shall provide a single copy of all such data relating to an individual judge, including any statistical summaries the JPEC may have developed, to the chief or presiding judge of the court of which the judge being evaluated is a member. No additional or other copies of any of the individual data shall be made by either the chief or presiding judge or the judge under evaluation.
Upon receipt of the individual data and information and any statistical summary from the JPEC, a chief or presiding judge may review the material with the judge under evaluation and the judge under evaluation shall have the opportunity to review the material. The chief or presiding judge may enlist, if necessary, the assistance of a retired judge from that court to review the performance information with the judge being evaluated. Upon the conclusion of the evaluation, custody of the original data upon which the evaluation is based shall be transferred to the judge under evaluation.
The JPEC shall provide evaluation information in summary form, without reference to the names of individual judges, to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Regulation 3. Nondisclosure of individual data and summary data; exception for Commission on Judicial Tenure and Discipline.
(a) Individual data completely confidential and not to be disclosed. Individual data shall be absolutely confidential and privileged except as provided above. No member of the JPEC or person associated with the JPEC, no chief or presiding judge, and no judge who has been subject to evaluation, shall disclose the nature or contents of any individual questionnaire, notes, or memoranda, which formed a part of the evaluation or the material upon which the evaluation was based, in any context whatsoever.
(b) Summary data regarding individual judge completely confidential and not to be disclosed. If a statistical summary of the data regarding an individual judge is prepared and is provided to the chief or presiding judge and to the judge under evaluation, such summary shall be absolutely confidential and privileged, except as provided above. No member of the JPEC or person associated with the JPEC, no chief or presiding judge, and no judge who has been subject to evaluation, shall disclose the nature or contents of any individual questionnaire, notes, or memoranda, which formed a part of the evaluation, in any context whatsoever.
(c) Exception for Commission on Judicial Tenure and Discipline. If, upon review of evaluation material submitted by the JPEC, a chief or presiding judge determines that the evaluation material or some portion thereof requires the chief or presiding judge to file a complaint to the Commission on Judicial Tenure and Discipline, the chief or presiding judge may make such complaint as the chief or presiding judge determines is required under the provisions of Canon 3(D)(1) of the Code of Judicial Conduct. In filing the complaint, the chief or presiding judge may disclose to the Commission on Judicial Tenure and Discipline such material from the evaluation information as the chief or presiding judge determines, in the exercise of discretion, is necessary to an appropriate complaint. An individual judge who has been the subject of a complaint filed by a chief or presiding judge, which complaint is based on or includes evaluation material or some portion thereof, may provide such additional evaluation material to the Commission on Judicial Tenure and Discipline as the individual judge determines is appropriate or necessary to defend against the allegations of the complaint. Upon the filing of the complaint and the response of an individual judge with the Commission on Judicial Tenure and Discipline, confidentiality as to the material disclosed to the Commission on Judicial Tenure and Discipline shall be determined by the rules of that commission.
Regulation 4. Disclosure of the results of performance evaluation.
No judge who has been evaluated, nor any chief, presiding, or retired judge who has participated in the performance evaluation of another judge, shall disclose the results of the individual evaluation to any other person, body, or agency, except the Commission on Judicial Tenure and Discipline, as provided above. No judge who has been the subject of an evaluation may waive the confidentiality requirement of the evaluation results.
Regulation 5. Sanctions for violation of the confidentiality rules.
Any judge who breaches the confidentiality and privilege requirements of these regulations may be guilty of violating the requirement of Canon 2 of the Code of Judicial Conduct that ''[a] judge shall comply with the law ''
Any person other than a judge who breaches the confidentiality and privilege requirements of these regulations may be subject to appropriate sanction and may be guilty of contempt of court.
R.I. Sup. Ct. R. 7.3