About Us

The Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission (JPEC) was established by the legislature in 2008 to help you get to know your judges. Its goals are:

To collect and disseminate valid information about each judge’s performance so that voters may make informed decisions about whether or not to retain that judge in office;
To provide judges with useful feedback about their performance so that they may become better judges and to thereby improve the quality of the judiciary as a whole; and
To promote public accountability of the judiciary while ensuring that the judiciary continues to operate as an independent branch of government.

Performance Evaluations

To accomplish these goals, the Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission conducts multi-faceted evaluations of judges. As judges stand for retention elections, the Commission publishes the evaluation report and determines whether the judge meets or exceeds performance standards. The voters ultimately decide whether or not each judge will continue to serve in office.

For more detailed information on the performance evaluations, visit our Evaluation Process page.

Commission Membership

The Commission consists of 13 members. The Utah Supreme Court and the Governor each appoint four members; the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives each appoint two members; and the executive director of the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice also serves on the Commission. No more than seven members may be attorneys. No more than half the members appointed by each branch of government may be of the same political party.

The current members of JPEC are: