Italy is among the countries with the highest litigation rate and those with the highest duration of trials. This article shows that judge turnover contributes negatively to delays in Italian courts and outlines possible policies for improvement. In Italy, judges can voluntarily move from one office to another after three years of mandate, and the law prescribes their transfer after ten years to guarantee their independence. Flaws in the process managing the backlog of outbound judges and the existence of asynchrony between outbound and inbound transfers produce a chain of delays to the disposition of court cases. Using a novel dataset on Court of Appeal Districts in Italy (2008–2012), we provide evidence of a strong negative relation between high turnover rates and judicial performance. We find that marginal increases in judge turnover rates lead to a statistically significant decrease in judicial performance over two years of time.

Does Judge Turnover Affect Judicial Performance? Evidence from Italian Court Records

Alice Guerra;
2017

Abstract

Italy is among the countries with the highest litigation rate and those with the highest duration of trials. This article shows that judge turnover contributes negatively to delays in Italian courts and outlines possible policies for improvement. In Italy, judges can voluntarily move from one office to another after three years of mandate, and the law prescribes their transfer after ten years to guarantee their independence. Flaws in the process managing the backlog of outbound judges and the existence of asynchrony between outbound and inbound transfers produce a chain of delays to the disposition of court cases. Using a novel dataset on Court of Appeal Districts in Italy (2008–2012), we provide evidence of a strong negative relation between high turnover rates and judicial performance. We find that marginal increases in judge turnover rates lead to a statistically significant decrease in judicial performance over two years of time.
2017
Alice Guerra; Claudio Tagliapietra
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Does Judge Turnover Affect Judicial Performance Evidence from Italian Court Records.pdf

accesso riservato

Tipo: Versione (PDF) editoriale
Licenza: Licenza per accesso riservato
Dimensione 1.13 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
1.13 MB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Contatta l'autore
Alice Guerra_DoesJudgeturnover.pdf

Open Access dal 03/03/2018

Tipo: Postprint
Licenza: Licenza per Accesso Aperto. Creative Commons Attribuzione (CCBY)
Dimensione 333.35 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
333.35 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/713334
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 7
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 8
social impact