Articles & Papers
Stress and Resiliency in the U.S. Judiciary. [2020] A comprehensive report in the 2020 Journal of The Professional Lawyer surveying more than 1,000 judges across the United States suggests job stress has become a serious health concern in the state judicial ranks, with about one-third or more reporting fatigue and low energy, sleep disturbance or disturbed attention and concentration. In addition to identifying sources of stress, the report also devotes a section to strategies for judges to promote self-care and enhance resiliency and makes recommendations to ease the road to better well-being.
To shed light on the matter, the 2019 National Judicial Stress and Resiliency Survey was conducted. This survey helped identify: (1) stressors unique to the judiciary, (2) how those stressors affect individual judges, and (3) strategies that judges have used to mitigate these stressors. The results serve as the context for recommendations made to the multiple stakeholders who comprise, regulate, and support the U.S. judicial system.
Where Stress Presides: Predictors and Correlates of Stress among Australian Judges and Magistrates. [2021] Recent research on the nature, prevalence and severity of judicial stress in Australia has revealed a considerable burden of stress placed upon the judicial system. This article builds upon this research by exploring the demographic and workplace factors associated with elevated stress among Australian judicial officers. A survey of 152 judicial officers from 5 Australian courts found that judicial stress – operationalized as non-specific psychological distress, depressive and anxious symptoms, burnout and secondary traumatic stress – was predicted by satisfaction of the basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness. Alcohol use and dependence was not associated with levels of stress or needs satisfaction. Ties to jurisdiction and stress included in the article.
Elements of Judicial Excellence: A Framework to Support the Professional Development of State Trial Court Judges. [2017] This framework provides new and experienced judges with guidance about the general types of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics their respected peers view as helpful in pursuit of judicial excellence. It provides information court leaders can use when deciding how to structure judicial education, performance feedback programs, and mentoring programs for judges.
Judges’ Well-Being and the Importance of Meaningful Work. [Anne Brafford & Robert W. Rebele, Court Review] This article focuses on the “spiritual” wellness dimension, which entails “[d]eveloping a sense of meaningfulness and purpose.”4As discussed below, meaningfulness fuels forms of work-related well-being like engagement, and its decline can lead to burnout and other negative consequences that harm judges’ ability to perform their best.