The Colorado Supreme Court Task Force Examines Gender Bias
| Publication year | 1990 |
| Pages | 1291 |
| Citation | Vol. 19 No. 7 Pg. 1291 |
1990, July, Pg. 1291. The Colorado Supreme Court Task Force Examines Gender Bias
In July 1988, Chief Justice Quinn appointed the Colorado Supreme Court Task Force on Gender Bias, giving it approximately sixteen months to complete its study and prepare a final report. Quinn's order stated that if gender bias is found in "any aspect of the judicial system," the Task Force is to
suggest programs and mechanisms for reducing and eliminating such bias, including: standards designed to eliminate gender bias; educational programs calculated to increase the sensitivity of judges, judicial employees, the legal profession, and the public to the existence and effects of gender bias; and appropriate procedures and statutory and rule changes designed to eliminate or reduce gender bias.
On March 29, 1990, attorneys Katherine Tamblyn and David Wood, co-chairs of the Task Force, presented Quinn with a 160-page report that cites examples of gender bias in the judicial system. The report also addresses nine areas needing attention and lists forty-six recommendations to eliminate gender bias. The Task Force was funded in part by grants from the Colorado Women's Bar Association, Colorado Lawyer's Trust Account Fund, Colorado Bar Association, Colorado Bar Foundation and Colorado Trial Lawyers Association.
The Task Force worked to provide opportunities for people who perceive bias in the system to be heard. The results are based on public hearings; listening sessions; meetings with attorneys; telephone calls and letters; mail surveys to judges, lawyers and court personnel; court watching; and a review of court records. Approximately 60 percent of the state's 268 trial court judges and referees participated in the survey. Also, nearly half (47 percent) of the 1,800 Judicial Department employees (70 percent of which are women) responded to the survey; of those responding three-fourths were women. Finally, more than 30 percent (3,455) of the 12,100 registered attorneys throughout Colorado participated in the survey; about one-fourth of this 30 percent were women.
The Task Force adopted a definition of gender bias that describes the experiences reported by litigants, attorneys and others familiar with the Colorado judicial system.
Gender bias exists:
when people are denied rights or are burdened with responsibilities solely on the basis of gender;
[Please see hardcopy for image]when stereotypes about the proper behavior of men and women are applied to people regardless of their individual situations;
Chief Justice Joseph R. Quinn
when men and women are treated differently in situations where gender should make no difference; and
when men or women are adversely affected by a legal rule, policy or practice that affects members of the opposite sex to a lesser degree or not at all.
The Task Force reported on the following areas: the economic consequences of divorce; child custody and visitation; child support; domestic violence; criminal justice; civil justice; courtroom environment; court administration; and domestic relations.
Chief Justice Quinn commended the Task Force's report, stating,
The 25-member task force found examples of bias that call for the judicial system to address the need for increased education about, and sensitivity to, gender bias as a permanent and ongoing concern. This research gives us insight into how gender bias is manifested in our legal system.... [It] offers data that reflects the cultural, societal, and economic structure of our society. Attitudes in the legal system mirror attitudes in society. Courts, however, have a special obligation to provide a forum in which issues can be decided on their merits alone and free of any kind of bias...
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