Abstract

Mirrormeetings are focusgroups used by courts in the Netherland to gather feedback on the functioning of court services and judges in different fields of law. Different categories of court users are consulted on their experiences with court proceedings in different legal fields. In the set-up of those meetings judges and court staff are the listening audience of the conversation between court users about issues brought up by moderators of the session. That conversation is intended to mirror the court work. In this article we share the results of an inquiry into the functioning of mirrormeetings as a feedback instrument. Our study shows how courts and judges value the feedback they receive. However, because courts control the organisation and content of mirrormeetings to a considerable extent, there may be a risk of missing out on relevant, but unforeseen feedback. Furthermore, the follow up of mirrormeetings in terms of change in routines or in judicial behaviour is traceable to a limited extent. Therefore, it is difficult to assess if and how intended adaptations are implemented.

摘要

Mirrormeetings 是荷兰法院用来收集有关法院服务和不同法律领域法官运作的反馈的焦点小组。我们咨询了不同类别的法院用户，了解他们在不同法律领域的法院诉讼程序的经验。在这些会议的安排中，法官和法院工作人员是法院用户之间就会议主持人提出的问题进行对话的听众。那次谈话旨在反映法庭工作。在本文中，我们分享了对镜像会议作为反馈工具的功能的调查结果。我们的研究表明法院和法官如何重视他们收到的反馈。但是，由于法院在相当程度上控制镜像会议的组织和内容，因此可能存在错过相关、但不可预见的反馈。此外，镜像会晤的后续变化，无论是在惯例还是司法行为上的变化，都具有一定的可追溯性。因此，很难评估是否以及如何实施预期的调整。