Our Mission Statement

The mission of the Colorado Judicial Institute is to promote excellence, equity, impartiality, and public trust in Colorado’s courts through outreach, education, and engagement.

Mission Statement Philosophy

The Colorado Judicial Institute (CJI), founded in 1979, is a Colorado nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. CJI’s initial mission was to protect and improve Colorado’s state court judicial merit selection system, adopted by Colorado voters through a 1966 constitutional amendment, and to educate the public about that system. Since then, CJI’s focus has expanded, and its mission statement has continued to evolve to reflect that expansion of focus and activities. CJI carries out its mission to promote excellence, equity, impartiality, and public trust in Colorado’s courts through programs that include: scholarships for the continuing education of judges; annual recognition of outstanding judges; the Diversity on the Bench initiative that helps ensure the courts reflect the diversity of the communities they serve; and public education, primarily through the Our Courts program, about the judicial system, merit selection, and the rule of law. CJI believes its mission and programs help ensure that litigants may have their day in court with dignity and respect.

CJI Positions

CJI supports merit selection, judicial performance evaluation, and retention elections as having an appropriate balance of accountability and impartiality.

CJI supports public education about the judiciary believing that an educated public is crucial to supporting judicial impartiality as a component of the separation of powers.

CJI supports the appropriate use of alternative dispute resolution.

CJI supports continuing education for judicial officers and judicial department staff as a critical component of judicial excellence.

CJI supports research into best practices and innovative programs to best serve the citizens of Colorado and improve efficiency and effectiveness.

CJI supports consistent, fair funding of the judicial department.

CJI supports community involvement with the judiciary in the forms of service on nominating and evaluation commissions as well as educational programs.