Author: Jonathan Mattiello

SJI BOARD ELECTS NEW CHAIR

crogers

 

During its meeting on June 13, 2016, the SJI Board of Directors elected Chief Justice Chase Rogers as Chair. She is the first female ever to be elected Chair of the SJI Board.

Chase Rogers has been the Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court since 2007.  She served as a judge on the Connecticut Appellate Court from 2006 to 2007, and as a judge on the Connecticut Superior Court from 1998 to 2006. Prior to becoming a judge, she was a partner at Cummings & Lockwood in Stamford, Connecticut, where she focused on employment law and commercial litigation. She served on the Board of Directors of the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) from 2008 to 2011. She has been a member of the Committee on Federal-State Jurisdiction of the Judicial Conference of the United States since 2012; member of the National Center for State Courts Expanding Court Access to Justice Project Advisory Committee since 2012; member of the Conference of Chief Justices Civil Justice Initiative Committee since 2014; member of the Connecticut Bar Foundation Nominating Committee since 2007; Ex Officio Member, American Law Institute; and Ex Officio Director, Connecticut Bar Foundation.

Chief Justice Rogers was appointed to the SJI Board of Directors in 2010. She has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law since 2012. She received an Honorary degree from Quinnipiac University School of Law in 2010, and an Honorary degree from the University of Hartford in 2011. She received her J.D. from Boston University School of Law, and B.A. from Stanford University.

Virtual Courthouse Planning Guide

A new addition to the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) website includes the compilation of a near exhaustive list of resources for state courts and their stakeholders when designing new, renovating existing, or significantly updating facilities.

With grant support from SJI, the NCSC was able to create an online portal, titled The Virtual Courthouse: A Guide to Planning and Design.  The NCSC still maintains experts in the field, who assist with these projects; however this site provides the early planning efforts that should be considered regardless of whether the court has engaged outside resources.

Among the processes emphasized as essential to launching the first-stage of courthouse planning efforts are:

  • Needs Assessment – Evaluation of the deficiencies of current facility and quantifying existing conditions.
  • Master Planning – Engage architectural and site selection teams, inclusive of building occupants.
  • Project Budgeting – List and evaluate funding options; obtain realistic expectations for total costs.
  • Facility Planning – Ensure that planning and design standards are set.

Each process is linked to resources that further define the core components required of successful new, or redesigned, court facilities.  Also included is special attention to the uniqueness of the courthouse structure, and its particular needs, including, security, accessibility, compliance, and technology.

 

NCJFCJ Publishes Final Report From National Summit on Courts and the Military

With SJI support, the National Council for Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) recently published a report from its first-ever National Summit on Courts and Military.  Convened in March 2015 at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia, the goal of the Summit was to create the groundwork for a collaborative relationship between the courts and the many military institutions, civilian agencies, and government departments that assist military families when they access the state courts.

The Summit represented years of planning efforts culminating in the engaged presence of nearly 100 individuals representing all branches of government and the military, specifically including:

  • state court judicial leaders from across the country;
  • armed forces personnel including former commanding officers;
  • federal executive departments of Office of the Secretary of Defense and Veterans Affairs;
  • federal and state legislators;
  • various service organizations for military families, together with academic, research, and policy groups interested in the welfare of the military family.

The summit report covers the following considerations:

  • Education and training in a more comprehensive, consistent, and widespread manner than currently exists.
  • Resources and services for military-connected families.
  • Judicial and Command collaboration.
  • Judicial and Command [co-] leadership.
  • Assessing the needs and risks of the military-connected family members.

 

The NCJFCJ also outlined eight specific ways in which it could leverage national support of military families and courts, based on shared insights from participants, some of which included: increasing membership on its Military Issues Committee; keeping participants connected and engaged in the discussion virtually; fostering support for local and state-level court and command collaborative; and development of training curricula for key stakeholders within the collaborative.  With ongoing information sharing and a demand for more resources to move the discussion forward, the NCJFCJ maintains an active Military Families portal on their website.

The full 10-page final report is available from the NCJFCJ.

 

SJI Support for Language Access in the State Courts

Since the mid-1990s, state courts have implemented various strategies in an effort to ensure access to justice for limited English proficiency (LEP) individuals. Most state courts provide foreign language interpreters in criminal cases, and more are providing interpreters in civil, domestic relations, and other court proceedings.  Several factors have pushed state courts to establish policies and standards for serving LEP individuals, including recognition that there should at least be a common agreement that every court aspire to provide these services as a matter of fairness.

Since FY 2006, SJI has invested approximately $2.7 million in grants on this issue.  These include projects on interpreter training, remote interpreting, and forms translation.  In addition, the SJI Board established Language Access as a Priority Investment Area for grant funding in November 2011.

In FY 2012, SJI awarded a grant to the NCSC, in collaboration with CCJ and COSCA, to host a National Summit on Language Access in the Courts. This Summit, which was held October 2012, enabled state courts to share successful strategies and evidence-based practices, and propose implementation strategies that are consistent among the states.  Each state team that attended the Summit is working to develop or improve statewide plans to address the problem of serving LEP individuals.  A National Call to Action report documenting the Summit’s outcomes and strategies for implementation of language access plans was widely disseminated.

In FY 2013, SJI awarded a grant to the NCSC’s Language Access Services Section that provides direct technical assistance on this critical issue, and in FY 2014 SJI provided support for the National Virtual Remote Interpreting (VRI) Capability. State courts will be able to use the VRI to provide interpreters remotely, thereby increasing access and reducing costs.

 

SJI Awards FY 2016 Second Quarter Grants

The SJI Board of Directors met on April 18, 2016, at the Supreme Court of Kentucky in Frankfort to make decisions on quarterly grant applications and awarded a total of twenty-one (21) new grants.

Two (2) Strategic Initiatives Grants were awarded: support to the Conference of Chief Justice/Conference of State Court Administrators (CCJ/COSCA) for the National Task Force on Fines, Fees, and Bail Practices; and the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) to identify best practices in court privacy policy formulation.

Fourteen (14) Technical Assistance (TA) Grants were approved, including: assistance to the Judiciaries in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Hawaii to address human trafficking; support to the California Commission on Judicial Performance for a judicial mentoring project; strategic planning for the Pierce County, Washington District Court; and support to the Utah Administrative Office of the Courts for an innovative online dispute resolution program.

Five (5) Curriculum Adaptation & Training (CAT) Grants were approved, including: support to the Oregon Judiciary for language access training and development; the National Judicial College (NJC) for judicial webcasts and online learning modules; and the NCSC for digital evidence training.

 

D.C. Jury System Report

With support from SJI, the Council for Court Excellence (CCE) released Jury Service Revisited: Upgrades for the 21st Century, a comprehensive review of the jury system in Washington, D.C., at an event hosted by Arnold & Porter (SJI-14-T-086).

The report builds on the Council’s 1998 seminal study on jury service.  At the event, Professor Andrew Fergusson of the UDC David A. Clarke School of Law called the report, “a blueprint of change for jury service today.”  The Washington Post featured the report in an editorial published on January 2, 2016, which noted that the report and its recommendations “must not be consigned to the shelves and instead should provide the basis for needed action.”

The report’s twenty-five recommendations address how the Court can: improve juror care; jury pool and summoning; and trial structure in regards to juries.  At present, CCE staff is working with its Board and various stakeholders to initiate the process of implementing the report’s recommendations.

To improve the public’s access to justice and increase their understanding of the justice system, CCE has published and distributed over 360,000 copies of plain-language booklets and other materials explaining a wide variety of court and justice system issues.

This report is available online and through the NCSC Library eCollection.

 

 

 

National Summit on Human Trafficking and The State Courts: Videos Available Online

On October 8 and 9, 2015, teams from around the country came together in New York City for the National Summit on Human Trafficking and the State Courts hosted by then-Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, with key support from SJI (SJI-15-P-029).

The teams were made up of chief justices, court administrators, prosecutors, defense attorneys, advocates, and others with an interest or involvement in efforts to address human trafficking at the state level.  There were teams from 46 states, the District of Columbia, and four U.S. territories in attendance.

The summit included panel discussions on Day 1 focusing on a variety of subjects related to the work of the state courts, along with their justice system and community partners, in responding to trafficking cases and victims.  On Day 2, state teams began developing action plans.  The plans incorporated the information and approaches presented on Day 1.

In order to make the expertise and knowledge shared at the Summit more widely available, video of the panel discussions is now available on the Summit website. Panel Videos from the National Summit included a range of topics discussed by experts in the field, including:

  • Human Trafficking from a Judicial Perspective
  • Labor Trafficking and Promising Programs
  • Working Together -Reaching Out to Our Justice Partners
  • Innovative Strategies to Address HT by Courts and Communities
  • State Courts Taking Action

The Human Trafficking and the States Courts Collaborative, played a major role in the National Summit, along with the New York Unified Court System. SJI began focusing on human trafficking and the state courts over three years ago by supporting the HT Collaborative and their work. This National Summit was a culmination of several years of work on this critical issue. Post-Summit, the HT Collaborative continues to provide technical assistance and training to the state courts on human trafficking.

 

NACM Midyear Meeting Content Available Online

SJI continued its grant support to the National Association for Court Management (NACM) in 2016, which ensured that the educational sessions of NACM’s Midyear and Annual meetings would be available online (SJI-15-N-030).

New this year was the inclusion of live streaming, in addition to post-conference content being available through the NACM website. Live streaming is a popular way for NACM members and non-members to receive educational content and learn more about NACM. Anyone interested may view online or download the Midyear Meeting content at their convenience. Included are high-impact sessions that address existing and emerging challenges for court professionals:

NACM also maintains an archive of past conference content and highlights accessible via their website.

NACM continues to provide education on SJI’s Priority Investment Areas including immigration issues, self-represented litigation, improving language access, remote technology, and human trafficking. The 2016 Annual Meeting will be held July 10 – 14, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Early Bird registration, available through June 3rd, is already underway. The Annual Meeting Digital Agenda is available online including plenary topics, breakout session titles, and meetings of several state court stakeholder groups. SJI’s Executive Director, Jonathan Mattiello, will present with Jesse Rutledge of the NCSC and Stephanie Elliott Hess, NACM President, on July 11th regarding the State of the State Courts 2015 Poll.   This breakout session, like others, will explore the provision of justice, court performance, and the court manager’s role in maintaining accountability and transparency in order to ensure public trust and confidence in the judicial branch.

 

CCJ/COSCA National Task Force on Fines, Fees, and Bail Practices

With support from SJI, the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) have formed a National Task Force on Fines, Fees and Bail Practices to address the ongoing impact that court fines and fees and bail practices have on communities. One of the aims of the nationally–led initiative is to understand and address how fines, fees, and bail disproportionately impact the economically disadvantaged across the United States.

The Task Force is comprised of national judicial and legal leaders, legal advocates, policy makers from state, county and municipal government, academics, and the public interest community.  Several CCJ and COSCA members attended a two-day White House hearing in December led by DOJ that outlined the severity of this issue and the critical need to find solutions.

The Task Force co-chairs have formed three working groups:

  1. Access to Justice and Fairness
  2. Transparency, Governance & Structural Reform
  3. Accountability, Judicial Performance and Qualifications, and Oversight

 

Among other responsibilities, the Task Force will:

  • Draft model statutes, court rules, written policies, processes and procedures for setting, collecting and waiving court-imposed payments;
  • Compile and create suggested best practices for setting, processing and codifying the collection of fines and fees and bail/bonds;
  • Review and revise suggested guidelines for qualifications and oversight of judges in courts created by local governments or traffic courts, including reviewing and updating state codes of judicial conduct and the jurisdiction of judicial conduct commissions to ensure their applicability to all judges;
  • Sponsor a court “hackathon” designed to develop innovative technological solutions that ensure courts are providing 21st century customer service through mobile applications and software platforms; and
  • Develop an online clearinghouse of information containing resources and best practices.

The project draws on how court functions ensure that the judiciary can fulfill its obligation of upholding the Constitution and protecting the individual rights of all citizens.

 

Body Worn Cameras and the Courts

With assistance from SJI, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) completed a comprehensive review of issues relating to body-worn cameras (BWC), and the collection, publication, testing, and use of video evidence generated during state court proceedings.

Following the April of 2015 release of the Body-Worn Cameras for Law Enforcement Assessment Report by U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which detailed a number of different BWC devices and capacities of the technology, questions began to surface related to recorded material, particularly as it is used in criminal and civil cases. The NCSC report titled, Body-Worn Cameras and the Courts, addresses a series of considerations state courts may want to explore in anticipation of more widespread adoption by law enforcement of BWCs and their continued presence in legal proceedings, such as:

  • Video and Lost or Destroyed Evidence;
  • Law Enforcement and BWC Policies;
  • Authentication and Publication of Video Evidence;
  • Relevant Case Law, including: Arizona v. Youngblood, Asherman, Merriman, and Durnwald Cases;
  • Statutory Issues;
  • Negative-Inference Instructions to the Jury; and,
  • Freedom-of-Information/Open-Records Statutes.

The appendices include comprehensive information regarding states that follow and do not follow the Youngblood standard, as well as a resource list for additional reports and collections related to current and pending BWC issues. The conclusion acknowledges BWCs for their ability to improve public trust, but also suggests that state courts need to implement practices and judicial education programs that account for the impacts on criminal cases during pretrial proceedings where video is lost.