Author: Lauren Curtis

Juvenile court judges are the most important public figures in the juvenile justice system–their decisions impact whether hundreds of thousands of youth each year become court involved and for how long, whether they are involuntarily removed from their homes and communities, and the services they receive. Despite the importance of these judges, states and locales have generally not assessed whether and how the structure, roles, and operations of their juvenile courts support or hinder public safety and positive youth outcomes.

To support improved practice, the Council of State Governments Justice Center, in partnership with the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, conducted an analysis of how juvenile courts are structured and operate in all 50 states. The resulting report, Courting Judicial Excellence in Juvenile Justice, highlights key recommendations to improve juvenile court policy and practice and includes examples of best practices across the country. Key recommendations include:

• Establish specialized and dedicated juvenile and family court judges
• Ensure that judges hearing delinquency cases have the tools and resources necessary to adjudicate delinquency cases in a developmentally appropriate way
• Require all judges who hear delinquency cases to receive ongoing training on juvenile justice
• Establish dedicated forums focused on strengthening and supporting juvenile court
• Identify statewide performance measures for juvenile court

An accompanying tool, which highlights key juvenile court metrics, can be found at the Juvenile Justice GPS. Additionally, NCJFCJ passed a resolution on the importance of juvenile court specialization which can be found here.

Each county in Mississippi contains its own Justice Court where community members bring legal actions to settle local, small-dollar disputes. Court regulations and policies vary in each county, and they can be incredibly confusing for Mississippians to navigate, almost all of which are pro se litigants. The COVID-19 pandemic created more variation as judges and court staff introduced and adapted procedures and policies over the last two years. The Mississippi Center for Justice, through funding provided by SJI, created the Justice Court Access Program (“JCAP”) to build internet resources for community members to access crucial information ahead of their hearing. JCAP first identified the needs of the Justice Courts across the state by conducting a survey and reaching out community members to identify what tools and resources could best serve the people of the court. JCAP then created resources to fit with the results.

The JCAP website, www.msjusticecourthelp.com, offers visitors a convenient way to access guides on justice court procedures and policies, forms and filings, information on local law libraries, and other helpful references and links. The project also involved the creation of six self-help videos on issues ranging from preparing for court, post-hearing procedures, and how to dress for your court date. In addition, JCAP also created a virtual court navigator, “Lex,” who is hosted on the website and helps users navigate www.msjusticecourthelp.com in real time.

Participating in the judicial system can be traumatic and stressful. Mediation is a tool used for resolving many judicial matters, thus mediators often encounter disputants experiencing the worst time of their lives. With this in mind, Texas Dispute Resolution System™ (TDRS) began a process to enhance their mediators’ skills and knowledge when engaging disputants during their traumatic journey. Unfortunately, this nationwide search identified very few resources. As such, TDRS endeavored to fill this void.

With extensive collaboration with the National Center of State Courts and the generous funding from the State Justice Institute, TDRS provided a national 6-hour webinar in July 2021 with dynamic speakers from across the United States. The knowledge gleaned from these speakers was instrumental in developing the “Mental Health and Mediation Best Practices Handbook”, a first of its kind. This Handbook is now available to all mediators with the intent to continue assisting mediators in improving and building their toolboxes. The handbook is available online via the National Center for State Courts website at Mediation and Mental Health Best Practices Handbook – Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) – National Center for State Courts (oclc.org). TDRS welcomes feedback and ideas on how to expand this educational resource. Emails may be sent to odr@lubbockcounty.gov.