Category: News And Announcements

The State Justice Institute, in partnership with Praxis Consulting and Rulo Strategies, is excited to launch Collaboration in Action: A Toolkit for Courts and Counties, a comprehensive and user-friendly resource designed to support courts, county officials, and justice stakeholders in creating safer and more effective local justice systems. This free toolkit provides step-by-step guidance to help communities plan strategically, collaborate across agencies, and implement sustainable ideas and programs.

Whether you’re addressing pretrial practices, reentry, substance use, or overall justice system coordination, the toolkit offers practical tools and real-world examples tailored to the challenges of local governance. It walks users through how to identify the right partners, engage key stakeholders, and facilitate the planning processes. From convening working groups to setting priorities and tracking progress, the toolkit emphasizes collaboration and community-centered approaches.

Inside, you’ll find resources on:

• Building cross-sector partnerships
• Leading strategic planning initiatives
• Sustaining long-term efforts and funding
• Turning ideas into actionable programs
• Promoting data-informed decision making

Whether you’re just starting your planning journey or looking to strengthen existing efforts, the toolkit is a valuable companion in advancing your community’s justice goals. Visit the toolkit here.

This year, the Justice Management Institute received a strategic initiatives grant from the State Justice Institute to expand the use of online case resolution (OCR) for traffic and misdemeanor cases. With OCR, a person who receives a citation or is charged with a misdemeanor can access a defendant app and contest their case online. The technology enables courts, attorneys, and those charged to work through the discovery stage and plea negotiation without appearing in court. OCR can also be used for post-resolution efforts like entering into a payment plan, collecting payments, and/or providing documentation of completing community service and relevant classes that may be part of the case outcome.

The potential impact of this work is significant. Based on JMI research, there are over 11,500 courts that have jurisdiction for more than 35.5 million traffic and misdemeanor cases per year. In other words, on average, up to 14% of adults living in the United States are likely to interact with a traffic or misdemeanor court every year.  OCR benefits people by providing increased access to the courts, making it easier to navigate the legal system, and enabling courts and attorneys to manage overwhelming caseloads and reduce delays. It also increases accountability to the public and builds a repository of information to promote evaluation, research, and transparency.

The OCR initiative has two primary goals. The first is to map traffic and misdemeanor jurisdictions and supporting technologies in each state. This groundwork will assist the OCR project team to bring the OCR platform into that jurisdiction or state. The second goal is for the OCR project team to work with two pilot courts, Missoula Municipal Court and North Las Vegas Justice Court, to write the requirements and adapt the OCR web-based platform design to their courts. The project is built on a pilot OCR project JMI has done with the Municipal and Traffic Court of New Orleans, with technical support from the New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts, which built during the pandemic a traffic case resolution system for NJ municipal courts. Further, JMI has partnered with Kalamuna, an open-source application developer, to assist with the technical aspects of the project.

For more information, visit the OCR Initiative or contact Robin Wosje at robinw@jmijustice.org, or Tim Dibble, Vice President, at timd@jmijustice.org

Funded by the State Justice Institute, the National Center for State Courts, in partnership with Rulo Strategies LLC, launched the Rural Justice Collaborative (RJC) to showcase the strengths of rural communities and highlight the cross-sector collaboration that is a hallmark of rural justice systems. These strengths include strong professional networks, deep ties to the communities they serve, resiliency, and ingenuity. The Rural Justice Collaborative is guided by an advisory council of rural practitioners representing the judiciary, public safety, behavioral health, public health, child welfare, victim services and other stakeholder-focused justice systems. The advisory council guides the initiative and has focused initial efforts on advancing innovation, promoting collaboration, and raising awareness of rural justice system needs.

SJI received fourteen (14) grant applications requesting a total of $1,285,848 for the 2^nd quarter of FY 2025.

The Board awarded four (4) Strategic Initiative Grants to: the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) to further develop the Court Recruitment System – a state court clerkship application portal; the Institute for Intergovernmental Research for ongoing support to the Reaching Rural: Advancing Collaborative Solutions initiative; the NCSC, in partnership with the Conference of State Court Administrators/National Association for Court Management Joint Technology Committee, Court Information Technology Officers Consortium, and the Integrated Justice Information Systems Institute to engage courts and technology vendors in open discussions about common challenges in working together on technology projects, and identify strategies to mitigate those challenges; and the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System to launch a national initiative to address how best to provide legal services to self-represented litigants in high stakes/high risks cases.

One (1) Project Grant was awarded to the Missouri Office of State Courts Administrator to assist local courts with developing Continuity of Operations Plans.

Six (6) Technical Assistance Grant applications were awarded: the Kansas Supreme Court for local strategic planning projects; the National Association for Presiding Judges and Court Executive Officers for educational programming; the City of Beaverton, Oregon, Municipal Court for a caseflow and case management system assessment; the District of Columbia Courts for an interactive web system for the Court of Appeals; the Superior Court of Mohave County, Arizona for a strategic planning process; and the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts for an organizational assessment. 

Three (3) Curriculum Adaptation and Training Grants were awarded: the Montana Supreme Court to support educational programming for limited jurisdiction judges during the Montana Judicial Institute; the Council of Chief Judges of the State Courts of Appeal for educational programming; and the National Association of State Judicial Educators for training programs that enhance judicial education. 

The next deadline for grant applications is May 1, 2025.