The National Association for Court Management (NACM) Summer 2022 edition of the Court Manager magazine is now available.
This edition features all things Annual Conference – a recap of sessions, social events, awards, CORE® sessions and the CORE® Champion Program, and a testimonial of the conference scholarship benefits. In addition, regular columns on Courtside Conversations, Management Musings, and a Question of Ethics.
Read more here
The master jury list is the first step in the complex process of assembling a pool of prospective jurors. To ensure that the process is efficient and that the resulting jury pool reflects the demographic composition of the community, the master jury list should be broadly inclusive of the adult population, geographically and demographically representative, and contain accurate address records. With funding from SJI, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) Center for Jury Studies examined juror source lists and master jury lists in three states. The final report highlights the implications of using poor quality juror source lists and failing to identify duplicate records during process of merging multiple lists, which resulted in substantially over-inclusive source lists and master jury lists in all three states.
The NCSC concluded that over-inclusiveness can be as problematic as under-inclusiveness. The presence of unrecognized duplicate records and stale records undermines the efficiency of the jury system by incurring printing, postage, and staffing costs for duplicative jury summonses or summonses that do not reach the intended recipients. It also distorts demographic representation in different ways. In some states, it may mask underrepresentation of racial and ethnic groups; in others, it may cause concerns about underrepresentation that does not really exist. The NCSC recommended that state courts use only as many juror source lists as necessary to achieve inclusiveness at or near 100 percent. The choice of which source lists to use should be based on assessments of list quality, especially concerning record accuracy, which may differ from state to state. The report includes detailed recommendations for courts to assess the quality of juror source lists in their respective states and maximize the accuracy of their master jury lists.
With support from State Justice Institute, LaGratta Consulting, LLC, in collaboration with Rulo Strategies, LLC and the Center for Behavioral Health and Justice at the Wayne State University School of Social Work is assisting twelve pilot criminal courts by collecting and analyzing court user and court staff feedback to assess the value of COVID-19 pandemic-response practices. Through coordination and lesson-mining of these pilot sites, and the creation of web-based practitioner tools, the project is offering guidance to state courts on how court users and staff have experienced new practices, bringing valuable insights into court leaders’ decision-making process. This new publication documents user feedback in the pilot sites.
The National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (NCSACW), the Children’s Bureau (CB) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) have collaborated to create: Engaging Parents and Youth with Lived Experience: Strengthening Collaborative Policy and Practice Initiatives for Families with Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders. This resource provides key considerations for recruiting and engaging those with lived experience who were involved with child welfare associated with a substance use disorder or other mental health challenge. It also highlights considerations for engaging youth who have spent time in the foster care system.
Parents and youth can offer valuable insight, based on first-hand experience, that helps agencies implement strategies to improve outcomes for those served.
To access this new resource: Final_LiveExperience (hhs.gov)
The Oregon Supreme Court approved the Licensed Paralegal (LP) Program, a program that will license individuals who aren’t lawyers to provide limited legal services in family law and landlord/tenant issues, two areas with the greatest unmet need for legal assistance in the state. This makes Oregon the fifth state in the country to enlist a new tier of legal professionals in the effort to provide more access to legal help. The LP program will train paralegals to assist with a variety of legal issues, including divorce and separation, custody and parenting time, child and spousal support, and forced entry and wrongful detainer.
Some of their duties include:
Fortunately, states like Utah, Arizona, and Minnesota have also embraced new tiers of legal professionals. As IAALS Manager Michael Houlberg, “There’s a big push. Since 2020, there have been more than 10 states that have developed proposals.” Building on this momentum, IAALS’ newly launched Allied Legal Professionals project aims to help standardize these legal professional programs nationally, in order to expand the options for accessible and affordable legal help for the public. Programs like Oregon’s are exemplary of what we hope to eventually see spread even further across the country.
To read the full article, please visit: Oregon Joins Growing List of States Empowering Legal Professionals to Help More People | IAALS (du.edu)
In 2021, with support from 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 video below highlights the mission of the RJC: https://vimeo.com/735789228
Now in its fourth edition, Steps to Best Practices for Court Building Security delivers updated guidance on a diverse array of court security topics. Examples include recommendations for implementing remote hearings for in-custody defendants and recommendations for security technology. The new release highlights how courts can integrate technology into building infrastructure—including security control centers, alarms, access control technology, and cameras. The updated guidance also incorporates greater attention to how architectural design can create safe separation and circulation for all court participants. The 2022 update also reinforces fundamental security concepts for courts of all shapes and sizes.
To help courts achieve these fundamental practices, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) evaluates the effectiveness of court building security programs through responses to questions, such as:
To learn more about NCSC’s court security services, please visit the Court Security and Emergency Preparedness web page.
Over the past decade, the Kansas Judicial Branch has used SJI grants to accomplish many of its objectives, including improving its workforce and commencing access to justice initiatives. In FY 2016, an SJI grant (SJI-16-T-149) enabled the Judicial Branch to contract with the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) for an independent assessment of job classifications and rates of compensation for employees and district magistrate judges. The results were astonishing:
The NCSC updated the study in 2018, and calculations were revised the following years using the Consumer Price Index to account for market adjustments.
The salary issues were due to chronic underfunding of the Kansas court system. During one stretch, Kansas judges did not receive a pay increase for nine years, and employee position pay was not increased for eight years, except for a one-time 2 percent cost of living increase which was offset by increased employee benefit contributions. The SJI-funded classification and compensation study illustrated how significantly below market employee positions were, and provided a solid, independent basis for the Judicial Branch’s efforts in working with the Legislature to provide adequate funding for salaries. The Legislature recognized the situation and began annually increasing employee salaries to bring them to market rate.
In 2019, the Legislature appropriated a 5 percent increase to the Judicial Branch’s employee pay pool, which enabled the Supreme Court to allocate raises in proportion to the compensation study. The Legislature also appropriated 2.5 percent increases in 2018 and 2020. During the 2021 legislative session, the Legislature appropriated funding over two years to raise Judicial Branch employees to market rate, in accordance with the compensation study. That same year, the Legislature provided judges with 5 percent salary increases for fiscal years 2022 and 2023. During the 2022 session, the Legislature appropriated a 5 percent across-the-board increase for employees and judges for a cost-of-living adjustment. The impact of these increases is staggering. For the first time in decades, employee positions are at or near market pay and judges salaries are moving toward competitiveness.
A weighted caseload study for judges and clerks was initially performed by the NCSC in 2011. Because this caseload study provided valuable data, the Judicial Branch continued working with the NCSC on updates for judges, clerks, and administrative assistants. While this project was not supported with SJI funding, the Judiciary used the results as a basis for requesting and receiving additional positions in FY 2022. This project, in addition to the compensation study, provided adequate compensation figures for the positions contained in the weighted caseload studies.
The Kansas Judicial Branch has relied on SJI grant-funded projects for more than its salary efforts. Other successful projects supported by SJI over the years include:
The National Center for State Courts has just announced the publication of the revised 2022 edition of Steps to Best Practices for Court Building Security. The Steps to Best Practices document is intended to provide guidance to courts throughout the country in enhancing the security and safety of their court facilities. The document forth guidelines for what constitutes best practices in various areas of court building security. It also sets forth steps in phases that can be taken toward achieving these best practices. These steps may be helpful for courts as they strive to prioritize and implement improvements in court building security.
The current publication is the 4th edition of the Steps to Best Practices. The previous editions were published in 2010, 2013, and 2016.
For more information please visit: Steps to Best Practices for Court Building Security – Courthouse Facilities – National Center for State Courts (oclc.org)
Task Force Releases Comprehensive Guidelines, Principles for Juvenile Mental Health Diversion Upwards of 70% of young people in the justice system have a diagnosed mental disorder, and 90% have experienced a traumatic life event that can negatively impact their mental health. To assist courts and service providers in addressing the growing mental health crisis, the National Judicial Task Force to Examine Courts’ Response to Mental Illness recently released a set of Juvenile Justice Mental Health Diversion Guidelines and Principles.
To view the New Task Force Resources Released, please visit: Task Force Releases Comprehensive Guidelines, Principles for Juvenile Mental Health Diversion | NCSC