State Justice Institute

Courting Justice Listening Tour

On June 10, 2016, judicial leaders from across the country gathered in Los Angeles to record the first edition of “Courting Justice,” a multi-part, televised “listening tour” being produced in cooperation with PBS broadcaster Tavis Smiley and offered during Smiley’s regular programming slot. Support for “Courting Justice” was provided by SJI, in addition to financial and in-kind resources from the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), Walmart, the California Endowment, and the Public Welfare Foundation. More information about Courting Justice is available on the NCSC’s website: www.ncsc.org/courtingjustice

Each edition in the series features a town-hall style program inclusive of judges from around the country, who engage in an unprecedented dialogue with the communities they serve in order to provide stakeholders from disenfranchised communities an opportunity to discuss the issues that erode trust in our judicial system. A recent survey conducted for the NCSC found that only 32 percent of African Americans believe that state courts provide equal justice to all.

Panelists for the June 10th town hall included: Judge Daniel J. Buckley (Superior Court of Los Angeles County); Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye (Supreme Court of California),; Judge Jimmie Edwards (22^nd Judicial District, City of St. Louis); Associate Justice Maria P. Rivera (California, First District Court of Appeals, Division Four); and Chief Judge Eric T. Washington (District of Columbia Court of Appeals). Audience members were drawn from Los Angeles area social justice, advocacy, faith, and small business communities, in addition to local and national court and bar leaders.

“I am gratified that many of the most influential judges in the country are eager to step down from the bench and engage in a free and open exchange with the people most affected by their decisions,” said Tavis Smiley, who serves on the advisory board of the initiative. “This frank discussion is unprecedented. Securing the public’s trust in our judicial system is fundamental to our democracy.”

The first in a series of town hall meetings was recorded at Loyola School of Law. Future dates and locations for town halls will be announced as schedules are finalized.

SJI Awards FY 2016 Third Quarter Grants

The SJI Board of Directors met on June 13, 2016, at SJI Headquarters to make decisions on quarterly grant applications and awarded a total of nineteen (19) new grants.

One Strategic Initiatives Grant was awarded to support the implementation Phase of the Civil Justice Initiative. Two (2) Project Grants were approved, one to the Center for Court Innovation for a Domestic Violence Risk Factor Guide for Civil Courts Enhancement Project; and one to the New York Unified Court System for development and implementation of an Online Dispute Resolution Platform.

Ten (10) Technical Assistance (TA) Grants were approved, including: the Maricopa County, Arizona, Superior Court for a commercial court evaluation; the Nebraska Judiciary for a review of clerk’s offices statewide; the Colorado Administrative Office of the Courts for a Domestic Relations Triage Project; the Delaware Administrative Office of the Courts for a Criminal Case Scheduling Initiative; and the Greene County, Ohio, Juvenile Court for an Operational Assessment.

Six (6) Curriculum Adaptation & Training (CAT) Grants were approved, including: support to the Judicial Council of California for an Advanced Judicial College; the Washington Administrative Office of the Courts for an online Guardianship Training Course; the Arkansas Judiciary for development of online modules for court security officers; and the American Judges Association for domestic abuse education for judges.

SJI BOARD ELECTS NEW CHAIR

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 21^st 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 3^rd, 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 11^th 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.