On May 23rd, 2024, President Biden nominated Bethany Pickett Shah to the SJI Board of Directors. She will fill a public member position previously held by Judge John Nalbandian, who resigned after becoming a Circuit Court Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Ms. Shah is an attorney with Jackson Walker LLP, where she specializes in complex commercial litigation, government investigations, and white-collar defense. Prior to private practice, she served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Texas, where she represented the United States in criminal prosecutions and civil litigation. Before becoming a prosecutor, she worked at the White House as Deputy Associate Counsel to the President, and at the Department of Justice as a Counsel in the Civil Rights Division and Counsel in the Office of Legal Policy. She is the recipient of several awards for her service, including the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas’s Dedicated Service Award. She has also been appointed by the judges of the Eastern District of Texas to serve on the district’s Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel. Ms. Shah is a graduate of The King’s College and Northwestern University School of Law. After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Edith H. Jones of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
The SJI Board of Directors will be meeting on Monday, June 3, 2024, at 1:00 PM ET. The purpose of this meeting is to consider grant applications for the 3rd quarter of FY 2024, and other business.
ADDRESS: Michigan Hall of Justice, 925 West Ottawa Street, Lansing, Michigan.
How can criminal courts implement trauma-informed practices? This is the focus of the latest work from the Office of National Initiative’s Recovery and Reform and Gender and Family Justice team’s, whom are providing judges, clerks, bailiffs, and attorneys with guidance on responding to trauma in their courts. Trauma-Informed Practices for Criminal Courts: Implementation Opportunities documents initial lessons learned from a national scan of trauma-informed practices in criminal courts and forms the basis for the Trauma-Informed Practice Strategy Lab’s forthcoming implementation blueprint.
Upcoming #Webinar! New federal funding resource of interest to the courts. The webinar, Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program: Transformative Opportunities for Courts, will take place on Thursday, May 30th, 2024, at 2:00PM EST. The webinar is presented by the OJP Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ). Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald of New Hampshire will introduce the program.
After this session attendees will be better able to identify strategies to enhance safety through awareness and practices outlined in the NCJFCJ DV AWARE training program, funded by the State Justice Institute, and analyze their readiness to identify and develop policies and practices to better respond to judicial safety concerns and dangerous incidents that may occur within the court system (including domestic violence-related incidents).
Members of the SJI Board, Executive Director, Jonathan Mattiello, and Senior Program Advisor, Michelle White, visited the National Judicial College (NJC) in Reno, Nevada on April 9th, 2024. Pictured with President & CEO Hon. Benes Aldana (Ret.), Chief Academic Officer, Joy Lyngar, and Chief of Staff, Chrystn Eads.
SJI received 14 grant applications requesting a total of $1,800,068 for the 2nd quarter of FY 2024. The Board met on April 8, 2024, at the Supreme Court of Nevada to make decisions on those applications.
During its meeting, the Board awarded five (5) Strategic Initiatives Grant to: 1) the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), in partnership with the Conference of Chief Justices, the Conference of State Court Administrators, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ), the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation to convene a national summit and provide technical assistance to arm state court leaders and their partners with the best available information on effective policy and practice approaches to serve young people; 2) the NCSC to provide state courts with tangible approaches to improve plain language and clear communication on court forms through Forms Camp 2024; 3) The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, in collaboration with the Berkeley Judicial Institute to support a national summit on judicial leadership; 4) NCJFCJ, in partnership with the Judicial Studies Graduate Degree Program at the University of Nevada Reno and the Kempe Center to develop a e-learning course on the science of medical evidence in child abuse and neglect cases; and 5) the NCJFCJ to improve the juvenile and family court system’s ability to identify youth who are experiencing housing insecurity and connect them with services.
One (1) Project Grant application was awarded to the Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Courts to conduct a statewide Behavioral Health and Recovery Summit that will engage other branches of government, key stakeholders, and county action teams to respond to behavioral health challenges.
Five (5) Technical Assistance Grant applications were awarded: 1) the Wisconsin Court System to provide a Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) train-the-trainer workshop, and an in-state SIM workshop in La Crosse County; 2) the Maryland Judiciary to create a strategic campaign that identifies initiatives aligned with the Judiciary’s mission and vision; 3) the District of Columbia Courts for a project on the planning, impact, and use of Artificial Intelligence on judicial decision-making and court operations; 4) Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, City Court to improve justice and behavioral health responses to individuals with serious mental illness through a SIM workshop; and 5) the Wyoming Judicial Branch to assist in strengthening security by providing courthouse security assessments for eleven (11) courthouses in the state.
Two (2) Curriculum Adaptation and Training Grants were awarded: 1) the National Consortium on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts to support educational sessions during the 2024 meeting; and 2) the National Association of State Judicial Educators for enhanced audio/visual capabilities and faculty during the 2024 annual meeting.
The next deadline for grant applications is May 1, 2024.
Last week, our Executive Director, Jonathan Mattiello, our Senior Program Advisor, Michelle White, and members of the SJI Board took a trip to the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, (NCJFCJ) in Reno, Nevada. Pictured with Joey Orduña Hastings, Chief Executive Officer of NCJFCJ, and Bill DeLisio, Deputy Executive Officer, NCJFCJ.
The FY 2024 2nd Quarter SJI Board meeting was held on April 8th, 2024, at the Nevada Supreme Court in Carson City, Nevada. Executive Director, Jonathan Mattiello, and members of the SJI Board were joined by Justice Lidia S. Stiglich of the Nevada Supreme Court.
The Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR), on behalf of the State Justice Institute (SJI), is pleased to announce a peer exchange opportunity on June 13–14th, 2024, in partnership with the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)’s Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP). Up to six communities will be selected to receive travel scholarships through SJI to participate. These travel scholarships will allow each community to send a team of three to four practitioners to participate in the structured, 2-day peer exchange at no cost.
The peer exchange will be based in Montgomery County, Ohio, a community in the western part of the state that includes the city of Dayton. Throughout the 2-day site visit, the six visiting teams will have the opportunity to learn about and observe the many successful aspects of Montgomery County’s comprehensive, multidisciplinary substance use response.
Through this peer exchange, visiting teams can discuss and share best practices, exchange ideas and knowledge, and engage in peer networking events.
To be eligible for this technical assistance opportunity, a community must meet the following criteria:
Assemble a cross-sector team that includes at least three of the four sectors identified in the technical assistance request requirements—a representative from law enforcement, courts, child welfare, and/or the local school system.
Please see the solicitation for additional eligibility information and peer site visit request requirements.
Request forms will be reviewed and approved on a rolling basis, with submissions received by May 2, 2024, receiving priority consideration. Submissions will not be accepted after May 16, 2024.
Interested sites should submit their requests by completing this form. Once sites have completed the form and submitted their responses, they will receive a confirmation of receipt.
If needed, a PDF version of the questions is available here.
Questions
If sites have any questions about completing this form or have submission issues, they should email COSSUP@iir.com.
