New Webinar! Active Judging in Eviction Court

Eviction dockets are often fast-paced and high-volume, which can create challenges for the overwhelming numbers of litigants appearing without counsel and struggling to understand the legal process and their options. Judges from three different jurisdictions will describe how they have adopted principles of active judging to increase understanding, ensure due process, and expand access to resources for litigants in eviction court.

NCSC will be hosting this webinar on Wednesday, May 17th, 2023, at 3:00PM EST.

Register here: Webinar Registration – Zoom

JMI and NIC Announce Release of National Standards for Criminal Justice Coordinating Councils and Essential Elements Document

The Justice Management Institute (JMI), in collaboration with the National Institute of Corrections (NIC), is proud to introduce two groundbreaking publications designed to support jurisdictions with criminal justice coordinating councils (CJCCs). The first publication, entitled National Standards for Criminal Justice Coordinating Councils, offers a comprehensive framework for jurisdictions to create or improve a coordinating council. Its companion publication, CJCC Essential Elements, delineates the core characteristics that define high-performing CJCCs.

These publications aim to help jurisdictions optimally structure and operate their coordinating councils, positioning their local CJCCs to effectively address challenges within the criminal justice system and facilitate meaningful change. The CJCC Essential Elements includes two practical tools: the CJCC Elements Checklist and the CJCC Elements Assessment Tool. The checklist highlights crucial components for jurisdictions to consider when forming a CJCC, while the assessment tool enables them to evaluate the extent to which their councils align with national standards.  Complementing these new resources, JMI and NIC recently published the National Survey of Criminal Justice Coordinating Councils. Serving as the foundation for the national standards and essential elements, this publication offers additional information on coordinating councils that jurisdictions may find valuable.

Request for Applications: Enhancing State and Local Court Efforts to Further Address Fines, Fees, and Bail Practices

Application Deadline: June 30th, 2023

Background:

In 2016, the Conference of Chief Justices/Conference of State Court Administrators (CCJ/COSCA) established the National Task Force on Fines, Fees, and Bail Practices to:-develop recommendations and tools to promote the fair and efficient enforcement of the law;-ensure no person is denied access to the justice system based on race, culture, or lack of economic resources; and,-develop policies relating to Legal Financial Obligations that promote access, fairness, and transparency.

State Justice Institute, along with the U. S. Department of Justice/Bureau of Justice Assistance, provided grant funding to support the work of the Task Force. The Task Force produced the Principles on Fines, Fees, and Bail Practices, in addition to numerous additional resources in the Resource Center. Though system improvements have been made in some jurisdictions, the equitable enforcement of fines and fees, along with issues related to bail practices, remains. Through a special Request for Applications (RFA) process, SJI will award grants to further improve state court efforts to address fines, fees, and bail practices. SJI intends to award grants that will enhance state and local courts’ ability to:

-Review these practices to ensure processes are fair and access to justice is assured.

-Develop processes and procedures for indigency review.-Implement alternative forms of sanctions.

-Implement processes that replace money-based pretrial practices with those based on a presumption of pretrial release by the least restrictive means reasonable to assure appearance in court and promote public safety.

-Ensure pretrial release practices include connections to wrap-around services, such as legal and non-legal navigators, behavioral health, housing, and public health services.

-Promote transparency, governance, and structural reforms for better court oversight of legal financial obligations.

In addition to meeting all other application requirements, SJI will give priority consideration for funding to projects that focus on institutionalizing and/or replicating the Principles on Fines, Fees, and Bail Practices of the CCJ/COSCA National Task Force on Fines, Fees, and Bail Practices.

ELIGIBILITY

SJI is authorized by Congress to award grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts. For the purposes of this RFA, eligibility is limited to the following entities:

• State and local courts and their agencies (42 U.S.C. 10705(b)(1)(A)).

• Other eligible grant recipients (42 U.S.C. 10705 (b)(2)(A)–(D)).SJI may also make awards to state or local agencies and institutions other than courts for services that cannot be adequately provided through nongovernmental arrangements (42 U.S.C. 10705(b)(3)).

SJI is prohibited from awarding grants to federal, tribal, and international courts.

Funding Categories

Eligible applicants may apply for funding based on the categories below.

Category 1-Local Court: Eligible local court applicants may apply for up to $50,000 for a period of up to 12 months.

Category 2-State or Territory Supreme Court and/or the Administrative Office of the Courts: Eligible state (or territory) supreme courts and/or administrative court office applicants may apply for up to $100,000 for a period of up to 12 months. They may also submit applications on behalf of one or more local courts for up to $50,000 per locality for up to 12 months and must agree that all funds will go directly to the local court(s).Note: No grant funds or cash match may be used to pay the salary and related costs for a current or new employee of a court or other unit of government. Cash match for these grants will be waived; however, applicants are encouraged to include as much cash and in-kind match as possible towards their proposed project.

Full instructions are available here: Request-for-Applications-Fines-Fees-Bail_5.1.2023.pdf (sji.gov)

New Guidance on Privacy Protection for Domestic Violence Survivors Now Available Online

The National Center for State Courts (NCSC)’s new Protecting the Privacy of Domestic Violence Survivors course provides best practices to guide courts and providers on improving policies and procedures designed to protect survivors’ privacy and inform survivors of their rights. Available in English and Spanish, the online, self-paced course provides an overview of information that needs to be protected, discussion of a survivor-centered approach to service delivery, ways to safely communicate with survivors and institutions and defining roles and responsibilities for promoting confidentiality.

“Courts and service providers must carefully protect any information potentially useful for identifying or locating survivors,” said Felix Bajandas, an NCSC principal court management consultant and project director. “This includes, but is not limited to, a combination of characteristics such as zip code, gender and date of birth.”

Available in English and Spanish, the online, self-paced course provides an overview of information that needs to be protected, discussion of a survivor-centered approach to service delivery, ways to safely communicate with survivors and institutions and defining roles and responsibilities for promoting confidentiality. The estimated completion time is 10 minutes.

In addition to the course, the Violence Against Women (VAWA) and the Courts partnership has developed tools and resources to support survivors, including:

For more information, visit VAWA and the Courts.

National Study Finds Expedited Action Rules Can Ease Civil Case Backlogs

Enforcing court rules that require expedited actions can improve fairness, cost, and efficiency in the civil justice system while also relieving case backlogs exacerbated by the pandemic, according to new findings released by national experts today. In its report, “A Renewed Analysis of the Expedited Actions Rules in Texas Courts,” the Texas Office of Court Administration (OCA), National Center for State Courts and IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, found that rules adopted by the Supreme Court of Texas in 2012 have expedited the resolution of cases—both before and after the pandemic.

“The rules have had a positive impact, particularly in the area of discovery, but the full benefit of the rules has not been realized,” according to the Texas study. “While it has been over a decade since the rules were first implemented, there remains great opportunity for more consistent case management.”

Recommendations for maximizing those opportunities include training for judges and staff, increased use of technology to assist in civil case management and stronger enforcement of the rules.

In 2019, the Texas rules required:

  • Application to all civil cases where the amount in controversy is $100,000 or less;
  • Discovery to begin within 180 days of case filing;
  • Limits to discovery of no more than 6 hours of depositions, 15 written interrogatories, 15 requests for production and 15 requests for admission;
  • Mandatory trial dates within 90 days of completion of discovery; and
  • Restrictions on time, fees and deadlines for court-ordered alternative dispute resolution.

The study—which was conducted at the request of the Texas Office of Court Administration—notes that the expedited actions rules work particularly well with certain case types, especially contract cases, debt collection, and personal injury cases where only limited discovery is needed. In January 2021, the rules were amended and increased the amount-in-controversy from $100,000 to $250,000, which expanded the number of cases eligible for civil case processing under the rules.

“The rules provide predictability in these cases, which contributes to efficiency and decreased costs,” according to the report. “Judges and attorneys agreed that the rules are less effective for more complex cases, such as cases that require more experts or additional discovery beyond the limits in the rules.”

OCA Research Director Jeffrey Tsunekawa explained that “the Supreme Court of Texas implemented the expedited actions rules to address some of the many complications in resolving civil cases in Texas. As judges, court staff and attorneys continue to familiarize themselves with the rules, efficient use of the courts’ time will be realized as cases as finalized. These efficiencies are not only benefit courts and the attorneys who practice in these courtrooms, but also the litigants involved in the legal disputes.”

Read the full report online to learn more about the research, findings and recommendations.

This project is funded by the State Justice Institute.

Redesigning Legal Speaker Series

Register now! As part of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS) Redesigning Legal Speaker Series, on March 21st, 2023, at 1:00PM EST, IAALS and its partners will examine the various legal service providers beyond lawyers who help people with their legal problems and discuss why it will take this entire ecosystem to fully tackle the access to justice crisis. Allied legal professional programs are spreading across the country. Register here.

Rural Justice Innovations

Research shows rural Americans are more likely than urban residents to be jailed, to overdose, and lack access to substance use treatment, mental health care, and public health services. That’s why it’s so important to identify innovative solutions to address justice inequality in rural communities. The Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center, in partnership with the National Center for State Courts, and Rulo Strategies, LLC,  authored the Rural Justice Innovations publication to highlight the inaugural group of nineteen Rural Justice Innovation sites selected by the Rural Justice Collaborative (RJC). The innovation sites profiled in this report represent the best of the best. These locations have proven rural justice programs that increase access to justice, improve family outcomes, and reduce reoffending rates. Most importantly, these programs are replicable in other rural communities that face similar challenges in ensuring equitable justice.

The RJC, a group of the country’s most innovative rural justice system leaders, is working to identify best practices that rural communities can replicate. By forming a group of judges, prosecutors, public defenders, treatment providers, and more, the RJC pioneers a new model centered on rural leaders developing solutions to rural problems not by focusing on what a barrier in their communities, but on what is working. The RJC is supported with funding from the State Justice Institute.

Access the publication here: https://www.sji.gov/wp-content/uploads/Rural-Justice-Innovations.pdf

New Audiobooks to Help Young Survivors of Human Trafficking

The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) is pleased to release a set of audiobooks from the Child Victims and Witnesses Support Materials series for young survivors of human trafficking.

Originally released as graphic novels in January 2022, these three audiobooks were created by national experts and young trafficking survivors—who also served as the voice actors—to support youth who are victims or witnesses in cases of human trafficking.

Listen to the audiobooks here: Audiobooks Available to Help Young Survivors of Human Trafficking | Office for Victims of Crime (ojp.gov)