Category: News And Announcements

The SJI Board of Directors met on April 1, 2019 to make decisions on quarterly grant applications and awarded a total of 13 new grants.

Nine (9) Technical Assistance Grants were awarded: the Kansas Judicial Branch to improve and expand services for self-represented litigants; the Judiciary of Guam for an assessment of Superior Court case assignments; the Franklin County, Ohio, Municipal Court for strategic planning; the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ) for a digital redesign project; the Montgomery County, Ohio, Court of Common Pleas for behavioral screening of youth in court schools; the National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC) for webinars and training on the judicial role in ensuring due process rights for youth; the Summit County, Ohio, Court of Common Pleas for an adult probation improvements project; the Oregon Judicial Department for a reengineering assessment in Washington County; and the Colorado Bar Association for an online triage initiative for aging adults.

Four (4) Curriculum Adaptation and Training (CAT) Grants were awarded: NAWJ for educational sessions on elder issues; the National Judicial College (NJC) for educational programs on water rights law in times of shortage; NJC for digitization of the course titled, Presiding over a Capital Case; and the Nebraska Supreme Court for statewide education and collaboration on juvenile justice.

The next deadline for grant applications is May 1, 2019 (FY 2019, 3rd quarter).

The Public Engagement Pilot Initiative is a joint collaboration of the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) and the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center, with grant support from the State Justice Institute (SJI).

After a nationwide call for proposals, six public engagement pilot projects have been selected from an exciting and diverse group of proposals.  Over approximately 18 months, the pilot projects will receive resources and support from the NCSC in partnership with the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center.  The sites will work both individually and collaboratively to engage their communities, with the goal of building trust.

Included in this effort are the following sites:

• Administrative Office of the Massachusetts Trial Court;
• Franklin County, Ohio Municipal Court;
• Kansas City, Missouri Municipal Court;
• Nebraska Supreme Court Office of the State Court Administrator;
• Puerto Rico Judicial Branch; and,
• Texas Office of Court Administration

To benefit all state courts, the Initiative will be developing a toolkit for courts to use in their own public engagement efforts.  Already developed as working documents are: 1) Visioning Public Engagement; and, 2) Appendices A and B, that detail issues identified and examples of public engagement.  More resources are expected to be added as the pilots move forward in their work.

The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) recently released the Automated Redaction Proof of Concept Report, made possible by an SJI grant.  The goal of this 16-page, Proof of Concept (POC) Report, is to quantify the accuracy of automated redaction capabilities and share those results with the court community.

The report focuses on the following areas:

• Developing a comprehensive redaction policy;
• Identifying redaction targets;
• Evaluation and Metrics; and,
• POC Trials in multiple court settings.

The report is intended to provide: 1) background about the principles underlying the Revised Model Policy; and (2) a description of the categories of protected information included within the scope of the POC, the methodology that the NCSC and participating vendors followed during the POC, and, most importantly, the impressive results achieved in automated redaction of the data targets.

The chief justices of the six New England states have launched the New England Regional Judicial Opioid Initiative (NE RJOI), the second regional group of its kind.  The establishment of the New England group, which includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, comes at a time when federal, state and local leaders have committed to work together to combat the opioid epidemic and to help others recognize the crucial role that the courts play to fight this crisis.

The first joint effort, the Appalachia/Midwest Regional Judicial Opioid Initiative, included Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia.  It was established in 2017 – the same year the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators established the National Judicial Opioid Task Force.  The national task force, which NCSC staffs, was created to examine current efforts and find solutions to address the opioid epidemic.

Like the states in the first regional group, the New England states have experienced some of the highest opioid-related overdose death rates ranging from 36 deaths per 100,000 in New Hampshire to 18 deaths per 100,000 in Vermont, according to the most recent figures available. The New England states also have some of the nation’s highest rates of opioid prescriptions per 100 people.  The rates range from 60 per 100 in Massachusetts to 70 per 100 in Maine.

In support of the NE RJOI, the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance has awarded the group $1.5 million. The initiative intends to develop a multi-state approach to the opioid epidemic with a focus on the courts.  The project will allow states to share best practices, coordinate and standardize procedures, and communicate in a more targeted and unified way.

The Elements of Judicial Excellence (EJE) are a set of knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics of being a great judge that emerged from lengthy consultations with Illinois judges.

The EJE framework was developed with support from SJI and the National Center for State Courts (NCSC).  In the NJC’s 2019 printed catalog, courses are aligned with the Elements of Judicial Excellence.  A graphic representation of the framework is on page 22.

To view which NJC courses align with which Elements of Judicial Excellence:

1. Go to the 2019 online catalog page.
2. Click on any of the three major development categories from the Elements of Judicial Excellence: Citizen of the Court Community, Informed and Impartial Decision-Maker, or Leader of the Court Process.
3. View the resulting list of 2019 courses designed to support that element.
4. Click “Read more” for a detailed description and the link to enroll.

To address the issue of gender bias and sexual harassment in the workplace, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) created a  web page for court employees and others with information specific to the courts work environment.  This project is supported with grant funding from SJI.

The web page includes information such as the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and American Bar Association (ABA) resolutions on sexual harassment and gender bias, judicial codes of conduct, and the ABA’s conduct code.  It also lists additional resources from the ABA, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Women’s Law Center, and the National Association of Women Judges.

The state courts are experiencing increasing complexity in handling individuals who have mental illness, and oftentimes a co-occurring substance use issue.  System-wide, mental illness has placed a strain on many communities and their resources, and jails are being used to detain those who need mental health treatment.  The problem is exacerbated by the lack of a coordinated national, state, and community effort involving all three branches of government.  In addition, lack of resources, empirically-based data, and a clearinghouse for state court leaders to learn the practical steps they can take to address the problem in their court systems also contribute to the problem.

To address this issue on a national level, SJI has awarded a major grant to the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), which will work in partnership with the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and the Conference of State Court Administers (COSCA) on a mental illness in the courts initiative that will:  

• Develop resources, best practices and recommend standards to address mental illness and the state courts response.
• Expand the NCSC website to create a centralized repository for state courts interested in improving court and community responses.
• Provide resources to improve caseflow management of civil commitment cases as well as felony and misdemeanor cases involving persons with mental illness.
• Provide education by developing national, regional, and statewide training and education opportunities for judges and court practitioners.
• Develop guides and resources on the Sequential Intercept Model, and adapt the SJI-funded Arizona Presiding Judge Guide titled, Fair Justice for Persons with Mental Illness: Improving the Courts Response for use nationally.
• Build capacity of state and national court leader to lead and implement reforms.

This national initiative will be based on the 2016-2017 COSCA policy paper, Decriminalization of Mental Illness: Fixing a Broken System. Additionally, CCJ/COSCA Court Management Committee working group has identified four areas for further action in addressing mental health:

1) developing resources, best practices, and recommended standards in state court responses to mental health issues;

2) improving caseflow management by examining civil commitment and criminal cases involving persons with mental illness to identify barriers to, and opportunities for, timely and effective case processing;

3) promoting education; and

4) building capacity to implement reforms

This new Initiative will support a resolution passed at the CCJ/COSCA 2018 annual meeting in support of improving the justice system response to mental illness.  Promising approaches are currently being explored to address this problem, including the Sequential Intercept Model, which identifies where to intercept individuals with mental illness as they move through the criminal justice system, suggests which populations might be targeted at each point of interception, and highlights the decision-makers who can authorize movement away from or through the criminal justice system.  Mental health codes require modification to permit timely, appropriately-targeted, court-ordered treatment for persons with mental illness, before and after contact with the justice system.  It has also been acknowledged that individuals who are intercepted by the criminal justice system often have co-occurring mental health and substance abuse issues.

As the initiative moves forward, more updates will be provided.

 

The Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice (RFK National Resource Center), recently announced the release of the Probation System Review Guidebook, 3rd Edition, in support of states and jurisdictions embracing the transformation of probation and juvenile justice policy and practice across the United States.

The new release features the framework that the RFK National Resource Center has used to achieve substantial improvements in youth outcomes and system performance, in partnership with twenty-five jurisdictions across nearly one-third of the states and territories. The latest edition includes:

• An increased focus on the translation of adolescent development into practice;
• Renewed emphasis on resiliency and positive youth development;
• Improved and updated tools and guidance related to risk-needs-responsivity instruments that support data driven and informed practice;
• Addition of a probation orders analysis and court observation methodologies;
• Specific benefits to undertaking a system review;
• New information about the RFK National Resource Center’s Training Institute;
• Updated jurisdictional examples and lessons learned;
• Testimonials by probation and juvenile justice leaders who have undertaken the review, and achieved more positive outcomes for the youth they serve.

Delivering justice to individuals who struggle with mental health or behavioral issues can be extraordinarily difficult.  As leaders of their courts and communities, presiding judges are well positioned to convene and engage others to solve complicated problems. With that in mind, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) recently published a practical guide to equip presiding judges in Arizona with the information they need to convene teams of court and community leaders who can systematically address individuals with mental illness.

The guide was funded by a grant from SJI to the Arizona Supreme Court.  A new grant from SJI to the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ), Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA), and the NCSC will adapt the Arizona guide for use in other states, among other national activities.  This will address a recent resolution from CCJ/COSCA that urges court leaders to examine community-wide strategies to help those with mental illness.

“Knowing that the guide will be adapted for broader use is very exciting,” said Patti Tobias, NCSC principal court management consultant and one of the guide’s authors.

The Arizona guide highlights the roles that probation officers, mental health workers, police officers, public defenders and others can take to help reduce the number of people with mental illness and behavioral health issues who find themselves in the justice system.  Ms. Tobias said the NCSC team used and expanded upon the long-established Sequential Intercept Model (SIM), a framework that aims to keep individuals from continuing to penetrate the justice system.  “Arizona court leaders thought it was necessary to go beyond SIM,” she said, “because the challenges are so complex.”

Ms. Tobias and NCSC Research Director Nicole Waters interviewed 49 state and local stakeholders from across Arizona, but mostly focused on Yavapai, Pima, and Coconino counties, as requested by court leaders in the state.  Ms. Waters served as project director, assisted by Tobias and court research associate Shelley Spacek.

Juvenile sex trafficking is a significant problem nationwide, and occurs in urban areas as well as small towns, farms, and tribal lands.  The state courts can play an important role in addressing this complex problem.

With SJI support, the Minnesota Judicial Branch developed a 75-minute, self-paced eLearning course on working with the juvenile victims of sex trafficking.  By viewing this course, participants will develop a deeper understanding of juvenile sex trafficking and be better equipped to: 1) recognize victims of sex trafficking who appear in court hearings; 2) identify traffickers and buyers in the courtroom; 3) support victims by applying the law effectively; and 4) connect victims with critical support services and resources.

Throughout the six modules in the course, participants will hear the powerful stories of real-life victims of juvenile sex trafficking and view video expert testimony from a variety of system professionals, including judges, law enforcement, public health professionals, and victim advocates.