Category: News And Announcements

In a newly released report, Hybrid Hearings Improvement Initiative, NCSC, shares examples of how courts expanded pre-pandemic virtual and hybrid proceedings or quickly adopted new technology and practices to accommodate new ways of doing business. The report notes that courts are now using remote and hybrid hearings throughout all 50 states in differing degrees for both civil and criminal case types. By definition, a hybrid hearing is one in which at least one participant is attending from the courtroom using the room’s audio/video infrastructure and at least one participant is attending remotely either via videoconferencing platform or phone, using audio, video, or both.

“The Hybrid Hearings Improvement Initiative was a natural extension of NCSC’s work during the pandemic,” said Lindsay Hafford, NCSC project director and principal court management consultant. “Connecting technology partners directly with courts provided an invaluable exchange for all participants as they worked toward the common goal of system improvement.”

The initiative reached courts in 28 states, two territories, and one tribal jurisdiction. The five technology partners — Cisco, Logitech, Speech 2 Data, televic, and Zoom for Government — supported the project with hardware, software, funding, and training.

The report features examples from 14 courts that demonstrate how funding; technology; facilities; staffing; and processes, procedures, and policies are all key to hybrid hearings’ success. Additionally, NCSC offers related resources, strategies, best practices, and guidance for successful virtual and hybrid hearings.

For more information and to read the full report, please visit: Hybrid Hearings Improvement Initiative | NCSC.

SJI has just released the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request. To read more, download now:

The Gault Center has just released their newest resource, The National Youth Defense System Standards. The System Standards provide a metric to assess a state’s compliance with constitutional mandates that safeguard the rights of young people in the juvenile legal system, with a particular focus on the right to counsel. The System Standards call on states to invest in well-resourced youth defense delivery systems to comply with their constitutional obligations to provide every single youth facing liberty deprivations with a qualified and zealous attorney. For more information about state responsibilities, please take a look at Cause of Action: Fulfilling the Promises of Gault.  

Establishing robust youth defense systems ensures that youth defenders have the right resources to fulfill the constitutional promise of counsel and in so doing, fight for a transformed system under a collective vision of freeing all youth from systemic injustices. 

The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) is pleased to announce new Gavel to Gavel resource, which tracks state-by-state legislative activity with potential impact on state courts. In 2024, they are focusing primarily on monitoring proposed legislation related to judicial selection and to cyber and physical security of state courts. An “other” category collects other notable proposed legislation beyond these two focus categories. To read the full article and to access, please visit: Gavel to Gavel | NCSC.