Author: Michelle Lana

The SJI Board of Directors met on November 16, 2015, at the Supreme Court of Louisiana in New Orleans to make decisions on quarterly grant applications and awarded a total of fourteen (14) new grants.  Two (2) Project Grants were awarded: support to the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) to update the Managing Notorious Trials for the 21st Century; and the National Association for Court Management (NACM) for educational sessions on critical court management topics.  Ten (10) Technical Assistance (TA) Grants were approved, including: assistance to the Louisiana Supreme Court for a court costs and fees collection improvement plan; support to the North Dakota Supreme Court for a caseflow management project; strategic planning for the 7th Judicial Circuit of Maryland; and support to the Council for Court Excellence for a cross-jurisdictional review of remote public access to electronic court records.  Two (2) Curriculum Adaptation & Training (CAT) Grants were approved: support to the Guam Judiciary for a Working Interdisciplinary Network of Guardianship Stakeholders (WINGS) Implementation and Guardianship training project; and the Merced County, California, Superior Court for online courthouse security training.

The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) recently released a report titled, The Landscape of Civil Litigation of State Courts, which examines case characteristics and outcomes for 925,344 civil cases disposed during a one-year interval from courts exercising jurisdiction over civil cases in 10 urban counties in the United States.  These 925,344 cases comprise approximately 5 percent of state civil caseloads nationally.

Among the report’s key findings:

• More than half of the Landscape cases were low-value debt collection, landlord/tenant, and small claims cases.
• For the civil caseloads, three-quarters of the judgements entered were $5,200 or less.
• Most cases were resolved through an administrative process rather than an adversarial proceeding.
• At least one party was self-represented in more than three-quarters of the cases.

Landscape is the first significant multi-jurisdiction study of civil caseloads since the 1992 Civil Justice Survey of State Courts, and is more comprehensive than the 1992 study insofar that it examines the entire civil caseload, rather than just cases filed in general jurisdiction courts.  With SJI support (SJI-13-P-201), the NCSC undertook the Landscape study to inform the deliberations of the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) Civil Justice Improvements Committee.  The CCJ Civil Justice Improvements Committee is expected to release its final report and recommendations for addressing these challenges in early 2016.

In 2011, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) developed a report summarizing guidance from a National Working Group on how courts use offender risk and needs assessment (RNA) information to inform corrections-related decisions.  The Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators subsequently endorsed the report, and passed Resolution 7 recommending that “offender risk and needs assessment information be available to inform judicial decisions regarding effective management and reduction of the risk of offender recidivism.”  A new report that explores how ten jurisdictions from across the country have been using defendant risk and needs assessment information at sentencing is now available.  This report, Using Risk and Needs Assessment Information at Sentencing: Observations from Ten Jurisdictions, offers examples of how these jurisdictions have implemented the nine guiding principles for using RNAs to inform sentencing and probation revocation decisions.  It also captures themes in stakeholder perceptions of RNA information and its use at sentencing, experiences in adopting these reforms, and lessons learned.  Visit the NCSC’s Center for Sentencing Initiatives website for more details on the project and additional resources on the sentencing of offenders in the state courts.

To help courts effectively handle the growing number of guardianship cases,  the National Center for State Court’s Center for Elders and the Courts developed a webinar that outlines specific steps courts can take to improve services.  The webinar, sponsored by the National Association for Court Management (NACM), based on its Adult Guardianship Guide — encourages courts to improve data collection and move toward performance measures.

The National Summit on Human Trafficking and the State Courts was held October 7-9, 2015, in New York City.  Each state sent a team made up of judges, court managers, and other key stakeholders, as appointed by that state’s chief justice.  The Summit was an overwhelming success, with teams from 46 states, 4 U.S. Territories, and the District of Columbia.

The first day was filled with expert panel discussions on human trafficking from the judicial perspective; labor trafficking; engaging stakeholders; and innovative strategies to address human trafficking by courts and communities.  The second day included breakout sessions for state teams to work on their state court action plans for responding to human trafficking.  The state teams then reconvened to report back on the action planning and discuss their goals moving forward.

The Summit was hosted by the New York Unified Court System, under the leadership of Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman.  The Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ), Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA), National Center for State Courts (NCSC), New York State Bar Association, and the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York also partnered on this incredible event.  More information about the Summit, including plenary session videos, will be released soon.

The Center for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) and the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) are increasing state court capacity to address the increasing number of immigrant children likely to appear in state courts.  With SJI support, CPPS and the NCSC recently released a Guide to State Court Cases Involving Unaccompanied Immigrant Children.  The purpose of the Guide is to increase understanding among state court judges, court administrators, and other key stakeholders regarding:

• Federal immigration law, policy, and practice, and the impact on state court cases involving Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs);
• How the work of the state courts in cases involving UACs intersects with the needs of the federal immigration system;
• The different types of cases and matters where UACs might appear in state courts; and
• The potential role of the state courts in providing factual findings in cases involving UACs.

While there are other forms of federal immigration relief for refugees, victims of human trafficking, and other groups, the Guide focuses solely on the state court findings required for use in federal determination of Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS). The Guide also provides recommended action steps for state courts to use in addressing cases involving UACs.

To date, CPPS and the NCSC have: hosted a national webinar on the UAC issue, which is available online;  created a webpage for additional resources; released an information card for judges and court practitioners on SIJS.

The SJI Board of Directors met on September 21, 2015, at the Supreme Court of Texas in Austin to make decisions on quarterly grant applications and awarded a total of ten (10) new grants.  The Board awarded a Strategic Initiatives Grant (SIG) to support the National Conservatorship Accounting Project.  Through this project, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) will further expand conservator monitoring software first developed in Minnesota (also with SJI support).  The project will: 1) disseminate, adapt, and pilot conservatorship accounting software developed in Minnesota to three additional states; and 2) develop and test tools to identify problematic cases and direct critical resources to those cases.  As part of these efforts, the NCSC will convene a Conservatorship Accountability Project Network to encourage more states to adopt this software.  The Board also awarded a SIG to the NCSC to support the State Courts Election Law Resources project in preparation for the 2016 elections.  This project will result in an election law curriculum that each state can use to develop its own customized lesson plans; a series of on-demand webinars featuring prominent subject matter experts; and a resource toolkit on election law available to state court judges.

Six (6) Technical Assistance (TA) Grants were approved, including: assistance to the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Common Pleas Court for an operational review; a Family Law Unit Reengineering project in the Orange County, California, Superior Court; assistance to the Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts for a statewide juvenile probation officer review; funding to the Fulton County, Georgia, Juvenile Court to support a project focusing on educational neglect cases; training tools for state court judges on Special Immigrant Juvenile Status provided by American University; and, a court consolidation impact assessment for the 25th District Court of Michigan.

Two (2) Curriculum Adaptation & Training (CAT) Grants were approved: support to the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ) for judicial education on human trafficking issues, including a new focus on developing jurisdictional collaborative teams to address human trafficking; and the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts for an online pretrial services education program which will be made available to all state courts.

With support from SJI, the Center for Court Innovation (CCI) has just released its latest resource for state courts and communities, Responding to Sex Trafficking in Your Jurisdiction: A Planning Toolkit.  This toolkit offers a step-by-step process to help courts and communities assess their current approaches to human trafficking and prostitution, and develop or enhance a state court-based response.  The materials in the toolkit are based on promising practices identified through both CCI’s demonstration projects, and national training and technical assistance.  For more information, or to request assistance, contact CCI, which offers training and technical assistance to state courts as a member of the SJI-funded Human Trafficking and the State Courts Collaborative.

In May, Judge Gayle Nachtigal received the 2015 Emma C. McKinney Distinguished Citizen award from the Hillsboro, Oregon Chamber of Commerce.  The award is presented every year in honor of the longtime Hillsboro Argus matriarch.  The Argus will make a $500 donation to a nonprofit organization of Judge Nachtigal’s choice.  Judge Nachtigal currently serves as a Senior Circuit Court Judge in Washington County, Oregon.  Her leadership in a range of national organizations, including the American Judges Association, National Center for State Courts’ Court Consulting Advisory Board, and SJI, have made her a sought after voice on issues relevant to the state courts.  Judge Nachtigal has been a member of the SJI Board of Directors since 2010, and serves as the Board’s Secretary.

The House Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Subcommittee on Appropriations marked up the FY 2016 CJS bill on May 14, 2015, which included SJI’s full request totaling $5,121,000 (the same level as FY 2015).  The bill was subsequently approved by the full Appropriations Committee on May 20th, and the House on June 4th.  The Senate CJS Subcommittee marked up the bill on June 10th, and the full Senate Appropriations Committee approved the bill on June 11th, both of which also included SJI’s full request.