Author: Lauren Curtis

The Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice, with SJI support, is hosting the Transformation of Youth Justice Symposium (September 8-9, 2021) and supplemental half-day Training Institutes (September 10, 2021). The two-day symposium is designed for multi-disciplinary professionals and youth-serving stakeholders seeking to learn, network, and become part of the nationwide movement to effectively transform youth justice and improve outcomes for children and families.

The Symposium will feature five plenaries and 30 workshops focused on current and significant cross-cutting issues impacting the youth-serving field. Participants seeking to expand their knowledge may also register to attend a supplemental half-day Training Institute session following the Symposium. Focused on six critical topics, these deep-dive sessions will highlight opportunities and methods to significantly enhance current practice to improve system performance and ensure the highest likelihood of achieving positive outcomes for youth and families. The Symposium and Training Institutes will emphasize the importance of peer-to-peer learning and collaboration to identify common challenges and solutions that lead to meaningful, sustainable, and measurable policy and practice change. To learn more, please visit: www.rfknrcjj.org/events.

The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) has released a new resource, the Courts Continuity Assessment Tool (C-CAT), to help courts determine where the gaps may lie in their current continuity programming.

Available as an interactive online self-assessment survey (as of June 2021), or for download as an Excel spreadsheet, the C-CAT builds on prior NCSC work in this area funded by SJI.  This work includes the NCSC Courts Continuity of Operations (COOP) Planning Guide and Template and the NCSC Emergency Management Lessons Learned Focus Group Report. The C-CAT incorporates advice from these new resources, and provides an interactive platform for assessing nine key areas of court continuity of operations:

1. Address Leadership Issues and Dedicate Staff
2. Build and Strengthen Collaborative Relationships
3. Identify Essential Functions
4. Develop Redundant Communications
5. Support the Needs of the Workforce
6. Address Courthouse Infrastructure Needs and Alternate Facilities
7. Address Information Technology (IT) Resilience
8. Identify Reconstitution and Cost Recovery Processes
9. Train and Exercise the Program 

Many of the questions included in the C-CAT are based on those found in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Continuity Assessment Tool (CAT), and the interactive guidance is consistent with available FEMA Continuity Planning Resources for Non-Federal Entities. Following FEMA recommendations, courts should complete an assessment of their continuity programs on a regular basis (e.g., annually).

The NCSC provides other resources related to continuity of operations and court security, including an Updated Personal Security Tips document – revised since 2009, that covers several areas related to the personal safety of judges and court staff in various settings.

The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) Family-Centered Justice is a court-wide approach committed to focusing on the family unit though meaningful, strength-based and trauma-responsive engagement, intentional case coordination, and multidisciplinary support.  Similar to family-centered practice in child welfare, Family-Centered Justice promotes the value of family voice and family well-being.

The Family-Centered Justice program aims to transform the delivery of justice to children and families in courts throughout the United States by infusing effective family drug court principles into the broader family and dependency court system. The objective is to increase the capacity of state courts to intervene effectively with parents with substance use and/or co-occurring mental health disorders who are involved with the court as a result of child abuse and neglect issues. This program has the potential to impact of the lives of many children and families across the United States by supporting out-of-the-box solutions to address the shortcomings of traditional court processes. Through multi-disciplinary, collaborative work, participating jurisdictions will implement strategies believed to lead to improved outcomes for families impacted by parental substance use and child welfare involvement. The Family-Centered Justice funding opportunity is supported by SJI.

Family-Centered Justice Application Due Date: July 9th, 2021 at 5PM ET

Up to six sites will be selected to receive up to $50,000 in funding for a twelve-month project that includes a planning period. Applicants must demonstrate, at a minimum, buy-in from the courts, child welfare, and treatment. Selected grantees are expected to have a collaborative infrastructure in place that is capable of building the locality’s capacity to meet a broad range of needs for families involved with substance use disorder treatment, child welfare systems, court, and other service organizations. Grantees are expected to implement targeted approaches designed to increase well-being, improve permanency outcomes, and enhance the safety of children and families experiencing substance use disorders.

Access the Family-Centered Application
Access the full Family-Centered Solicitation and Application

Difficult Conversations Webinar Series Recording

The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ), with support from SJI, hosted a series of five webinars titled Opioids and the Courts- Difficult Conversations. NCJFCJ and expert faculty explored challenges associated with referring children and families to services in dependency and delinquency cases. The faculty and webinar attendees had the opportunity to discuss how courts and services providers can work together to meet the needs of families and improve their lives. Recordings of this webinar series and links to related resources can be found on the NCJFCJ website.

In addition to the webinar series, the NCJFCJ provided training and technical assistance to juvenile and family courts across the country to address the effects of opioid use disorders (OUDs) and other substance use disorders (SUDs) on children and families.  

The project involved recruiting judicially-led court sites to engage in Targeted Resource Mapping to document the continuum of services available for children and families affected by OUDs and other SUDs. The project had two primary, interrelated goals for the sites to 1) gain knowledge of existing services on a local level; and 2) identify and address service gaps in an effort to ensure a healthy and effective continuum of services.

As a result of that work, the NCJFCJ developed the Targeted Resource Mapping Toolkit (Mapping Toolkit). The Mapping Toolkit includes templates to develop a Targeted Resource Map (resource map), Targeted Resource Directory (resource directory), and Targeted Resource Mapping Action Plan (action plan).

The Mapping Toolkit is intended to encourage and provide guidance to courts that are seeking to better understand existing resources, identify and address service gaps, and build relationships with providers in their community. 

Click here to learn more about the Lessons Learned in Targeted Resource Mapping.

Funds Available for Mental Health Courts at the Bureau of Justice Assistance

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is now accepting applications for its Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program. This year, funding is available through this program to jurisdictions creating or expanding a mental health court.

The grant program seeks to provide support to justice system agencies partnering with mental health agencies to reduce crime and recidivism
associated with people with mental illnesses and co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. 
Grants are awarded over a period of 36 months beginning October 1, 2021 and are valued at up to $550,000 per award.

Applicants must meet two deadlines as part of a new two-step application process for all Department of Justice grants: 

•    June 22, 2021: The SF-242 and SF-LLL must be submitted to Grants.gov
•    July 6, 2021: The full application must be submitted to JustGrants

New this year, grant applicants must comply with Executive Order 13929 Safe Policing for Safe Communities. See the grant solicitation for details on complying with the order.

Download the Solicitation

Additional Resources for Applicants

Assistance is available on navigating the Department of Justice’s new JustGrants system, including FAQs, an application submission checklist, and recordings of past virtual Q&A sessions. You can access the full library of training resources here.

For technical assistance with submitting the SF-424 and SF- LLL in Grants.gov, contact the Grants.gov Customer Support Hotline at 800-518-4726 or support@grants.gov. 

For technical assistance with submitting the full application in DOJ’s Justice Grants System (JustGrants), contact the JustGrants Service Desk at 833-872-5175 or JustGrants.Support@usdoj.gov.

The National Center for State Courts has released an evaluation framework for Allied Legal Professional Programs. In response to increases in the number of self-represented litigants, several states have moved forward on plans to create an additional tier of legal service providers, who are authorized to give limited legal assistance at a lower price than attorneys. 

These “allied legal professionals” (ALPs) go by several different names, including Non-lawyer Legal Service Providers, Licensed Paralegal Practitioners, Legal Paraprofessionals, Legal Document Preparers, Limited License Legal Technicians, or Limited License Practitioners.  With a generous grant from the State Justice Institute (SJI-20-P-021), the NCSC has issued a new report that highlights factors that states should consider as they design new ALP programs as well as guidance on designing an evaluation plan to assess their effectiveness. 

The evaluation framework employs a “balanced scorecard” approach to ensure that evaluation measures take into account perspectives of important stakeholders, including courts, ALP clients, and the ALPs themselves.  All of the evaluation measures address the same underlying primary question: to what extent do ALPs improve access to justice?  The report is available here.  The NCSC project team is also available to provide technical assistance to courts designing new ALP programs or planning an evaluation strategy.

On May 10, 2021, the U.S. Department of Treasury released guidance on the State and Local Coronavirus Fiscal Recovery Fund (Recovery Fund), which is part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP). The bill includes $65.1 billion in direct, flexible aid to every county in America, as well as other crucial investments in local communities. 

Additionally, the U.S. Treasury opened the new portal that counties must complete to receive Fiscal Recovery Funds. Since the ARP was signed into law, the National Association of Counties (NACo) has been supporting the U.S. Treasury’s efforts to successfully implement the Recovery Fund.  Included in the guidance is the flexibility to use Recovery Funds to invest in broadband infrastructure, services and programs to contain and mitigate the spread of COVID-19, including capital investments in public facilities, investments in housing and neighborhoods and other guidance counties advocated for.  Courts are encouraged to work with their county and state governments on potential opportunities to access recovery funds. 

Under the recently passed American Rescue Plan, there is a major new infusion of federal funding for AmeriCorps programs, a potential funder of court navigator programs.  Join the Self Represented Litigation Network (SRLN) for a webinar on Friday, 5/21/2021 at 2PM EDT to take a deep dive into seeking AmeriCorps funding for court navigator programs.  A senior AmeriCorps official, joined by several program leaders of court navigator programs who use AmeriCorps funds, will provide an overview and offer useful guidance and handy tips for submitting applications to secure funding.

Register Today:  https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1867915633479036172

As a result of COVID-19, Americans rely even more heavily on the Internet and social media to complete everyday tasks than they did before the pandemic. Indeed, courts in several states are piloting remote jury selection and even fully remote trials to resume jury trials safely, raising concerns about the risk of juror misconduct involving new media. With SJI support, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) undertook a study of jurors and new media, including a survey of judges and lawyers about their opinions and experience with incidents of alleged juror misconduct and a review of more than 20 years of case law in which the issue was addressed.

Among the key findings:

• Only one-quarter of judges and lawyers reported having any experience with juror misconduct involving new media in their professional careers, but 41% believe that one or more jurors will use new media inappropriately in any given trial;

• Cases that pose the highest risk of juror misconduct include serious criminal charges, multiday trials, cases involving unfamiliar terms or concepts, trials in which jurors may find information on reputable websites or local news media, and trials in which attorneys know or suspect that prejudicial information exists online;

• Incidents reported in the judge and attorney survey were usually discovered during trial, providing the trial judge with the opportunity to conduct an investigatory hearing and address any prejudicial impact of the misconduct in a timely manner;

• As long as trial judges adequately investigated incidents of alleged juro
misconduct, appellate courts overwhelming affirmed their responses to those incidents;

• Recent case law tends to focus on the extent to which extraneous
information is prejudicial to the parties, reserving the remedy of a mistrial or new trial only for cases in which the information is clearly prejudicial.

A detailed technical report and a brief Research Highlights are available
at https://www.ncsc-jurystudies.org/what-we-do/jurors-and-new-media

The NCSC, with support from SJI, prepared an updated resource for the court community to summarize the current state of the continually maturing science on implicit bias as of March 2021. This report replaces NCSC’s 2012 report, Helping Courts Address Implicit Bias: Resources for Education. The Evolving Science of Implicit Bias: An Updated Resource for the State Court Community defines commonly used terms originating from the science of implicit bias; explains how the concept of implicit bias fits into broader conversations underway across the country about equity and fairness; and summarizes what is currently known from research in the psychological and brain sciences, including implicit bias interventions generally found to be effective and ineffective. This report concludes with some implications of this knowledge for state court leaders and other court practitioners who seek to better understand and address the reproduction and perpetuation of systemic biases through this lens. Preparation of the report was funded by State Justice Institute and NCSC.