Category: News

The SJI Board of Directors met on September 9, 2019 to make decisions on quarterly grant applications and approved a total of 12 new grants.

Ten (10) Technical Assistance Grants were awarded: the Connecticut Judicial Branch for a domestic relations triage project; the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeal of Louisiana for a governance and organizational assessment; the Massachusetts Judiciary for a triage/pathways initiative for family cases; the Georgia Administrative Office of the Courts for a statewide expungement clinic initiative in rural areas; the 32^nd Circuit Court of Michigan for a strategic planning initiative; the South Dakota Unified Judicial System for a court security project; the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center for a survey kiosks pilots and assessment; the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals for a jury orientation online video; the 1^st Judicial District of Pennsylvania for a technology leadership assistance project; and the Illinois Judiciary for strategic plan implementation.

Two (2) Curriculum Adaptation and Training (CAT) Grants were awarded: The Georgia Judiciary for a podcast training project; and the Oregon Judicial Department for training on bias in the courtroom.

The Conservator Accountability Project (CAP) begain in 2015, with two key goals to help courts modernize their conservatorship process, specifically through the use of technology and analytics.

Supported by an SJI Grant, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), working with CAP, has released a new guide titled, Conservatorship Accountability Project: Modernizing Conservatorship Processes and Improving the Protection of Assets.

Minnesota,  which served as the model for the guide, has been a unified court system since the late 1980’s and was able to secure outside resources and broad legislative support for the implmentation of MyMnConservator (MMC) – a mandatory conservatorship accounting software, and the Conservator Account Auditing Program (CAAP), also used statewide.

During the pilot phase of CAP, the NCSC, working directly with several states, including New Mexico, Iowa, Indiana, Texas, and Clark County, Nevada, found that most states did not have access to the resources needed to implement broad-scale changes under the present conditions.  Data collection efforts showed that most state courts still have a difficult time documenting the number of active conservatorship cases.  Rather than create a guide that only a few courts could implement, this guide informs readers of the efforts and advancements under way.

The National Association for Court Management (NACM) is dedicated to educating court professionals, providing community, sharing information, and advocating on important court and justice system topics.

NACM’s Annual Meeting recently concluded with the theme, Courts & Society: Creating Public Trust Through Engagement & Innovation.  The meeting showcased a number of exceptional educational programs while offering networking opportunities for our national and international guests.

Each plenary and select programs were live-streamed, recorded, and can now be accessed in the NACM Video Gallery.  Highlights of each session can be found here.  NACM encourages court professionals to watch these videos and also share this great resource with colleagues.

The NACM 2020 Midyear Meeting will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the Westin Charlotte from February 9-11, 2020.  Registration has not yet opened, so keep an eye on the NACM Conference website.

The Court Statistics Project (CSP), a joint project between the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) and the National Center for State Courts (NCSC),  has published the 2019 edition of State Court Caseload Digest, which uses 2017 data to update caseload totals.

National, civil, domestic relations, criminal, juvenile, traffic, and appellate caseloads are covered.  On the national level, after years of increasing caseloads reported by state trial courts in the previous decade, the most recent 10-year period shows a slow but steady decline since 2008. Total trial court caseloads in 2017 were roughly the same as those reported in 1993.

The SJI Board of Directors met on June 24, 2019 to make decisions on quarterly grant applications and awarded a total of 12 new grants.

A Project Grant was awarded to the District of Columbia Courts to develop a language access program, including the first nationwide Amharic Court Interpreter Certification Exam to better serve litigants from the Washington, D.C. metro region’s Ethiopian population.

Seven (7) Technical Assistance Grants were awarded: the Nebraska Administrative Office of the Courts for an assessment of self-represented litigants; the Massachusetts Administrative Office of the Trial Court for a plain language and simplified court procedures project; the 7^th Judicial Circuit of Maryland for a strategic planning initiative; the 2^nd Judicial Circuit of Arkansas for a calendar/caseflow improvement project; the Connecticut Judicial Branch for an electronic records management initiative; the Deschutes County, Oregon, Circuit Court for a Central Oregon Regional Guardianship Summit; and the 41B District Court in Michigan for a strategic planning project.

Four (4) Curriculum Adaptation and Training (CAT) Grants were awarded: The National Judicial College (NJC) for judicial webcasts; the New York Unified Court System for a faculty development workshop on creating and presenting webinars; the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ) on opioids education; and the Hawaii Administrative Office of the Courts for Institute for Court Management (ICM) training.

The National Judicial College (NJC) and the Justice Speakers Institute, LLC (JSI) are pleased to announce the release of a new online publication, Science Bench Book for Judges, funded by the State Justice Institute (SJI).

Judges don’t need to become scientists to make appropriate evidentiary decisions about scientific evidence.  However, judges do need to have a comprehensive understanding of their role in admitting scientific evidence.  Everything a judge needs to know in deciding the admissibility of scientific evidence is contained in this new online publication.

Available exclusively and at no charge as a digital download, the bench book includes sections on:

• The Judicial Gatekeeper Function
  by Hon. Samuel A. Thumma, Chief Judge, Division One, Court of Appeals, AZ
• Cyber and Digital Evidence
  by Hon. Bridget Mary McCormack, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Michigan
• DNA Evidence
  by Hon. Ming Chin, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of California
• The Use of Science in Juvenile Court
  by Hon. Cindy Lederman (Ret.) Judge, Dependency Court Dade County, FL
• Plus dozens more topicsto help judges anticipate and prepare to rule on admission of new areas of scientific evidence.

The bench book also provides sample orders for criminal discovery and a state-by-state Frye/Daubert analysis.  Download the entire Bench Book, or just the sections that you need.

With support from the State Justice Institute, the 22^nd Judicial Circuit Court of McHenry County, Illinois undertook an ambitious plan to implement all 13 of the CCJ civil justice recommendations.

The Court’s Civil Justice Initiative Project (CJIP) began with a landscape assessment of its civil caseload and identifying strengths and weaknesses in civil case processing.  Using a specially appointed civil case manager, the Court developed civil case pathways for each of the civil calendars.  Court administration also developed technology tools to improve communication with lawyers and litigants, and enhanced case management reports to better inform judges about the status of the pending caseloads.  Although too little time has elapsed since CJIP was fully implemented to gauge its long term impact, initial analyses indicate increased attorney awareness of case movement and deadlines; increased judicial and court staff attention to administrative orders and case reports; increased dialogue and buy-in around active case management; and significantly reduced time to disposition for the pending caseload.

The project also highlights the importance of judicial leadership and effective communication strategies to ensure stakeholder awareness, understanding, and support for reform efforts.  More about McHenry County, and the other demonstration project sites selected, can be found on the National Center for State Court’s Civil Justice Initiative page.

The Rural Responses to the Opioid Epidemic Grant is designed to leverage the combined resources and expertise of the BJA, CDC, SJI, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and other federal partners to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with opioid overdoses among individuals who come in contact with law enforcement or are involved in the criminal justice system in high-risk rural communities and regions.

Applications should demonstrate an understanding of the dynamic nature of substance abuse. All proposed activities supported by this solicitation must exclusively target populations residing in rural communities or rural census tracts in urban or suburban counties.

Learn more about the Rural Responses to the Opioid Epidemic Grant and application process during the upcoming webinar, scheduled for  June 26, 2019, at 2:30 p.m., ET.  Register here: http://s.iir.com/Rural_Responses.  Please submit questions in advance to COAP@iir.com no later than June 25, 2019.  Emails should include the name and agency of the submitter, his or her email address, and the question(s).

The solicitation can be found at http://s.iir.com/RRgrantform2019. Applications are due on July 26, 2019.

The NCJFCJ’s National Resource Center on Military-Connected Families and the Courts is designed to be a resource for judicial officers and others working in courts with military-connected families in cases involving family violence, protection orders, divorce, child custody, child support, child abuse and neglect, and juvenile delinquency.

The NCJFCJ received funding for a grant from the State Justice Institute (SJI) to address issues for Military-Connected Families and the Courts through December 2019, and is expecting support and involvement from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office on Military Community and Family Policy.

The primary focus for the resource center is on active duty military members and their families with cases in the juvenile and family court system.  The state courts can also find a variety of points of services and information including:

1. Register for upcoming trainings featuring military families
   View a list of upcoming NCJFCJ trainings featuring military families and many other topics.
2. Request technical assistance
   Get answers to the question you have about how the courts are dealing with military families. If you would like to submit a technical assistance request, please email contactus@ncjfcj.org.
3. Browse publications
   The NCJFCJ has an extensive library of mental health-related and veteran treatment court publications, guides, and summaries.

Resources regarding military veterans, National Guard, and Reserve members are not the focus of the center at this time, but may be included in the future.  Click here to visit the Resource Center.

Participants from the nation’s state courts attended a Summit on Pandemic Preparedness at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) May 22 – 24, 2019.  The summit, hosted by Nebraska Chief Justice Michael Heavican, brought together chief justices and other court leaders, health officials, and members of the legislative and executive branches to discuss ways to address a pandemic outbreak.

Topics for the summit included legal issues that can emerge from a pandemic, such as quarantines.  Small discussion groups were led through exercises designed to explore the problematic aspects of isolation and quarantine law, following presentations by the Center for Disease Control, medical researchers, and legal experts.  Tours of the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, National Quarantine Center, iExcel VizHub, and the Chihuly Sanctuary were included.

The goal of the summit is to ensure that all government agencies work together to effectively meet the needs of the public during a public health crisis.  The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) is provided technical assistance, including experts in the field and the State Justice Institute (SJI) awarded grant funding for this critical summit.

• Read/Listen to NPR interview with Judge Leigh Ann Retelsdorf:  If a pandemic hits, Nebraska’s courts plan to protect legal system.
• Read the Omaha World Herald: Doc quarantined in Omaha after Ebola exposure on experience, need to care for people facing disease.
• Read Chief Justice Heavican’s remarks: Opening Remarks for the National Summit Omaha.
• Read Court Order in Kaci Hickox case (Maine nurse who challenged Ebola quarantine): Order of Charles LaVerdiere, Former Chief Judge of the Maine District Court: Maine HHS vs. Kaci Hickox.