Category: News And Announcements

During the last decade, research on practices to improve pretrial release decisions has increased dramatically.  This clearly demonstrates the need to move to a risk-based system, relying on actuarial instruments to inform decisions regarding the likelihood the defendant will appear in court or pose a danger to the community.  The research also has much to say about the short-term and long-term harms that accrue to defendants who remain in detention pending their trial, as well as potential threats to public safety when high risk defendants are able to pay for their release.  In recognition of this research, the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) have joined multiple national criminal justice stakeholder organizations to promote system change.  In 2015, both organizations provided educational programs on pretrial justice reform issues to their members, and are now engaged in convening a series of regional summits of multi-stakeholder teams to craft action plans for improving state court pretrial justice practices.

SJI recently awarded a Strategic Initiative Grant to support a national Pretrial Justice Reform and the State Courts Initiative.  The Initiative will build on the momentum generated by CCJ and COSCA, and help courts implement legal and evidence-based pretrial practices through the development of national resources and the provision of technical assistance (TA) targeted specifically to state courts.  The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) and the Pretrial Justice Institute (PJI), the leading organizations in judicial and pretrial reform, will partner to implement the Initiative.  In consultation with an Advisory Committee of judicial and pretrial reform leaders, NCSC and PJI will produce and widely disseminate a court pretrial organizational assessment tool, online educational tools, written policy papers, and provide TA for jurisdictions seeking expertise in specific pretrial areas.

The Initiative will be informed by the CCJ and COSCA National Task Force on Fines, Fees, and Bail Practices, the action plans developed by states participating in the regional Pretrial Justice Reform Summits, and efforts by state courts working with the NCSC and PJI.

As a result of this Initiative, state courts will have access to resources to facilitate implementation of their specific pretrial system improvements, as well as enhance the success of their reform efforts.  NCSC and PJI will highlight individual jurisdictions’ achievements electronically and in presentations to encourage knowledge-sharing and peer-to-peer learning across the state court community.  By supporting court systems implementing legal and evidence-based pretrial practices, the Initiative ultimately will help reduce unnecessary confinement of defendants based solely on their inability to pay, and ensure that dangerous defendants are appropriately detained. The Initiative also will assist state and local courts in their efforts to ensure equal justice and due process for all.

With support from SJI, Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation , and the North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission, the North Carolina Commission on the Administration of Law and Justice (NCCALJ) presented its final report to Chief Justice Mark Martin earlier this month during a ceremony at the Supreme Court of North Carolina.  The report includes recommendations to strengthen the state’s court system to best meet institutional needs and 21st century public expectations.

Convened by Chief Justice Martin in September 2015, NCCALJ is an independent, multidisciplinary study group created to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the judicial system and make recommendations for strengthening our courts within the existing administrative framework.  Recommendations featured in the report include:

• implementing a strategic technology plan for paperless courthouses;
• raising the juvenile age;
• reducing case delays and improving efficiency; and,
• assisting the growing number of self-represented litigants.

These recommendations reflect the understanding that public trust and confidence in the courts is at its highest when the courts are seen as fair, accessible, and effectively managed.

NCCALJ is an independent, multidisciplinary commission comprised of leaders from business, academia, the Judicial Branch, the Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch, the legal profession, and the nonprofit sector.  The Commission’s diverse membership was divided into five Committees corresponding to five areas of inquiry: 1) Civil Justice; 2) Criminal Investigation and Adjudication; 3) Legal Professionalism; 4) Public Trust and Confidence; and 5) Technology.

The committees conducted research, consulted with numerous experts and court officials, and engaged in collaborative discussions to identify areas for improvement in North Carolina’s court system.  This past summer, the Commission produced interim reports and gathered public input through online comments and four public meetings held across the state.

“The Commission’s recommendations create a framework for dramatic, systemic improvement in the administration of justice in North Carolina,” said Chief Justice Martin.  “The work of this blue-ribbon Commission will help ensure that North Carolina’s Judicial Branch meets the needs and expectations that the people of North Carolina have for fair, modern and impartial courts.”

The Administrative Office of the Courts, along with other component parts of the Judicial Branch, will implement the Commission’s recommendations.

Through an SJI grant, the Montana Office of Court Administration has successfully completed a juvenile probation workload assessment study.  The final report documents the challenges associated with providing quality supervision to Montana youth, while balancing caseloads, pretrial assessments, and essential probation department functions.

This report is the culmination of a collaborative effort between staff at the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) and the Workload Guidance Committee, which was comprised of 14 leaders from 12 judicial districts and the Office of Court Administration.  Guidance Committee members focused their efforts on ensuring the quality of this assessment by assisting juvenile probation staff with tracking time, and arranging for stakeholders to share their views, experiences, and insights at the focus groups.

States are encouraged to determine local workloads based on carefully conducted time studies.  The final report notes, “Juveniles usually enter the juvenile justice system through contact with law enforcement, although they may be referred to juvenile probation by other agencies and parents. The juvenile justice system is designed to keep youth out of the deep end of the criminal justice system.  It also is effective in helping the District/Youth Courts from becoming over-burdened with relatively minor offenses that can be handled more swiftly by juvenile probation through the informal process.”

Included in the final report are workload essentials and measurements, as well as findings and next steps.

A little over one year from the date of its formation, the National Task Force on Fines, Fees and Bail Practices, comprised of stakeholders representing the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA), recently released multiple resources for state courts.

Supported in part by SJI and DOJ/Bureau of Justice Assistance, with technical assistance from the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), these new aids can assist state courts in the fair and efficient enforcement of the law, and help ensure that no citizen is denied access to the justice system.

The resources include:

• Guide to the Work of the Task Force
• Lawful Obligations Bench Card
• Model Political Subdivision Court Registration Act and Form
• Sample Model Uniform Citation
• Sample Court Rule

The new bench card is intended to assist judges in real time with the lawful collection of legal financial obligations.  At its February 2017 general business meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona, CCJ adopted a resolution in support of the adoption of the Bench Card. The resolution “encourages inclusion of the Bench Card into the judicial education curricula created by each State for new judges and for experienced judges.”

“No one in America should be sent to jail—or threatened with jail—solely because they are poor. In too many instances, judges are ignoring fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution, while local politicians treat the court system as an ATM for their spending priorities. This must change, and this task force is committed to taking steps to ensure justice for all,” said co-chair Maureen O’Connor, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio. The task force is also co-chaired by Laurie K. Dudgeon, Director of the Administrative Office of the Kentucky Courts.

The National Task Force on Fines, Fees and Bail Practices will continue to create various tools to assist states.  Page two of the Bench Card refers to a document, Best Practices for Determining the Right to Counsel in Legal Financial Obligation Cases, which is currently in development and is expected to be released later this Spring.

 

The 2017 National Association for Court Management (NACM) Midyear Meeting held in Portland, Oregon, earlier this month saw hundreds of court administrative professionals and partners come together to enhance their skill sets, discuss the state of state courts, and engage in structured and informal professional development opportunities.

For nearly a decade, SJI has been pleased to support both the annual and midyear meeting educational sessions offered by NACM through grants that promote content development, engage presenters, and more recently, record, live stream, and archive workshops and plenary sessions.  These grants were initiated when state courts drastically reduced, at both local and state levels, the funds available for professional development.  In an effort to keep court administrators and staff immersed in the latest trends, court technology, and evidence-based practices, NACM partnered with SJI to make content both live and archived, available to members and the larger state court community.

Live streaming and post-meeting access to materials, slides, and media continues to be popular with NACM members and court personnel across the United States.  The 2017 NACM  Midyear Meeting materials and videos are available online.

 

With support from SJI, a working group of court practitioners and other subject matter experts established by the Joint Technology Committee (JTC) of the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA), the National Association for Court Management (NACM) and the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) assembled a NextGen Court Business Process Model.  Other participating organizations included the Court Information Technology Officers Consortium (CITOC) and the IJIS Institute (IJIS).

This report outlines the Court Business Process (CBP) Model that was developed and approved by the NextGen Court Technology Standards Working Group.  Its work updates and further informs information originally examined in 2003.  Developed in the first phase of the project and released in 2016, the CBP defined the case type layer of the model and initiated a secondary level of definition – business process categories.  As the project team commenced, it became apparent that the work could not be performed without also addressing a third layer of the model, the business process groups. The original project proposed to complete the second and third layers of the model during phase two, but a substantial part of this work already has been completed.

The NextGen approach to a CBP Model is designed to be unique and offers the capacity of understanding the work of the judicial branch in an entirely new way.  Some key elements are:

• Better modeling of the business processes can lead to more effective automation and improved court productivity.
• Within the context of reused elementary business processes, case management system modules that support those processes can be integrated and reused in a manner that precisely meets the needs of each particular court system.
• Provision of a clear and concise understanding of specific business processes in a format that is both comprehensive and economical will lead to greater intersection with Business Process Groups (claims, hearings, trials, etc.) and Business Process Categories (case type).

Second phase work includes NextGen Court Technology Standards that will address implementation of concepts.  Later this Spring, the JTC plans to release a follow-up report culminating all of this work.

 

The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) has released its annual State of the State Courts survey results.  The survey results yielded valuable information on public trust, procedural fairness, and other critical areas.  This year’s survey results showed an increase  in the public’s trust in the courts, with four in five people having direct interaction with the court system expressing satisfaction in procedural fairness.

The survey was conducted among 1,000 respondents by telephone between November 14 – 17, 2016.  Survey findings are considered accurate 19 times out of 20.

Key findings of the survey include:

• There are signs of positive momentum in public trust — but innovation and technology concerns persist;
• A glaring lack of understanding about court funding is reflective of misperceptions about government spending generally;
• If courts lead on fines and fees reform, the public will follow;
• The public believes that the ethnicity of a judge may impact fairness.

For more detail on the survey findings, read this six-page summary from the pollster, or download the presentation slides.

The NCSC also surveyed public opinion in previous years, and has archived the 2015 and 2014 survey results.

 

The Conference of Chief Justices and Conference of State Court Administrators Joint Committee on Elders and the Courts has approved the Strategic Action Plan – 2016 for the Adult Guardianship Initiative.

With support from SJI and the Retirement Research Foundation (RRF), the Center for Elders and the Courts is addressing guardianship and conservatorship issues in the state courts through the initiative.

The plan comprises a multi-year response that targets four key goals including:

• Develop and maintain a partnership of key stakeholders;
• Prioritize the protection and enhancement of individual rights;
• Promote modernization and transparency in the guardianship process; and,
• Enhance guardianship/conservatorship court processes and oversight.

A recent survey by the NCSC shows an estimated $50 billion in assets are currently under state courts’ watch in conservatorship cases across the country.  This number is based on projections from data from a handful of states.  Some 176,000 new conservatorship or guardianship cases were filed in state courts nationally in 2015, and there were an estimated 1.3 million open cases.  These statistics provide valuable insight to a growing national problem and how courts recognize and deal with the financial exploitation of people under a conservatorship.

 

With support from SJI and in partnership with the National Juvenile Defender Center, and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ), a new juvenile delinquency information card is now available that highlights the key elements of ensuring meaningful access to counsel for juveniles at initial appointment.

The card, titled “Honoring Gault: Ensuring Access to Counsel in Delinquency Proceedings,” is named after the 1964 case against Gerald Francis Gault, aged fifteen, who was sentenced to the state youth correctional facility until his twenty-first birthday for making an annoying phone call.  It was later determined by the U.S. Supreme Court that, no matter the age, the accused should receive meaningful access to counsel.

Included in the card are four key elements to ensuring meaningful access to counsel for juveniles, and ethical standards for consideration by the parties involved in the proceedings.

 

Courting Justice  follows a town hall format that invites state supreme, appellate, and trial court judges to step down from the bench and listen to new perspectives on how the state courts can better deliver justice for all.

Supported by SJI and the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), airing on PBS and hosted by acclaimed journalist Tavis Smiley, Courting Justice is on a cross-country tour, engaging the public and judges in a conversation about the courts.

From litigants to public defenders, families of the incarcerated to prosecutors, multiple voices have shared their concerns and real-world solutions on how to rebuild the public trust in our judiciary.
The most recent episode was taped in Cleveland, Ohio, on December 8, 2016, and is now available online.  Panelists included: Ohio Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor; Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Ronald Adrine; Lakewood Judge Patrick Carroll; and, Former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Yvette McGee. Brown.