The Board met on June 16, 2014, to make decisions on quarterly grant applications and awarded a total of 11 grants. Two (2) Project Grants were approved: support to improve language access for Native Americans in state courts for the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts; and a court security and response awareness project for the Minnesota Judicial Branch. Five (5) Technical Assistance (TA) Grants were approved, including: court security assessments for the Wyoming Supreme Court and Guam Judiciary; probation assessment and evaluation for the Licking County, Ohio, Courts; a judicial workload assessment for the Gwinnett County, Georgia, Superior Court; and revision of a custody and visitation mediation orientation online video for the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts. Four (4) Curriculum Adaptation & Training (CAT) Grants were approved, including: support for the Georgia Certified Court Manager Program; court security team building regional trainings in Wyoming; a leadership and governance project for the Council of Chief Judges of the State Courts of Appeal (CCJSCA); and educational development courses for the Los Angeles, California, Superior Court.

During its June 16, 2014 meeting, the Board of Directors awarded a FY 2014 Strategic Initiatives Grant to the Human Trafficking and the State Courts Collaborative. SJI established human trafficking as a Priority Investment Area in FY 2013. This led to the creation of the Collaborative to address this critical issue. The Collaborative currently consists of the following organizations: Center for Public Policy Studies (CPPS); Center for Court Innovation (CCI); The National Judicial College (NJC); National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ); Legal Momentum; and as of May 2014, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ). The Collaborative is addressing 4 strategic priorities:

• increase understanding and awareness about the challenges faced by state courts in dealing with cases involving trafficking victims and their families;
• develop and test state and local approaches for assessing and addressing the impact of human trafficking victims and defendants in the state courts;
• enhance state and local court capacity to improve court services impacted by human trafficking-related case processing demands; and,
• build effective national, state, and local partnerships for addressing the impacts of human trafficking case processing in the state courts.

Over the past year, the Collaborative has:

• provided extensive, targeted, technical assistance to state court systems, local trial courts, and court support organizations, including courts located in Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, New York, and Ohio;
• developed educational curricula and conducted numerous educational sessions for state courts and court support organizations;
• established a comprehensive website (www.htcourts.org);
• prepared and distributed resources, including information cards, articles, guides, and a bi-weekly online human trafficking news summary; and,
• established working relationships with key federal, state, and local agencies to address this critical issue.

With additional SIG funding in FY 2014, the Collaborative will expand technical assistance to other state and local courts, increase education and training, and continue strengthening partnerships at the federal, state, and local levels. Demand for technical assistance has exceeded the resources available to the Collaborative; therefore, it is anticipated that additional funding will enable the Collaborative to begin work in new jurisdictions. In FY 2014, there will be an enhanced focus on the role of state courts in addressing labor trafficking as well as sex trafficking. This includes clarifying the types and dynamics of labor trafficking and how labor-trafficking involved cases might end up in the state courts. In addition, there will also be a focus on helping state courts provide services to trafficking victims, to include trauma-informed approaches towards victims and the special needs of juvenile victims of trafficking.

In late 2013, SJI, in partnership with the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), made resources available to the National Judicial College (NJC) to support a series of webcasts addressing human trafficking, notable decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, and managing self-represented litigants (SJI-12-E-072).

These recorded webcasts are now available online and are accessible for continuing education (CLE-eligible), and expanding general knowledge in each topic area. They include the following webcasts:

• Confronting Crawford Challenges, Parts 1 and 2;
• Notable Decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, 2012-2013 Term;
• Managing Self-Represented Litigants in Your Courtroom; and,
• Human Trafficking: What U.S. Judges Need to Know.

As the U.S. Supreme Court continues to release decisions from its most recent term, now is the time to examine the most notable decisions from the previous term that have lasting implications. The human trafficking webcast provides a primer for judges interested in this critical issue. The two-part webcast addressing the Crawford rule (Crawford v. Washington) examines how courts are applying the definition of testimonial statement, witness availability, and what constitutes a prior opportunity to cross-examine.

Anyone interested in these recorded webcasts can access them online through the NCJ’s website, and obtain a CLE viewing form if needed.

The recent release of The Politics of Restraint: State Judicial Leadership in the 21st Century, authored by Chief Justice (ret.) Jeff Amestoy of the Vermont Supreme Court marks the 11th paper in the Harvard Executive Session series.

The author discusses how judicial leaders should understand their role as extending beyond protecting and enhancing the budgetary and other needs of the state courts. Rather, using a voice that is both restrained and persistent, judicial leaders should articulate the importance of the judiciary in democratic society. The paper emphasizes how judicial independence is maintained through carefully crafted messages.

Beginning in 2008, SJI, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), and the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) collaborated to fund and support the Executive Session for State Court Leaders in the 21st Century, hosted by Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. The Executive Session brought together over thirty leaders at all levels of the state courts, academia, media, private counsel, and national court support organizations, to define, discuss, and decipher state court issues and solutions. Their work concluded in late 2011, and has continued on through the authorship of these papers. Each paper has addressed an emerging or existing area of need presented during the Executive Session.

Upcoming papers include: maintaining judicial independence during a funding crisis; and improving court access and ensuring fair treatment to all who access the courts.

The entire series is available on the SJI website, and print copies have been distributed to the members of Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA), and to the boards of directors of major court-related organizations. In an effort o reach the widest possible audience of judges, court administrators, and criminal justice professionals, the NCSC serves as a repository for all published Executive Session products and videos.

The Language Access Basic Training (LABT) is a downloadable interactive training, which serves as an introduction to language access for all court employees. It is a collaborative project of the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) through the New Mexico Center for Language Access (NMCLA), funded by SJI and supported by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) and the Language Access Advisory Committee of the Council of State Court Administrators (COSCA). The project’s Advisory Board consisted of stakeholders from 7 states including: Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon and Texas.

The purpose of the training is to ensure that all court employees have a basic understanding of their ethical and legal obligations, as well as current best practices in serving limited English proficient and non-English speaking individuals. Available in language neutral and Spanish, LABT also provides a training module for bilingual court employees as well as an optional skills assessment module. The training will be administered by NCSC. Customization services are available through the NMCLA.

The training program consists of three modules: 1) Fundamentals; 2) Bilingual Skills Building; and 3) Bilingual Skills Assessment.

The Fundamentals Module is intended to train both monolingual and bilingual staff in state courts. The module is divided into four sections:

• Overview describes the legal basis for language access services;
• Professional Standards explores best practices in language access;
• Roles of Court Staff details the differing roles of interpreters, bilingual staff, and monolingual staff in the provision of language access services; and
• Cultural Competency and Customer Service examines the importance of cultural differences in providing good customer service.

The module is designed to be a rich learning experience, using video, graphics, scenarios, and expert commentary to make topics engaging, accessible, and easy to understand. Expert commentary is provided by professionals in the field with varying perspectives, including judges, language access specialists, court administrators, clerks, and representatives from the NCSC and COSCA.

The Bilingual Skills Building Module is specific to bilingual court staff. The module is available in language neutral and Spanish and includes three main sections:

• Terminology Acquisition covers theory and exercises on how to effectively research legal terminology in both languages;
• Language Access Facilitation includes lessons and exercises in consecutive interpreting and sight-translation;
• Guidelines for Practice challenges trainees to apply concepts and techniques in an interactive environment.

The self-paced practice module includes lessons, quizzes and exercises as well as self- evaluation tools. This way, trainees can effectively learn, evaluate their performance and keep track of their progress.

The Bilingual Skills Assessment Module is also specific to bilingual court staff. The module evaluates trainees’ comprehension of LABT content and skills in their language pair. Trainees complete the skills assessment module online and submit it for rating or feedback. Two pilots were conducted to test the technologies and content of the program. The first pilot took place in New Mexico, with a focus group. The second was comprehensive – with a total login count of one hundred and thirty-six (136) trainees from seven states and served as a collaborative effort between the AOC, NCSC, and the advisory board states; feedback collected was overall very positive. The program will be available this summer online through the NCSC.

SJI support has assisted the National Association for Court Management (NACM) in providing training and educational content at its annual and midyear conferences for court managers, administrators, and judicial officers. Recently, NACM posted online educational sessions from it 2014 midyear conference, held in early February. Video presentations from more than a dozen sessions are available to the court community, regardless of NACM membership status. Some of the presenters include NACM President David Slayton, Vice President Stephanie Hess, Judge Brian MacKenzie, Professor Jacqueline Middleton, Editor-in-Chief of The Washingtonian, Garret Graff, and a host of well-known court consultants, leaders, and experts.

The 2014 NACM Annual Conference will be held July 13 – 17, 2014 in Scottsdale, Arizona. Registration will open soon, and information on exhibitors and sponsorships is already available online.

The National Center for State Court’s (NCSC)/Center for Elders and the Courts (CEC), in partnership with the University of California at Irvine School of Medicine’s Center of Excellence on Elder Abuse and Neglect, has developed two training resources for judges and court personnel:

• The Elder Abuse Curriculum for Judicial Officers is available for download. The curriculum is comprised of three modules that provide an overview on the physiology of aging, identifying elder abuse and neglect, and crafting more effective court responses. The curriculum includes all course materials, an instruction manual, and supplemental videos. The curriculum is also adaptable for in-person and educational sessions of varying length.

• The new online course, Justice Responses to Elder Abuse, will soon be available, free of charge, through the CEC website. The course is expected to be released in April 2014. This comprehensive resource expands on the curriculum and features expert medical, judicial, and prosecution faculty through the course’s four key parts: 1) Aging in America; 2) Enhancing Elder Abuse Awareness; 3) Special Issues and Tools for Courts; and, 4) Practical Application via Case Scenarios.

In FY 2011, SJI began a multi-year grant initiative to assist the NCSC with the needed upgrades to the CEC website, so that hosting of complex integrated materials and deployment of web-based training would be possible. For more information on these CEC products, please contact Brenda Uekert (buekert@ncsc.org) or Denise Dancy (ddancy@ncsc.org) at the NCSC.

On January 14, 2014, the first-ever Federal Strategic Action Plan on Services for Victims of Human Trafficking in the United States was released. After several months of coordination with the White House, Executive Branch agencies, and other entities, the SJI-sponsored Human Trafficking and the State Courts Collaborative was included as a part of this national effort (see pages 33-34, and 60). While SJI’s contribution to the plan appears small, it is in fact one of the only components of the plan that includes the state courts as a justice system stakeholder in addressing human trafficking.

The plan lays out a five-year path for increased coordination, collaboration, and capacity across the federal government and in partnership with other governmental and nongovernmental entities at all levels. It describes the steps that federal agencies will take to ensure that all victims of human trafficking in the United States are identified, and have access to the services they need to recover and to rebuild their lives. This includes a victim services network that is comprehensive, trauma-informed, and responsive to the needs of all victims, regardless of the type of trafficking they endured. More than 15 federal agencies (led by the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security) worked with stakeholders and participated in listening sessions across the country to develop this plan, as well as solicited feedback through a 45-day public comment period.

In FY 2013, SJI awarded a Strategic Initiatives Grant (SIG) to the Center for Public Policy Studies/The National Judicial College/Center for Court Innovation (CPPS/NJC/CCI) to form a Human Trafficking and the State Courts Collaborative focused on 4 strategic priorities: 1) increasing understanding and awareness about the challenges faced by state courts in dealing with cases involving trafficking victims and their families, and traffickers; 2) developing and testing state and local approaches for assessing and addressing the impact of human trafficking victims and defendants in the state courts; 3) enhancing state and local court capacity to improve court services affected by human trafficking-related case processing demands; and 4) building effective national, state, and local partnerships for addressing the impacts of human trafficking case processing in the state courts.

Courts across the country have experienced a significant increase in the number of cases involving self-represented litigants. To assist in meeting the demand for additional resources, the Court Statistics Project (CSP), with support from SJI, recently released a report titled, Developing Standardized Definitions and Counting Rules for Cases with Self-Represented Litigants, (SJI-12-P-084).

CSP, a joint project of the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) and the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA), has developed a number of products through extensive research and collection of case data that advance the courts’ ability to address self-represented litigant demands with efficiency, and in the fairest manner possible. The project to standardize self-represented litigant definitions and counting rules was initiated with the goal of establishing a consistent approach to reporting cases with self-represented litigants, and fostering a means by which comparative data could be produced within and among jurisdictions.

CSP intends to use this data to facilitate greater understanding of the nature and extent of self-representation in the state courts. Recommendations are provided in three key areas necessary to case processing: 1) definitions; 2) counting rules; and, 3) reporting guidelines. Each area is well-defined with the intent of avoiding ambiguity when it comes to collecting, interpreting , and reporting caseload data. The final report also addresses court technology standards that reflect the level of capabilities required to manage data-driven operational changes.

The Board met on December 9, 2013, to make decisions on quarterly grant applications and awarded a total of 14 grants. Four (4) Project Grants were approved, including: educational programming for the National Association for Court Management (NACM); a court clerk workload assessment for the King County, Washington, District Court; a pretrial and probation services assessment for the Missouri courts; and an adult guardianship special assistant project for the Maryland Judiciary. Seven (7) Technical Assistance (TA) Grants were approved, including: user-friendly electronic guardianship forms, manuals, and guidance for the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Orphans’ Court; judicial operations restructure project for the Douglas County, Nevada, courts; a calendaring and docket management assessment for the Washington County, Oregon, Circuit Court; judicial workload study update for the Montana Supreme Court; New Jersey Judiciary build-a-brief application for self-represented litigants and attorneys; jury instructional online videos for the Connecticut Judiciary; and an assessment of the impact of Hurricane Sandy by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC). Three (3) Curriculum Adaptation & Training (CAT) Grants were approved, including: human trafficking training by the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ); Arkansas AOC online training programs for court security officers; and leadership education and training for the Virginia courts.