Category: Spotlights

The National Judicial Network: A Lifeline Helping Judges Better Serve Human Trafficking Victims and Immigrant Victims of Crime and Abuse

The National Judicial Network (NJN): Forum on Human Trafficking and Immigration in State Courts offers judges an opportunity for peer-to-peer learning and information sharing. Judges from all over the country who are interested in the court’s role in assisting victims of human trafficking and immigrant victims of crime and abuse can engage with one another through NJN. The NJN is supported by the National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project (NIWAP), American University Washington College of Law, in collaboration with the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ), a 17-member state court judge steering committee and funded by the State Justice Institute. NJN judges participate in peer-to-peer forums, webinars, and a confidential members-only Listserv where they can communicate with other judges. They also have access to topic-specific publications and can request the development of new publications. In-person training sessions are conducted to address issues related to human trafficking and immigrant victims in state courts. The NJN’s forums, webinars, and publications aim to enhance judges’ understanding of complex issues and ultimately improve access to justice for victims of human trafficking and immigrant victims of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, stalking, and other crimes. The NJN currently has 240 judicial officers from 35 states, DC, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa as its members. They convene monthly (excluding July and August) for peer-to-peer forums and webinars focused on topics requested by members. In response to judicial requests, NIWAP has developed a library of 260 judicial educational materials for judges. Additionally, the NJN records many of its forums and webinars as a comprehensive resource for judges and lawyers nationwide, covering various topics (30 in total).

Members of the NJN Steering Committee describe the importance of NJN membership:

“As a New Jersey family court judge in 2016, I was appointed to oversee the development of a juvenile diversion program for youth at risk of human trafficking,” said Judge Susan Maven (ret.) of Atlantic City, New Jersey. “I quickly learned that there was not a central platform to converse with judges across the country who had established similar programs or had experience with the human trafficking of youth. I made it my goal then to establish such a network. Through my affiliation with the NCJFCJ and NIWAP, we were able to establish the National Judicial Network. Judges are now able to share experiences and learn best practices in order to better serve youth and immigrant women who are victims or at risk of harm from human trafficking.”

“The National Judicial Network is an exciting opportunity for judges across the country to learn about issues related to human trafficking and immigrant victims of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, and other crimes,” Judge Rosemary Collins (ret.) of Rockford, Illinois said. “I personally have found these trainings, and the materials provided, to be of the highest quality and extraordinarily helpful in my professional life.  Networking with other judges who share my passion for this work and having access to up-to-date accurate information about these complex issues is invaluable!” 

“I have been a state trial court judge for more than 28 years,” says Judge Ramona Gonzalez of La Cross, Wisconsin. “Courts now are a place where families come in crisis seeking more than just a jurist who calls balls and strikes.  The issues they bring include many that are not taught in law schools.  Immigration, trauma, and human trafficking are now before judges in rural and urban centers.  The Judicial Network is a lifeline for judges everywhere to learn, share and prepare to meet the needs of the families in crisis we see every day.”

Please share information about the NJN widely with judges.  If you are a judge, tribal judge, magistrate, commissioner, or other judicial officer we encourage you to join the NJN.  Please register through this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VGY9VJM

The Good Judge-ment Podcast is an educational, web-based podcast for judges, lawyers, students and nerds of all kinds.  The podcast started in 2016 as a supplement to ongoing educational programming for Georgia Superior Court judges.  From that beginning, it has grown to a bi-weekly program with hundreds of subscribers and over 125 episodes.  The hosts, Judge Wade Padgett (Columbia County Judicial Circuit) and Judge Tain Kell (retired judge formerly in the Cobb County Judicial Circuit) developed the program in response to a request by the Council of Superior Court Judges to supplement the annual Superior Court new judge training program Padgett and Kell had created in 2014.  Though initially tailored for Superior Court (i.e., trial court) judges, over time it has gained popularity with judges of all classes of court and has expanded its range of topics to include subjects of interest to other courts.  Topics for the podcast range the spectrum of subjects of general interest to judges and others curious about Georgia law.  Guests to the program have included many other judges, the Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, and even the First Lady of Georgia.  Kell and Padgett incorporate humor into the potentially dry topics for the sake of their audience.  They also post outlines for the podcasts at their website, goodjudgepod.com, containing case citations, statutory citations and helpful information to supplement the podcast.  Topic suggestions are solicited form the audience.  The podcast is available on most internet podcast platforms.

“I want to tell you how much I enjoy the podcast. I have already learned so much and I have totally stolen some of the material for the topics I teach…”

Quinn Kasper, Magistrate Judge

“I am a faithful listener to your podcasts. I have listened to many of them more than once. I particularly enjoyed the episodes on evidence, attorney’s fees, pet peeves, merger in criminal cases, and the latest motions to withdraw a guilty plea. Thank you for the good, and educational service you both do for the citizens of Georgia and beyond. Your humor, professionalism, and vast knowledge keep me listening week after week.”

A listener from South Carolina

“Your podcast(s) are AWESOME. Thank you for your dedication to improving the educational level of judges in our state. You have unlimited energy and knowledge that raises the bar at your expense. I find the podcast very useful.”

Jim Blanchard, Superior Court Judge

“I’m a big fan of the podcast!”

David Sawyer, Attorney

With the certification of 64 resource judges and four court resource attorneys’ mid-summer 2022, the National Courts and Sciences Institute (NCSI) completed Phase 1 of a SJI-supported strategic initiative to discover ways to train judges and court personnel to cope with novel, changing, Covid Science in the Courtroom. Judges from 12 jurisdictions in coordinator-facilitated teams participated in 21 science seminars and numerous jurisdiction efforts to translate the evolving science into case management and evidence adjudication bench books.

Phase 2 began immediately following certification — with the objective to disseminate to State Courts across the country insights from the participating jurisdictions’ experiences. Ten jurisdictions created products that may assist courts with Covid’s continuing challenges and with preparation for the next public health emergency that predictably could disrupt criminal justice, civil litigation and adjudication of extraordinary remedies, such as the Pandemic generated in a wide variety of public and private institutions, health care, and work settings. Following a Dissemination Workshop review comprised of 42 judges and scientists in March 2023, the following products have been scheduled for delivery to State courts, and possibly to other dissemination destinations contemplated by SJI policies:

⚪ July 2023: Bench books and related adjudication assisting products created by this strategic initiative’s jurisdiction teams, including discussion of challenges jurisdictions confronted as their work proceeded.

⚪ August 2023: A report on Covid-related case filings found during this project, with suggestions for statistical features / assistance to promote justice access and fairness in the wake of pandemic created constitutional challenges, criminal case management controversies, civil litigation demands for compensation and equitable relief for irreparable harms arguably following from the imposition and retraction of governmental emergency orders.

⚪ October 2023: A handbook-styled report on the project’s evaluated strengths, weaknesses and recommended improvements, with take-aways for jurisdictions that may wish to consider replication of the procedures utilized in this SJI Strategic Initiative. The report will include a list of resource judges and attorneys available to explain this project and able to recommend general strategies to assist courts adjudicate cases featuring novel, rapidly-changing scientific evidence.

Pictured here are 42 judges and scientists in attendance March 2023 at the UNC Friday Conference Center for Continuing Education.

During the past two years, Neighborhood Preservation, Inc. worked with the City of Memphis and Shelby County to launch the local Emergency Rental Assistance program, a $90 million program with a strong eviction prevention and legal services component. The SJI grant supported the development of court data tools to identify ERA applicants facing upcoming court eviction and pair them with legal representation. The court data allowed ERA attorneys to prioritize assistance and representation for tenants by their upcoming court dates. In total, ERA attorneys used the SJI-funded tools to make possible legal representation for 13,000 tenants who received more than $50 million in rental assistance. The grant also supported a robust court watch program to chart outcomes of proceedings across 4,000 eviction cases to gain a deeper understanding of the eviction process in Shelby County.

Currently, NPI is working to systemize the court data tools created. Our goal is to develop open-source data tools that can be accessible to other legal services providers and interested stakeholders such as community activists, judges, and tenants. Legal service providers in particular will be able to use our tool to search for case information in bulk and triage cases by the date of upcoming hearings. NPI has joined a national network of 35 non-profit organizations supported by the National Low Income Housing Coalition to advocate for reforms to improve Emergency Rental Assistance programs across the country, and in doing so, NPI has engaged opportunities to share our tools and help other municipalities develop similar tools to identify demographics and cause for eviction filings in areas of concentrated evictions.

Eviction data dashboard, to be online and tracking court outcomes beginning this summer:

Preview of report on court watch outcomes, estimated to be available and online this summer, and featured at Memphis’s local Evicted exhibit:

Eviction legal help featured in NPR: https://www.npr.org/2021/09/01/1031899066/cdc-eviction-ban-moratorium-emergency-rental-assistance-memphis

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/30/1032554961/rental-assistance-programs-are-swooping-in-to-help-as-evictions-resume

To improve guardianship case management, the National Center for State Courts is leading two SJI-funded projects to help guide courts through guardianship monitoring.

Developing a Judicial Response Protocol to Address Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation in Guardianship Cases features an interactive tool designed to help judges respond to allegations of harm to individuals subject to guardianship. Because most judges hear guardianship complaints infrequently, this tool helps judges consider their options while providing additional information and links to helpful resources along the way. The tool can be customized for individual states.

Working with partners from the National Guardianship Network, including the American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging (ABA-COLA) and the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN), NCSC’s Guardianship and Technology project will create technology standards for guardianship monitoring. Partners will host focus groups and conduct interviews with subject-matter experts and individuals affected by guardianship to identify needs and requirements. Once complete, the standards will encourage vendors to provide software systems that allow courts to effectively and efficiently monitor guardianships through online report filing and review.

This project builds upon the Conservatorship Accountability Project which resulted in a report: Adult Guardianship monitoring: A national survey of court practices and guidance on data collection in guardianship cases: Guardianship/Conservatorship Monitoring – Recommended Data Elements.

“There are very few cases in the judicial system that span the lifetime of these guardianship and conservatorship cases. It is critical that these monitoring systems be in play and that you constantly review files. If you catch something quickly, there may be a chance to step in and protect the individual.”

Judge Michael Long, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Michigan

For more information, contact Diane Robinson, National Center for State Courts, drobinson@ncsc.org

DV AWARE stands for Domestic Violence Analysis, Warning, Action, Recovery, and Engagement. Perpetrators of domestic violence can threaten the safety and well-being not only of their intimate partners and children, but also courts and communities. Beginning with a grant from SJI in 2021, the DV AWARE Project sought to support juvenile and family court systems around the country anticipate, identify, and mitigate violent incidents in their courthouses associated with domestic violence. It addresses two of SJI’s Priority Investment Areas – (1) Emergency Response and Recovery and (2) Training, Education, and Workforce Development – through the development and distribution of a number of tools, resources, and training opportunities for courts and communities across the country interested in implementing improvements in their handling of potential threats arising from cases involving domestic violence. The NCJFCJ and SJI convened experts in security, threat assessment and management, court administration, domestic violence advocacy, and juvenile and family court practices to inform the Project and the development of multiple unique resources. (See below) 

In the spring of 2023, the NCJFCJ and SJI will further disseminate the resources developed under the Project through the pilot of its multi-disciplinary curriculum directly to a Delaware-based team that includes judicial officers, court managers, court security, domestic violence advocates, and others seeking to improve their ability to meet the security needs of their courts, community, and staff.

Highlights of products developed through the project:

• What is DV AWARE? A short summary of the DV AWARE Project, highlighting its purpose as well as the Project’s resources developed to help courts and leadership teams looking for information that will help them understand, anticipate, identify, and mitigate incidents in their courthouses associated with domestic violence.

• The DV AWARE Guiding Principles, which were developed by national experts, and set fourth principles for collaborative, inclusive, strategic, and informed systems improvement, risk assessment, risk reduction, safety and response.

• The DV AWARE Blueprint, a brief guide that local leadership teams can use to form a DV AWARE Leadership Team and to guide that team in its development of training, policies, and procedures.

• The DV AWARE Toolkit, a web-based resource structured around the elements of Analysis, Warning, Action, Recovery and Engagement.

• The DV AWARE Multidisciplinary Curriculum. Designed to help multidisciplinary teams understand the elements of effective planning for and response to domestic violence-related dangerous incidents in courts, analyze their readiness and capacity to respond to domestic violence-related dangerous incidents, and create and apply policies, practices, and procedures aimed at improving court/system readiness and response.

On March 30, 2020, the Boards of Directors of the Conference of Chief Justices and Conference of State Court Administrators took action to establish National Judicial Task Force to Examine State Courts Response to Mental Illness to assist state courts in their efforts to more effectively respond to the needs of court-involved individuals with serious mental illness.

Led by an Executive Committee, joined by 40 additional judges, court, and behavioral health experts, and funded by the State Justice Institute, the Task Force has engaged in research, developed tools and resources, delivered training, education, and technical assistance, and developed best practice and policy recommendations for courts and communities.

In October 2022, the Task Force released its Final Report and Recommendations to be used by state and local court leaders in their efforts to examine and address the changes that are needed. The report, endorsed by CCJ and COSCA, details the following recommendations for state court leaders:

• Convene justice and behavioral health system partners to identify opportunities to collaboratively improve responses to individuals with behavioral health disorders.
• Promote processes to identify and divert individuals with behavioral health disorders at every stage of system involvement towards treatment and away from further penetration into the criminal justice system.
• Examine current case management and calendaring practices and implement strategies to more quickly and effectively address issues presented in cases involving individuals with behavioral health needs.

“The Final Report and Recommendations for change call for action by all state and local court leaders, behavioral health and community partners, and other state and federal agencies as we work together and more effectively to meet the needs of justice- involved individuals with serious mental illness.”

-Vermont Chief Justice Paul Reiber, Task Force Co-chair

During the pandemic, the Puerto Rico Office of Courts Administration (OCA) created an email account through which self-represented litigants (SRLs) seeking an emergency restraining order, a temporary detention or an involuntary admission order related to the Mental Health Code could file their petition to the Municipal Court.  SRLs could download, complete, and submit the applicable form through the designated email account. SRLs were given the option of attending the hearing through video conference. This system enhances access to justice and expedited the presentation of emergency resources at the Municipal Court level. Due to a considerable demand for the service, the Judicial Branch decided to institutionalize this effort by engaging in the development of a web-based application.

Under the leadership of the Deputy Court Administrator, the initial step was the establishment of a multidisciplinary court committee. Committee memberships included representatives from the Information Technology Directorate, the Directorate of Judicial Programs, (whose mission is to enhance access to justice for all, but specially for disfranchised communities), the Operations Directorate and the Office of Education and Community Outreach (EDUCO), among others. Subsequently, the Requirements Document was drafted to have a detailed roadmap of the legal and technical requirements the electronic application must fulfill. The software design and automatization component were outsourced to Rock Solid Technologies, who then appointed the software developers who would engage with the Judicial Branch’s committee in the development of the application. The application development required at least one weekly meeting among all committee members; and following meetings amongst court staff. The Court also appointed staff to oversee that the recommendations were incorporated into the application technical and design features.

View the detailed guide of the web-based application below:

The development of the web-based application has been a challenging and multidisciplinary effort because it requires bridging to distinct disciplines: the legal nomenclature and court paper-based administrative work procedures and its engineering into an electronic software application. Achieving such requirements has been challenging because the application must be user friendly, easily comprehendible, and navigation intuitively. And, at the same, streamlining court forms information, while guaranteeing that legal evidence and procedural requirements are met. Nevertheless, the Judicial Branch is on its way to attaining its desired results: a web-based application that will enhance access to justice while broadening the sphere of population that can be serve. 

In January 2022, the National Association of Counties, Rulo Strategies, and Praxis Consulting launched a new initiative to support justice-oriented strategic planning co-led by judges and elected county leaders. This timely project leveraged the renewed interest many courts have, coming out of the pandemic, in partnering with local stakeholders to expand the resources available to the courts.

Ten diverse local and regional sites served as pilots. Some sites aligned their work under an existing planning group, while others formed new planning bodies to support their planning. Each site engaged diverse stakeholders representing the court, elected county leadership, law enforcement, corrections, behavioral health, and other stakeholders.

Informed by the work with the ten sites, the project team launched a national toolkit highlighting the key components of the planning initiative. The County, Court, and Justice Leaders Framework is a resource for court leaders and their partners to explore a variety of effective models that span pre-arrest diversion strategies to reentry models that reduce recidivism. The toolkit is also a one-stop shop for the most up-to-date information and research published by leading national experts. Various topics are addressed in the toolkit, including strategies to reduce community violence, build a behavioral health continuum, reduce overdose deaths, establish diversion and alternative to incarceration opportunities, strengthen family justice systems, and reintegrate individuals back into the community upon reentry. Court, county and justice leaders can also access federal funding resources that align with different strategies and information about no cost technical assistance opportunities.

“This project reminds me of the stone soup parable. You have the one person who brings the magical stone to the town, and people say they have nothing to contribute. But this person helps people understand that they have something to contribute. They get one person to bring the carrots and one to bring the potatoes, and all of a sudden, and they have this amazing soup. This is what this project is about – the consultant team bringing ideas to our communities but empowering us to take action as a collective.”

-Judge Tamara R. Bernstein, Cambria County

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In 2020, the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) received a SJI grant to assess the court’s access to and use of mental health and substance use recovery services within the community. Funding allowed the Crime and Justice Institute (CJI) to conduct an assessment of strengths, opportunities and challenges that judges, court personnel and stakeholders experience when connecting individuals to services and to assess the court’s readiness to shift to a recovery-oriented system of care (ROSC) model.

In March 2021, CJI completed its assessment and shared the Recovery Oriented Systems of Care: Needs and Opportunities for Kentucky’s Court System report. After the report was shared widely with court stakeholders, the AOC convened a workgroup to establish a shared vision and define goals and values. The AOC utilized the Responsive Education to Support Treatment in Opioid Recovery Efforts Leadership Team to guide the work and shift toward a ROSC model.

In June 2022, the team published, Setting the Direction for Kentucky’s Recovery-Oriented System of Care which laid the foundation for a statewide committee to operationalize the ROSC approach.

Kentucky’s Judicial Commission on Mental Health was established on August 11, 2022, to improve the practice, quality and timeliness of judicial responses to cases involving mental health, substance use and intellectual disabilities.

The AOC has also created the Office of Statewide Programs to provide oversight to departments providing direct services to justice involved individuals and established Behavioral Health Liaison position to facilitate the systemic changes needed to fully implement the ROSC model.