The October 2017 edition of Trends: Close Up, provides useful information to help courts plan, prepare for, and recover after a disaster.

In addition to natural disasters like hurricanes, the article covers other areas of emergency preparedness such as widespread grid damage, pandemics, and terrorist attacks.  The key considerations in all disaster scenarios center on: 1) who may exercise authority with respect to court operations?;  and  2) what does that authority entail?

Readers are asked to also review several publications on specific disaster scenarios:

• CCJ/COSCA’s Preparing for a Pandemic: An Emergency Response Benchbook and Operational Guidebook for State Court Judges and Administrators (2016);
• CCJ/COSCA’s Court Security Handbook: Ten Essential Elements for Court Security and Emergency Preparedness (2012); and,
• NCSC’s online Emergency Preparedness/Disaster Recovery Resource Guide

In addition to providing guidance necessary for starting important conversations among court executives, judicial officers, their partners, and others who may also be impacted, the article addresses several considerations unique to the issue of authority.  It also redirects the reader to the earlier work of the CCJ/COSCA Pandemic and Emergency Response Task Force, which posed an essential set of questions regarding court operations under known and unknown emergency contexts.

The Close Up publications are special reports, and are part of the National Center for State Courts’ “Trends in the State Courts” series.  They serve as informative and timely updates for state court leaders.

SJI continues to support state courts at the local, state, and national levels in preparing for, and responding to, disasters that impact court operations.