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April 2009 Vol. 

-SJI New

19, No. 7 

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BOARD AWARDS NEW GRANTS FOR THE 2nd QUARTER

On April 24, 2009, the SJI Board of Directors met to award grants for the 2nd quarter of FY 2009. A total of 

$895,086 in new grants was awarded, including $500,000 in new Strategic Initiatives Grants (SIG) projects. 

Awarded grants included a Project Grant to the California Administrative Office of the Courts for the 

developing and piloting of dependency drug court performance measures. This project will allow California to 

track dependency drug court programs and services to see if they are achieving desired outcomes. Seven (7) 

Technical Assistance (TA) applications were awarded, including a criminal caseflow management project for 

King County, Washington; a pre-trial services validation study for Coconino County, Arizona; video 

teleconferencing assessment and planning for the New Hampshire Administrative Office of the Courts; and a 

problem solving court and criminal caseflow evaluation for the Court of Common Pleas in Lycoming County, 

Pennsylvania. Four (4) Curriculum Adaptation and Training (CAT) grants were awarded, including training for 

Minnesota court managers; a family law bench book for the New Mexico judiciary; and a new National Center 

for State Courts (NCSC) course on managing court financial resources. 

Also during the 2nd quarter, SJI also entered into a second year Partner Grant with the U.S. Marshals Service for 

the Judicial Security Fellows (JSF) program. This Partner Grant is discussed in more detail in the next article. 

SJI also awarded $500,000 in new SIG grants to support national court issues. SJI will continue focusing on 

immigration issues in the state courts by expanding pilot sites to other states; therefore $250,000 was awarded 

to the Center for Public Policy Studies to continue these critical efforts. The remaining $250,000 was awarded 

to NCSC to focus on court budgeting issues and court security. More details about these new SIG projects will 

be made available in future editions of the E-SJI News.

 Guardian Assistance Network in New 

York 2

Inside

U.S. Marshals Service and SJI 

Continue Working to Improve 

Judicial Security 2

Scholarship Limitations & Special 

Announcements 3
U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE AND SJI 

CONTINUE WORKING TO IMPROVE JUDICIAL SECURITY 

The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) and SJI recently finalized a second year Partner Grant to support a 

component of the USMS Judicial Security Fellowship Program. This program provides an opportunity for state 

and local law enforcement officers charged with court security to train with the USMS. This includes training 

on high level executive protection and court security operations. During the program, the Judicial Security 

Fellow (JSF) is exposed to all aspects of USMS judicial and court security, and travels to sites of ongoing highthreat trials and protective details. JSFs are full-time sworn officers of a duly constituted law enforcement 

agency, whose responsibility includes judicial and court security in the jurisdiction of the JSF. Furthermore, the 

JSF is at the rank of lieutenant or above, and has at least five years court security experience. 

The USMS/SJI Partner Grant will directly support a component of JSF program that includes joint training with 

court administrators at the National Center for State Courts (NCSC). This training includes coordination of 

public and media relations in high visibility trials, coordinated approaches to policy and procedures, and 

consolidated training for court staff in security awareness and response. Furthermore, the NCSC assists the JSF 

and his/her court counterpart in developing close working relationships for analyzing security needs and 

formulating action plans to improve security in the state or location jurisdiction they represent. The JSFs will 

also achieve an understanding of court security needs from a court perspective. 

GUARDIAN ASSISTANCE NETWORK IN NEW YORK 

The New York Unified Court System recently completed work on a SJI grant (SJI-06-N-067) that established a 

Guardian Assistance Network in Kings and Queens Counties. This goal of this project was to assist guardians 

with their court-mandated duties. Specifically, the Network: 1) supports lay-guardians; 2) increases compliance 

with court reporting requirements; and 3) ensures other jurisdictions can learn from and replicate the Network 

model. The project also produced a training module along with a manual for lay-guardians in both English and 

Spanish. Approximately 408 lay-guardians attended the training programs, and approximately 963 layguardians were served by the Network. 

Now that the SJI grant has been completed with the establishment of the Guardian Assistance Network, the 

Vera Institute for Justice will conduct an ongoing evaluation to track whether the Network reduces the use of 

court personnel for routine inquiries; measure compliance with reporting requirements; measure the outcomes 

for incapacitated adults; and determine cost savings. 

Page 2 E-SJI News – Vol. 19, No. 7
Board of Directors

Chairman

Robert A. Miller 

Chief Justice (Ret.) 

Supreme Court of South Dakota 

Pierre, SD 

Vice Chairman

Joseph F. Baca 

Chief Justice (Ret.) 

New Mexico Supreme Court 

Santa Fe, NM 

Secretary

Sandra A. O’Connor 

States Attorney of Baltimore 

County (Ret.) 

Towson, MD 

Executive Committee Member

Keith McNamara, Esq. 

McNamara & McNamara 

Columbus, OH 

Terrence B. Adamson, Esq. 

Executive Vice-President 

The National Geographic Society 

Robert N. Baldwin 

Executive Vice President and 

General Counsel 

National Center for State Courts 

Sophia H. Hall 

Administrative Presiding Judge 

Circuit Court of Cook County 

Chicago, IL 

Tommy Jewell 

Presiding Children’s Court Judge 

(Ret.) 

Second Judicial District Court 

Albuquerque, NM 

Arthur A. McGiverin 

Chief Justice (Ret.) 

Supreme Court of Iowa 

Des Moines, IA 

Janice Munsterman 

Executive Director 

Jonathan Mattiello 

Deputy Director 

The State Justice Institute is a 

private, non-profit corporation 

established by Federal law in 1984 

to improve the quality of justice in 

state courts, and foster innovative, 

efficient solutions to common 

issues faced by all courts. SJI is 

governed by a Board of Directors 

appointed by the President and 

confirmed by the Senate. 

SCHOLARSHIP LIMITATIONS 

SJI continues to receive scholarship applications for attendance at meetings or 

conferences. Section IV.E.1. of the FY 2009 Grant Guideline states that: 

“Attendance at annual or mid-year meetings or conferences of a state or 

national organization does not qualify as an out-of-state education program for 

scholarship purposes, even though it may include workshops or other training 

sessions.” All future scholarship applicants and judicial educators should be 

aware of this limitation prior to submitting a scholarship application. 

 

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS 

3⁄4 Next grant and scholarship application deadline: August 1, 2009 

(4th Quarter, FY 2009). 

3⁄4 The FY 2009 SJI Grant Guideline is available on the SJI website. 

3⁄4 All SJI forms are available on the website under the following tab: 

http://www.sji.gov/forms.php. 

Page 3 E-SJI News – Vol. 19, No. 7