SJI NEWSLETTER SJI NEWSLETTER

In this Issue 

Page 1 

Volume 27, No. 5 

Task Force on Fines, Fees, 

and Bail Practices: New 

Resources Available 

1 

NextGen Court Technology 

Standards: Phase I 

2 

NACM Midyear Meeting 

Content Available Online 

2 

SJI Repository at the NCSC 

Library 

3 

 

February 2017 

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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. 

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 

Task Force on Fines, Fees, & Bail Practices: 

New Resources Available 
Page 2 

SJI Newsletter Volume 27, No. 5 February 2017 

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 

NextGen Court Technology Standards: Phase I 

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. 

2017 NACM Midyear Meeting 

Content Available Online 

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. 
Page 3 

SJI Board of Directors

Chair 

Chase T. Rogers 

Chief Justice 

Supreme Court of Connecticut 

Hartford, CT 

Vice Chair

Daniel J. Becker 

State Court Administrator 

Utah AOC 

Salt Lake City, UT 

Secretary 

Gayle A. Nachtigal 

Senior Circuit Court Judge 

Washington County Circuit Court 

Hillsboro, OR 

Treasurer 

Hernan D. Vera 

Principal 

Bird Marella P.C. 

Los Angeles, CA 

Jonathan Lippman 

Chief Judge of New York (ret.) 

Of Counsel 

Latham @ Watkins, LLP 

New York, NY 

John D. Minton, Jr. 

Chief Justice 

Supreme Court of Kentucky 

Frankfort, KY 

David V. Brewer 

Justice 

Oregon Supreme Court 

Salem, OR 

Wilfredo Martinez 

County Judge 

9th Judicial Circuit of Florida 

Orlando, FL 

Marsha J. Rabiteau 

Executive Director 

Legal Policy Strategies Group 

Bloomfield, CT 

John B. Nalbandian 

Partner 

Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP 

Cincinnati, OH 

Isabel Framer 

President 

Language Access Consultants, LLC 

Copley, OH 

Jonathan D. Mattiello 

Executive Director 

The State Justice Institute is a federallyfunded, non-profit corporation established by 

federal law in 1984 to improve the quality of 

justice in the state courts. 

SJI Newsletter Volume 27, No. 5 February 2017 

SJI Grant Product Repository at the NCSC Library 

Since 2009, SJI has partnered with the National 

Center for State Courts 

(NCSC) Library as the 

official repository for all 

SJI grant-funded final 

reports and products. 

The Library features both 

a hard copy and digital 

collection, and is home to 

more than 50,000 items 

in multiple formats 

(print, video, CD-ROM 

and microfiche) and over 200 professional journals. A substantial part 

of the catalog has been digitized and is searchable. 

SJI grant recipients are required to submit both hard and electronic 

copies of their final project reports and/or grant products to SJI for 

inclusion in the NCSC Library. Exceptions to this policy are granted in 

advance by SJI where information contained within the report contains 

confidential materials or could pose a safety risk if released. 

All new SJI grant applicants are required to conduct a search of the 

NCSC Library on the topic areas they are addressing to determine if 

there is prior work on their topic area. This search should include SJIfunded grants and projects not supported by SJI. Applicants must discuss the results of their research, how they plan to incorporate the previous work into their proposed project, and if the project will differentiate from prior work in their grant applications.