October 2007

E-SJI 

The Voice of the State Justice Institute 

News

Vol. 18, No. 1

What’s Inside

Status of FY 2008 Appropriations 2 Partner Grants 2, 3 Helpful Hints for Grant Applicants 3 Contact the Staff 4

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE PARTNERS WITH SJI 

TO PREPARE STATE COURTS FOR FUTURE CHALLENGES

The Department of Justice (DOJ),

Office of Justice Programs (OJP),

Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)

and SJI recently finalized a

FY 2007 Partnership Grant to the

National Center for State Courts

(NCSC) to support an Executive

Session for State Court Leaders at

Harvard’s Kennedy School of

Government (KSG). KSG, with the

support of DOJ, has conducted similar efforts for Community Policing,

Drugs and Community Policing,

State and local Prosecution, and

Public Defense. This effort will

produce supporting documents to

be used for a select group of State

Court leaders to develop practical

approaches to improving the role of

State judiciaries in government.

Furthermore, it will focus on how

State judiciaries ensure adequate

resources, improve accountability

and efficiency, while at the same

time become instruments of democratic governance in the 21st

Century. 

The role of State judiciaries in democratic governance must be addressed and there is a national interest in

maintaining courts that are fair,

impartial, and efficient. As the third

branch of government, the State

judiciaries have tremendous impact

on the daily lives of millions of

Americans. This Partner Grant will

enable a select group of State judicial leaders to define the roles State

judiciaries play in democratic government, and improve State court

responsiveness to the public. SJI is

very pleased with this opportunity

to partner with DOJ, and looks forward to continuing this relationship.

For more information about KSG’s

criminal justice and policy programs, please visit the website:

http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/criminaljustice/index.htm. More information on NCSC can be found on

their website: http://www.ncsconline.org.
Page 2 E-SJI News - Vol. 18, No.1

On July 26, 2007, the House of Representatives passed

the FY 2008 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS)

Appropriations Bill (H.R. 3093); which included SJI’s

request of $4.64 million. On October 16, 2007, the

Senate approved the CJS Bill (S. 1745); which included $3.5 million for SJI. As always, SJI appreciates the

continued support of Congress.

The next step in the appropriations process is both the

House and Senate negotiate in conference committee

the funding levels contained in the two versions of the

CJS Bill. Following those negotiations, the House and

Senate will produce a joint conference bill, which

must be taken back to both chambers for final passage.

Once both chambers pass the conference bill, it is sent

to the President to be signed into law. After this is

complete, SJI and the other departments and agencies

in the CJS bill will have their full appropriations for

FY 2008. 

The fiscal year started on October 1, 2007. However,

no appropriations bills (including CJS) had yet to be

signed into law by that date. Therefore, Congress

passed, and the President signed, a Continuing

Resolution (CR) to avoid the shutdown of Federal

agencies. The current CR (P.L. 110-92) expires on

November 16, 2008, and there may be another CR to

provide more time for action on the appropriations

bills. 

SJI will continue to provide updates on the FY 2008

appropriations process in future versions of the E-SJI

News.

STATUS OF FY 2008 APPROPRIATIONS

PARTNER GRANTS

Partner Grants were established in FY 2006 as a way

for SJI to work with other agencies and organizations

to provide grants that address court needs on a national level. These partnerships give us an opportunity to

leverage our funding to increase support for courts.

One of our first Partner Grants with Pew Charitable

Trusts increased the involvement of State courts in foster care issues. This $1,207,000 Partner Grant allowed

State courts to take on major new roles and responsibilities as part of the foster care system in the United

States.

The partnership between SJI and the Legal Services

Corporation (LSC) began in FY 2006, and was

designed to improve access to justice for pro se and

other low-income litigants. In the first year, SJI and

LSC provided a total of $637,734 to support a slate of

innovative technology projects. The partnership continued in FY 2007, providing a total of $672,758 for

another slate of legal services and court collaboration

projects. This successful partnership continues to benefit both agencies. Combining the funding and interests of both agencies results in more resources being

made available across the United States, and encourages more joint court and legal service projects.

The SJI and Open Society partnership examined the

fairness and diversity efforts of courts across the country. This was a small project to examine access to fairness programs being adopted in various states. SJI also

continued on page 3
entered into a FY 2007 partnership

with DOJ/OJP/BJA, which is

described in more detail in the lead

article of this month’s E-SJI News. 

SJI is in the process of finalizing a

new partnership with Pew

Charitable Trusts’ Public Safety

Performance Project. The goal of

these activities will be to promote

fiscally sound, data-driven policies

and practices on sentencing and

corrections that protect the public

safety, hold offenders accountable,

and control correctional costs. The

National Center for State Courts,

the Crime and Justice Institute, and

the National Judicial College will

be working together to provide

technical assistance, education, and

training to State courts and key

stakeholders in justice systems,

such as prosecutors and probation

officers. These efforts will be coordinated with Pew’s Public Safety

Performance Project activities

being carried out by the Council of

State Governments Justice Center

and the Vera Institute. The participating organizations are pleased to

be working together on this partnership activity. 

We are looking forward to the

opportunity to work with other

organizations in addressing these

national scope projects, while at the

same time supporting traditional

Project, Technical Assistance, and

Curriculum Adaptation and Training Grants for State and local

courts. 

HELPFUL HINTS FOR GRANT APPLICANTS

A number of issues may cause SJI to either deny a grant request, or encourage the applicant to revise the application to avoid problems in the use of Federal funds. Therefore, SJI will be highlighting some of these issues

periodically in the E-SJI News. The goal is to provide useful information for potential applicants, so that their

grant requests meet SJI requirements. 

A common issue encountered is the purchasing of equipment. SJI’s Grant Guideline states that grant funds may

be used to purchase or lease only that equipment essential to accomplishing the goals and objectives of the project. The written prior approval of the Institute is required when the amount of automated data processing (ADP)

equipment to be purchased or leased exceeds $10,000, or software to be purchased exceeds $3,000. Therefore,

SJI funding may not be used solely to purchase equipment. 

SJI is well aware that many projects include equipment purchases where courts seek to improve their information technology (IT) capabilities, or improve IT processes. Please keep in mind that, in these instances, the applicant should commit to using matching funds to purchase the necessary equipment, while SJI funds would be

requested for other project requirements.

In addition to equipment, any product developed with SJI funds must be placed in the public domain. This

includes IT projects that generate software, databases, or other systems. Applicants are strongly advised not to

submit grant requests to SJI that assume a contract will be signed with an outside vendor to develop software or

systems that will not be available to the public. In other words, all grant products (including software and databases) must be made available to other courts across the United States upon request, and to SJI and the SJI

Libraries, at no charge. This must not be overlooked since many IT and software companies are not willing to

release their proprietary work free of charge. 

If you have questions about the use of SJI grant funding, we encourage you to call and discuss with SJI staff

before spending a lot of time developing an application that would be difficult for the Board to approve. 

PARTNER GRANTS

continued from page 2

Page 3 E-SJI News - Vol. 18, No.1
Page 4 E-SJI News - Vol. 18, No.1

SJI News is published by the 

State Justice Institute, 1650 King Street, Suite 600, Alexandria, VA 22314 

(703) 684-6100 Fax: (703) 684-7618 Web site address: http://www.statejustice.org

Editors

Janice Munsterman

Jonathan Mattiello

Design/Layout

Candice Jackson

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

Carlos R. Garza, Esq.

Administrative Judge (Ret.)

Round Rock, TX

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

Van Debrick

Finance Director

The State Justice Institute is a private, nonprofit corporation established by Congress

in 1984 to provide financial support for

projects to improve the quality of justice in

State courts. SJI is governed by a Board of

Directors appointed by the President and

confimed by the Senate.

CONTACT THE STAFF

Please note staff phone extensions changed effective April 1, 2007.

Janice Munsterman, Executive Director

jmunsterman@statejustice.org, Ext. 202

Jonathan Mattiello, Deputy Director

jmattiello@statejustice.org, Ext. 210

Van Debrick, Chief, Finance

vdebrick@statejustice.org, Ext. 203

LaVerne Durham, Program Manager

ldurham@statejustice.org, Ext. 204

Candice Jackson, Scholarship Coordintor

cjackson@statejustice.org, Ext. 200

Ryan Williams, Finance Manager

rwilliams@statejustice.org, Ext. 206

Are you on the E-SJI News e-list? Would you like to be? If

so, please send your name and email address to

cjackson@statejustice.org to start receiving the E-SJI

Newsletter.