Volume 22, No. 10 July 2012 

E-SJI NEWS SJI NEWS

In this Issue 

Immigration & the 

State Courts Bench 

Cards 

1 

CEC Re-launches 

Website 

2 

Judiciary of Guam 

Completes Strategic 

Planning 

3 

 

Page 1 

As part of the SJI Immigration and the State Courts 

Initiative, the Center for Public Policy Studies 

(CPPS) has produced an initial series of bench cards 

on federal immigration issues designed for state 

criminal, juvenile, and family court judges 

The bench cards are designed to help judges identify 

circumstances where a litigant’s immigration status 

may impact a state court case, and/or limit the options available to judges in determining criminal 

sentences or case dispositions in juvenile and family 

cases. They are intended to complement the more 

detailed CPPS Bench Guides on immigration issues. 

These new bench cards cover the following topics: 

Glossary of Key Immigration Terms. This card provides definitions of the most important immigration 

terms. 

Overview of Types of Immigration Status. Describes 

the eligibility requirements for naturalization, lawful 

permanent resident status, Violence Against Women 

Act (VAWA) self-petitioner status, Special Immigrant Juvenile status, T (trafficking victim) and U 

(crime victim) visas, and temporary visas. 

Immigration Relief Requiring Discretionary Approval. Lists the requirements for different types of 

status that are subject to the discretion of the United 

States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) 

or the immigration courts. 

Overview of Immigration Consequences of State 

Court Criminal Convictions. Describes how conviction of a variety of crimes can cause a person to be 

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Immigration & the State Courts Initiative 

Releases Bench Cards for Criminal, Family, 

and Juvenile Court Judges

deportable, inadmissible, or ineligible for discretionary immigration relief. 

Eligibility for Probation, Work, Benefits, and Services. Explains how immigration status can affect a 

litigant’s eligibility for work authorization and federally or state funded treatment or services that might 

be ordered by a judge. 

Risks to Immigrants From Drug Court Participation. 

Explains how participation in drug court poses risks 

to immigration status for any immigrant, including 

lawful permanent residents. 

Good Moral Character. Describes how good moral 

character is a requirement to be eligible for a variety 

of discretionary benefits, including naturalization. 

Continued on page 2 
Child Custody and Placement. Discusses 

how immigration status can affect where and 

with whom immigrants will be able to live. 

Immigration Rights of Battered Spouses and 

Children. Lists the special protections for 

immigrant battered spouses and children, 

including pathways to becoming a lawful 

permanent resident. 

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. Explains 

how this status can be a pathway for abused 

or abandoned unauthorized immigrant children to become lawful residents. 

The bench cards are available for download 

on the SJI website. CPPS also has a website

The Center for Elders and Courts (CEC), a project of the National Center for State Courts 

(NCSC), launched its revamped website on World Elder Abuse Day, June 15, 2012. This project 

was made possible through SJI support (SJI-11-N-177), and a grant from the Retirement Research 

Foundation. 

In addition to an enhanced section on guardianship, the website now features a blog and Facebook 

page. The revamp of the website was accompanied by the CEC’s release of two toolkits—one 

specifically for courts and one for prosecutors. The toolkits provide direction on how to effectively prosecute cases and improve court responses to cases involving abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation of the elderly. The toolkits, which were funded through grants by the Department of Justice/Bureau of Justice Assistance, include a judicial bench card, interagency coordinaCenter for Elders and Courts Re-launches 

Enhanced Website 

E-SJI News Volume 22, No. 10 July 2012 

Page 2 

available for background information on this 

initiative, recent reports, and guidance for 

how to obtain technical assistance. There are 

three immigration and the state courts bench 

books available in addition to these new 

bench cards: 

Continued from page 1 

Criminal Bench Guide; Juvenile & Family 

Bench Guide; and a Practitioner’s Guidebook

for court administrators. All documents are 

available for download free of charge. 

tion guides, a prosecution guide, and proposed performance measures. 

The CEC recently participated in a White 

House forum on elder abuse and financial 

exploitation. This event was convened to 

discuss how to prepare for the growing wave 

of people 65 or older expected to make up 

more than 20 percent of the population by 

2030. 

This high profile launch of the revamped 

CEC site, and subsequent attention to elder 

issues on World Elder Abuse Day, has already generated international interest in these 

resources, including inquiries from the Australian Supreme Court and downloads from 

courts in Portugal. 

CEC content remains focused on the unprecedented challenges faced by state courts 

in dealing with elder issues. Additional enhancements and features are planned for the 

website, and will be announced as soon as 

they are available. 
Page 3 

SJI Board of Directors

Chairman 

James R. Hannah 

Chief Justice 

Supreme Court of Arkansas 

Little Rock, AR 

Vice Chairman 

Daniel J. Becker 

State Court Administrator 

Utah AOC 

Salt Lake City, UT 

Secretary 

Gayle A. Nachtigal 

Judge 

Washington County Circuit Court 

Hillsboro, OR 

Treasurer 

Hernan D. Vera 

President & CEO 

Public Counsel Law Center 

Los Angeles, CA 

Robert A. Miller 

Chief Justice (Ret.) 

Supreme Court of South Dakota 

Pierre, SD 

Chase T. Rogers 

Chief Justice 

Supreme Court of Connecticut 

Hartford, CT 

David V. Brewer 

Chief Judge 

Oregon Court of Appeals 

Salem, OR 

Wilfredo Martinez 

County Judge 

9th Judicial Circuit of Florida 

Orlando, FL 

Marsha J. Rabiteau 

Policy Consultant 

Rabiteau Consulting 

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. 

E-SJI News Volume 22, No. 10 July 2012 

Unified Judiciary of Guam Completes Strategic 

Planning Process in Anticipation of BRAC Impacts 

Judiciary of Guam last conducted a strategic 

planning process in 2006, and the courts have 

experienced significant changes since then, 

including an increased demand for services. 

With support from SJI and technical assistance 

from PRAXIS Consulting, the Judiciary was 

able to develop Our Way Forward: The Strategic Plan for the Guam Judiciary 2012-2015 

(SJI-11-T-156), which will serve as a blueprint 

for providing effective service with limited 

resources. 

The Judiciary serves a population comprised 

primarily of U.S. Military personnel, their 

families, and an indigenous population, totaling approximately 171,000 residents. With the 

announcement of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Base Realignment and Closure 

(BRAC) of an installation in Okinawa, Japan 

by 2014, the relocation of additional military 

personnel and their families is expected to 

increase the demand for court services. Furthermore, the Judiciary has experienced significant reductions in its budget as a result of 

the economic situation. However, the Judiciary is committed to improving service delivery 

systems while reducing overall costs. 

Previous strategic planning efforts focused on 

the mission, vision, and core values of the 

Judiciary, and also addressed long-range administrative, human resource, and caseload 

management issues. Added dimensions of this 

new strategic plan include trend analysis on 

social media, policy and political issues, and 

technology. 

The Judiciary has concluded that increases in 

population, as well as population growth due 

to military deployments and BRAC, will generate substantial change in the Judiciary’s 

workload, and create new challenges. As 

such, future priorities include the Judiciary’s 

ability to: 

1) address the loss of institutional knowledge due to retirements; 

2) increase collaboration with key stakeholders, and; 

3) continue updating and expanding the use 

of technology. 

A full copy of the report is available online in 

the NCSC Digital Library and Archive. A 

shorter two-page brochure that provides an 

overview of the content contained within the 

full strategic planning document has also been 

archived.