Volume 24, No. 9 June 2014 

E-SJI NEWS SJI NEWS

In this Issue 

Third Quarter Grant 

Awards 

1 

FY 2015 

Appropriations Update 

1 

SJI Continues 

Support for the 

HT Collaborative 

2 

NJC Webcasts 3 

Page 1 

SJI Awards FY 2014 Third Quarter Grants 

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For more content from the recent SJI Board meeting, important national resource announcements, and partner updates, look 

no further than the SJI Facebook

and Twitter pages. 

The Board met on June 16, 2014, to make decisions 

on quarterly grant applications and awarded a total 

of 11 grants. 

Two (2) Project Grants were approved: support to 

improve language access for Native Americans in 

state courts for the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts; and a court security and response 

awareness project for the Minnesota Judicial 

Branch. 

Five (5) Technical Assistance (TA) Grants were 

approved, including: court security assessments for 

the Wyoming Supreme Court and Guam Judiciary; 

probation assessment and evaluation for the Licking 

County, Ohio, Courts; a judicial workload assessment for the Gwinnett County, Georgia, Superior 

Court; and revision of a custody and visitation mediation orientation online video for the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts. 

Four (4) Curriculum Adaptation & Training (CAT) 

Grants were approved, including: support for the 

Georgia Certified Court Manager Program; court 

security team building regional trainings in Wyoming; a leadership and governance project for the 

Council of Chief Judges of the State Courts of Appeal (CCJSCA); and educational development 

courses for the Los Angeles, California, Superior 

Court. 

Status of FY 2015 Appropriations 

On April 30, 2014, the House Commerce, Justice, 

Science (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee marked 

up the FY 2015 CJS bill, which included $5,121,000 

for SJI – the same level requested by SJI for FY 

2015. The full House Appropriations Committee 

approved the bill on May 8th, and the bill was passed 

on the House floor May 30th. On June 3rd, the Senate 

CJS Appropriations Subcommittee marked up their 

version of the bill, which cleared the full Senate 

Appropriations Committee on June 5th. The Senate 

version of the bill also included $5,121,000 for FY 

2015. SJI will provide updates as the appropriations 

process continues to move forward. 
E-SJI News Volume 24, No. 9 June 2014 

Page 2 

During its June 16, 2014 meeting, the Board of 

Directors awarded a FY 2014 Strategic Initiatives Grant to the Human Trafficking and 

the State Courts Collaborative. 

SJI established human trafficking as a Priority 

Investment Area in FY 2013. This led to the 

creation of the Collaborative to address this 

critical issue. The Collaborative currently 

consists of the following organizations: Center 

for Public Policy Studies (CPPS); Center for 

Court Innovation (CCI); The National Judicial 

College (NJC); National Association of 

Women Judges (NAWJ); Legal Momentum; 

and as of May 2014, the National Council of 

Juvenile and Family Court Judges 

(NCJFCJ). The Collaborative is addressing 4 

strategic priorities: 

1) increase understanding and awareness 

about the challenges faced by state courts 

in dealing with cases involving trafficking victims and their families; 

2) develop and test state and local approaches for assessing and addressing the 

impact of human trafficking victims and 

defendants in the state courts; 

3) enhance state and local court capacity to 

improve court services impacted by human trafficking-related case processing 

demands; and, 

4) build effective national, state, and local 

partnerships for addressing the impacts of 

human trafficking case processing in the 

state courts. 

SJI Continues Support for the Human Trafficking 

and the State Courts Collaborative 

Over the past year, the Collaborative has: 

1) provided extensive, targeted, technical 

assistance to state court systems, local 

trial courts, and court support organizations, including courts located in Arizona, 

California, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, 

Louisiana, New York, and Ohio; 

2) developed educational curricula and conducted numerous educational sessions for 

state courts and court support organizations; 

3) established a comprehensive website 

(www.htcourts.org); 

4) prepared and distributed resources, including information cards, articles, 

guides, and a bi-weekly online human 

trafficking news summary; and, 

5) established working relationships with 

key federal, state, and local agencies to 

address this critical issue. 

With additional SIG funding in FY 2014, the 

Collaborative will expand technical assistance 

to other state and local courts, increase education and training, and continue strengthening 

partnerships at the federal, state, and local 

levels. Demand for technical assistance has 

exceeded the resources available to the Collaborative; therefore, it is anticipated that additional funding will enable the Collaborative to 

begin work in new jurisdictions. 

In FY 2014, there will be an enhanced focus 

on the role of state courts in addressing labor 

trafficking as well as sex trafficking. This 

includes clarifying the types and dynamics of 

labor trafficking and how labor-trafficking 

involved cases might end up in the state 

courts. In addition, there will also be a focus 

on helping state courts provide services to 

trafficking victims, to include traumainformed approaches towards victims and the 

special needs of juvenile victims of trafficking. 
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 

Senior Circuit Court Judge 

Washington County Circuit Court 

Hillsboro, OR 

Treasurer 

Hernan D. Vera 

President & CEO 

Public Counsel Law Center 

Los Angeles, CA 

Chase T. Rogers 

Chief Justice 

Supreme Court of Connecticut 

Hartford, CT 

Jonathan Lippman 

Chief Judge of the State of New York 

New York Court of Appeals 

New York, NY 

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. 

E-SJI News Volume 24, No. 9 June 2014 

In late 2013, SJI, in 

partnership with the 

Bureau of Justice 

Assistance (BJA), 

made resources 

available to the National Judicial College (NJC) to support a series of webcasts addressing 

human trafficking, notable decisions of the 

U.S. Supreme Court, and managing selfrepresented litigants (SJI-12-E-072). 

These recorded webcasts are now available 

online and are accessible for continuing 

education (CLE-eligible), and expanding 

general knowledge in each topic area. 

National Judicial College Archives Recorded 

Webcasts for Future Reference 

 They include the following webcasts: 

Confronting Crawford Challenges, Parts 1 

and 2; 

Notable Decisions of the U.S. Supreme 

Court, 2012-2013 Term; 

Managing Self-Represented Litigants in 

Your Courtroom; and, 

Human Trafficking: What U.S. Judges 

Need to Know. 

As the U.S. Supreme Court continues to release 

decisions from its most recent term, now is the 

time to examine the most notable decisions from 

the previous term that have lasting implications. 

The human trafficking webcast provides a 

primer for judges interested in this critical issue. 

The two-part webcast addressing the Crawford 

rule (Crawford v. Washington) examines how 

courts are applying the definition of testimonial 

statement, witness availability, and what constitutes a prior opportunity to cross-examine. 

Anyone interested in these recorded webcasts 

can access them online through the NCJ’s website, and obtain a CLE viewing form if needed.