SJI Newsletter

November 2019 | Volume 30, No. 2

NJOTF Releases Report

at National Press Event in D.C.

After more than two years of work, the SJI-supported National Judicial Opioid Task Force (NJOTF)

this week released a report that lays the groundwork for state courts nationwide to treat opioidaddicted defendants more like patients than criminals by using a combination of counseling services 

and medicated-assisted treatment.

The release of the report was attended by more than 100 court leaders and health and government 

leaders, including U.S. Surgeon General VADM Jerome M. Adams, and Director of the White 

House Office of National Drug Control Policy, James W. Carroll Jr., at the National Press Club in 

Washington, D.C. Watch the press conference here.

“Judges must exert leadership and advocate for the availability of quality, evidence-based treatment 

services as the best and most effective response to the opioid epidemic,” said Indiana Chief Justice 

Loretta H. Rush, who co-chaired the task force along with Tennessee Director of Courts Deborah 

Taylor Tate. In all, 34 state court leaders, representing 24 states, served on the task force, which 

was staffed by the National Center for State Courts.
Surgeon General Adams praised the task force and agreed with the report’s findings. “The opioid 

crisis has ravaged communities all across the country,” he said. “Everyone has a stake in our 

response, including our court systems. Just as addiction is complicated, so, too, is recovery – but 

we know that it is possible. Connecting people to care is important with any chronic condition, but 

it’s crucial when the individual is battling an opioid use or other substance use disorder. The earlier 

that connection is made, the better."

The criminal justice system is the single largest source of referral to substance use disorder 

treatment. However, the report notes that “the opioid epidemic is not just

a criminal justice issue,” but impacts every court, including family and bankruptcy courts.

“The misuse of opioids such as heroin, morphine, and prescription pain medications is not only a 

devastating public health crisis, it is critically affecting the administration of justice in courthouses 

throughout the United States,” Chief Justice Rush said. “It’s crucial that judges are involved in 

reversing this epidemic.”

According to the report, state courts must:

Embrace medicated-assisted treatment, which involves using federally approved medications 

as well as counseling and behavioral therapies to treat those with substance use disorders;

Partner with state lawmakers, federal agencies and executive branches;

Realize that the most significant impact of the epidemic involves cases with children and 

families; and

Design programs that can also be used for the next substance abuse addiction crisis.

“For years, the justice system knew how to be tough on drugs,” Tate said. “Now is the time for us to 

become smart’ on drugs.”

The task force was established in 2017 by the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of 

State Court Administrators as the opioid epidemic increasingly impacted state courts.
2019 ODR International Forum:

‘Online Dispute Resolution is Here to Stay’

The woman’s last name was called a few times in Collin County Court in north Texas before she finally 

appeared, 15 minutes late, with a baby in her arms and tears in her eyes. As Ben White (pictured in center), 

the court’s senior IT manager, watched her rush into the courtroom, he assumed the woman couldn’t find a 

babysitter and her job didn’t offer paid time off. He wondered if the money she was losing by being in court 

that day might cause her to go into debt.

“I realized right then that ODR (online dispute resolution) was meant for her,” said White, a panelist at the 

recent 2019 ODR International Forum, attended by about 210 people from 17 countries.

eBay, Alibaba and hundreds of other companies have been using online dispute resolution for several years 

to resolve disputes related to the sales of goods and services. Only within the last few years have courts 

seen ODR as a realistic way to resolve lawsuits by allowing litigants to use their phones and computers to 

settle disputes without stepping foot in a courtroom.

The forum, co-sponsored by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), was an opportunity for court 

technologists and administrators, academic researchers and private-sector entrepreneurs -- from nations 

such as Singapore and New Zealand to England and Israel – to share ideas and experiences about what has 

worked well, and what hasn’t. In the United States, ODR is being used in scattered courts in 17 states for 

small-claims cases, but some are also using it to settle traffic and family law cases.

Throughout the conference, in Williamsburg, Virginia, panelists echoed the sentiment of Utah Supreme Court 

Justice Deno Himonas, the keynote speaker, that ODR is just one technological advancement that courts 

must embrace to better provide access to justice for many millions of people who can’t afford lawyers and are 

not well served by the courts.

“Would it be ideal if everyone had access to an attorney and it was affordable?” Himonas said. “Yes, but that 

system has failed.” He dismissed those who don’t want ODR, saying, “Get over it. ODR is here to stay.”

Himonas announced new data that shows Utah’s ODR pilot project has yielded promising results. Cases are 

resolved faster than if litigants went to court, and only a very small percentage of them opted out. Hear 

Himonas talk more about the project on NCSC's podcast, Court Talk.

Other speakers also shared data and stories that make it clear that ODR has enormous potential to resolve 

disputes faster, cheaper and more conveniently than what courts now offer.

Go here for a longer story about the 2019 conference.

The 2020 International ODR Forum is May 6-7 in Dublin, Ireland.
NJC Encourages Early

Planning for 2020 Courses

If you or your court are looking for a judicial education program soon, it's never too early to start 

planning for 2020.

The National Judicial College (NJC) encourages potential attendees online or in-person to plan as 

early as possible since many courses fill quickly. For a complete listing of NJC courses, visit 

judges.org/courses.

Did you know:

SJI sometimes provides grant support directly to the NJC to develop content, offer specific 

courses online, or prorate/provide some course for free or reduced cost.

The SJI Education Support Program (ESP) covers the cost of tuition up to a maximum of 

$1,000 per award. Awards will be made for the exact amount requested for tuition. To 

seek an ESP to attend an NJC course, simply find the course you wish to attend on the 

NJC website: www.judges.org/courses, and click “register.”

During the registration process, the website will ask whether you need a scholarship to 

attend. Simply follow the online instructions to request tuition assistance. 

If you have any questions about this process, you may contact NJC Scholarship 

Coordinator Brenda Pardini, at pardini@judges.org or 800-255-8343. The NJC reserves 

the right to apply additional selection criteria.
Onboarding and Career Mobility: Two New

Programs for Court Employees and Long-Term

Benefits for Courts in King County, WA

Court leaders frequently express concern about the ability to: (1) recruit and retain qualified

employees and (2) meet the development desires of a workforce that is increasingly hungry for 

“growth and learning opportunities.” Are you one of them? If yes, you are not alone. Leaders of both 

private and public organizations frequently express concerns about being able to recruit and maintain 

a high-performing, engaged workforce.

King County Superior Court (Seattle, Washington) recently developed two new employee programs 

thanks to a technical assistance grant from SJI, the hard work of a dedicated internal project team 

led by Deputy Court Administrator Linda Ridge, and the assistance of Dr. Brenda Wagenknecht-Ivey 

(who served as a consultant to the Court for this project).

The two programs are:

1. A multi-phased Onboarding Program for new employees; and,

2. A Leadership Development and Career Mobility program for “veteran” employees of 3 years 

or more.

Both programs are aimed at meeting the expressed desires and needs of today’s workforce and 

yield significant, noticeable benefits to Courts. Please contact article authors, Linda K. Ridge at 

linda.ridge@kingcounty.gov or Dr. Brenda Wagenknecht-Ivey at bwagen@praxisconsulting.org for 

more information. You can read the full post-project summary here.
Hawaii Holds Mental Health Summit

Searching for Ways to Keep

Mentally Ill Out of Jail

Judges, law enforcement officials, and health agency representatives recently met at the Hawaii 

State Supreme Court for the inaugural Hawaii Summit on Improving the Governmental Response to 

Community Mental Illness. The summit was supported by SJI, the Conference of Chief Justices 

(CCJ) and the Conference of State Court Administrators COSCA), with technical assistance from the

National Center for State Courts (NCSC).

The summit helped Hawaii government agencies learn more about how they can guide people with 

mental illness to proper health care services before they repeatedly cycle through jails, hospitals, and 

courts.

During 2017 and 2018, the Hawaii Department of Public Safety (DPS) held 275 pretrial detainees in 

that category. The detainees with mental illness spent a cumulative 12,000 days occupying bed 

space at DPS before they were transferred to the Hawaii State Hospital, according to Chief Justice 

Mark Recktenwald. Chief Justice Recktenwald said he hoped to see a reduction in the number of 

“704” acquittal filings to ease the strain on the judicial system. In the first 10 months of 2019 alone, 

there were 440 of those filings from people who cited health issues that made them incapable of 

standing trial.

Chief Justice Recktenwald said solutions such as opening a crisis center could be a possibility for 

Hawaii. “To make that happen we need to work with the Department of Health and providers in the 

community to make sure those resources are in place,” Recktenwald said. “You can’t have a 

meaningful diversion system unless you actually have appropriate resources and a place you can 

take people to get treatment or care.”
SJI Board of Directors

Chair

John D. Minton, Jr.

Chief Justice

Supreme Court of Kentucky

Frankfort, KY

Vice Chair

Daniel J. Becker

State Court Administrator 

(ret.) Utah AOC

Salt Lake City, UT

Secretary

Gayle A. Nachtigal

Senior Circuit Court Judge

Washington County Circuit 

Court Hillsboro, OR

Treasurer

David V. Brewer

Justice

Oregon Supreme Court

Salem, OR

Jonathan Lippman

Chief Judge of New York (ret.)

of Counsel

Latham & Watkins, LLP

New York, NY

Chase T. Rogers

Chief Justice (ret.)

Supreme Court of Connecticut

Partner

Pitney Day, LLP

Hartford, CT

Wilfredo Martinez

Senior Judge

State of Florida

Orlando, FL

Marsha J. Rabiteau

Executive Director

Center for Human Trafficking Court 

Solutions Bloomfield, CT

Hernan D. Vera

Principal

Bird Marella P.C.

Los Angeles, CA

Isabel Framer

President

Language Access Consultants, LLC

Copley, OH

Jonathan D. Mattiello

Executive Director

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

federal law in 1984 to improve the quality of justice in the state courts.

Products and Resources

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the official repository of published work related to SJI-supported grant projects. You

can search the ecollection online by using the term, State Justice Institute.

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