SJI NEWSLETTER SJI NEWSLETTER

In this Issue 

Page 1 

Volume 27, No. 1 

FY 2017 Priority 

Investment Areas 

1 

FY 2017 Grant 

Guideline 

2 

2016 COSCA Policy 

Paper Released 

2 

Courting Justice Holds 

Second Town Hall 

3 

NCSC Appellate 

Innovations E-Catalog 

3 

October 2016 

Get Social 

With Us!

SJI encourages grantees to promote the release of SJI-funded 

reports and culmination of projects using Facebook, and via 

Twitter at @statejustice 

Make sure to share with our 

hashtag for more views: 

#SJIGrant 

The SJI Board of Directors has established Priority 

Investment Areas for FY 2017 grant funding. SJI 

will allocate significant financial resources through 

grant-making for these Priority Investment Areas (in 

no ranking order): 

Self-Represented Litigation – Promoting court

-based self-help centers, online services, and 

increasing use of court-based volunteer attorney 

programs. 

Language Access – Improving language access 

in the state courts through remote interpretation 

(outside the courtroom), interpreter certification, courtroom services (plain language forms, 

websites, etc.). 

Reengineering to Improve Court Services 

and Performance – Assisting courts with the 

process of reengineering, regionalization or 

centralization of services, structural changes, 

improving performance, and reducing cost to 

taxpayers while providing access to justice. 

Remote Technology – Supporting the innovative use of technology to improve the business 

operations of courts and enhanced services 

outside the courtroom. This includes videoconferencing, online access, educational services, 

and remote court proceedings. 

Human Trafficking and the State Courts – 

Through the Human Trafficking and the State 

Courts Collaborative, addressing the impact of 

federal and state human trafficking laws on the 

state courts, and the challenges faced by state 

courts in dealing with cases involving trafficking victims and their families. 

Guardianship, Conservatorship, and Elder 

Issues – Assisting courts in improving oversight of guardians/conservators to prevent fraud 

of the elderly and the incapacitated, to include 

establishing court visitor programs, electronic 

reporting and monitoring, and guardian training. 

Juvenile Justice – Innovative projects that have 

no other existing or potential funding sources 

(federal, state, or private) that will advance best 

practices in handling dependency and delinquency cases; promote effective court oversight 

of juveniles in the justice system; address the 

impact of trauma on juvenile behavior; assist the 

courts in identification of appropriate provision 

of services for juveniles; and address juvenile reentry. 

Fines, Fees, and Bail Practices – Assisting 

courts in taking a leadership role in reviewing 

fines, fees, and bail practices to ensure processes 

are fair and access to justice is assured; implementing alternative forms of sanction; developing processes for indigency review; and transparency, governance, and structural reforms that 

promote access to justice, accountability, and 

oversight. Projects that address this Priority 

Investment Area will inform the work of the 

Conference of Chief Justices/Conference of State 

Court Administrators (CCJ/COSCA) National 

Task Force on Fines, Fees, and Bail Practices. 

SJI Announces Priority Investment Areas 

for FY 2017 Grant Funding 
Page 2 

SJI Newsletter Volume 27, No. 1 October 2016 

SJI Releases FY 2017 Grant Guideline 

SJI recently released 

the Grant Guideline

for FY 2017. The 

Grant Guideline appears as part of the National Archives and Records Administration’s 

Federal Register, and sets forth the administrative, programmatic, and 

The Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA), released its 

2015-2016 policy paper recommending specific policies and practices 

that courts can adopt to minimize the negative impact of legal financial 

obligations (LFOs) and end so-called “debtors’ prisons,” while ensuring 

accountability for individuals violating the law. 

This paper examines the growth of debt imposed by legislative bodies 

through courts and the incarceration that results from failure to pay ,as 

well as significant collateral consequences incarceration brings to those 

unable to pay. The paper discusses the issues created by reliance on 

funding courts through fine and fee revenue and the impact of using 

private for-profit entities to collect court-related LFOs. 

 “COSCA has long advocated against the practice of funding courts and 

other government activities through fees. In this paper COSCA advocates for lawful, effective, and just policies toward those who are ordered to pay fines and fees,” said Arthur Pepin, the President of COSCA and Director of the New Mexico Administrative Office of the 

Courts. “The objective is compliance, whether through payment in 

money, performing community service, or creating alternative ways to 

satisfy the public policy behind the imposition of fines and fees. Incarceration must remain as the ultimate sanction for those who are able to 

pay but willfully refuse to do so.” 

Recommendations included in the paper focus on: 

strengthening the capacity of courts to assess the ability to pay 

through the use of automated tools or other existing means tests; 

adopting practices that reduce failures to appear, such as using 

phone call and text message reminders of pending court dates; 

expanding and improving access to alternatives to incarceration, 

such as community service; 

ensuring judges have the authority to impose alternatives for those 

unable to pay; and, 

financial requirements for applying for and administering SJI grants. 

FY 2017 Deadlines for Project, Technical Assistance, and Curriculum 

Adaptation Grants are as follows: 1st Quarter - November 1, 2016; 2nd

Quarter – February 1, 2017; 3rd Quarter – May 1, 2017; and, 4th Quarter 

– August 1, 2017. 

COSCA Paper Highlights Effective Court Policies 

for Compliance with Legal Financial Obligations 

ultimately, imposing jail time for an 

offender’s willful 

refusal to pay. 

The press release for 

this paper notes that 

this is not the first 

time COSCA has 

addressed similar 

issues. In 2012, COSCA issued a policy 

paper with the position that courts should 

not be treated as revenue centers. In that 

paper, COSCA outlined a series of principles, including: 

1. Courts should be substantially funded from general governmental revenue sources, enabling them to fulfill their 

constitutional mandates. 

2. Neither courts nor specific court functions should be 

expected to operate exclusively from proceeds produced 

by fees and miscellaneous charges. 

3. Optional local fees or miscellaneous charges should not 

be established. 

This new policy paper, and other COSCA papers 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 

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. 1 October 2016 

Second Courting Justice Town Hall Continues 

Discussion On Improving Public Trust and 

Confidence in the Courts 

Courting Justice is an unprecedented multi-city town hall series that 

invites state supreme, appellate, and trial court judges to step down 

from the bench and listen to new perspectives on how the United States 

court system can better deliver justice for all. With support from SJI, 

these town halls have enabled the public to voice their concerns and 

share solutions on how to rebuild public trust in the judiciary. The second town hall was held in Little Rock, Arkansas, on September 23, 

2016. 

Videos from each of the Town Hall meetings are available on the National Center for State Court’s Courting Justice website. 

(COSCA), and the National Conference of Appellate Court Clerks 

(NCACC), to develop an electronic catalog of innovative practices and 

technological applications used by state appellate courts. It is available 

exclusively online. 

NCSC Launches Appellate Innovations E-Catalog 

With a grant provided by SJI, the National Center for State Courts 

(NCSC) led a collaborative including the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ), the Council of Chief Judges of the State Courts of Appeal (CCJSCA), the Conference of State Court Administrators