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August 2008 Vol.

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IMMIGRATION AND THE STATE COURTS: 

FINDINGS ARE EMERGING

            

SJI’s Strategic Initiatives Grants (SIG) Program is focusing on the impact of immigration in the state courts. As 

part of this effort, the Center for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) is identifying the key issues for state courts 

surrounding the complicated interplay of federal, state, and local immigration law, policy, and practice. As part 

of their work, CPPS has recruited three pilot learning sites: the Maricopa County (Phoenix, Arizona) Superior 

Court; the 11th Judicial Circuit Courts in Florida (Miami-Dade); and the Courts of the 8th Judicial Circuit in 

rural, western Minnesota. CPPS’s initial work with these sites has revealed that, in general: 

3⁄4 The intersection of federal immigration law and practice, and state law and practice, can impact civil, 

family, juvenile, and dependency cases, as well as criminal cases; 

3⁄4 The U.S. citizenship eligibility status, and U.S. residency status, of the nation’s nearly 12 million legal 

permanent residents can be affected by numerous types of local justice system and state court activities such 

as criminal charges, convictions, and imposed and suspended sentences; 

3⁄4 Court caseloads and case complexity may increase as a result of both the intersections of federal, state, and 

local law and practice, and the increased presence of state laws regarding immigrants (e.g., bail eligibility, 

document forgery, human smuggling, employer sanctions laws); 

3⁄4 There are several mechanisms used by local justice systems and the courts to protect immigrant victims and 

children. (continued on page 2)

Update on PEW/SJI Partner 

Grant on Evidence-Based 

Practices 2

Inside

Immigration and the State Courts: 

Findings are Emerging 

(continued) 2

Deadlines for New 

Scholarship Applications 4

Final Grant Applications 

for FY 2008 3 
Immigration and the State Courts: Findings are Emerging (Continued from Page 1) 

In addition, CPPS’s work also discovered the following in regard to day-to-day court operations: 

3⁄4 Language difficulties in cases involving new immigrants can impact trial scheduling and length, and 

make it difficult to identify correct names for a court’s case management system; 

3⁄4 Immigrant litigants who do not understand the legal system may demand trials in lieu of plea bargaining; 

3⁄4 The exercise of discretion by prosecutors in regard to charges filed, and by judges in regard to pleas 

accepted, and length of sentences, can have a substantial impact on a defendant’s immigration status; 

3⁄4 The sharing of evidence between Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and local 

prosecutors may give rise to issues of admissibility of evidence; 

3⁄4 There may be limited availability of culturally appropriate probation services for immigrants. 

UPDATE ON PEW/SJI PARTNER GRANT 

ON EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICES TO REDUCE RECIDIVISM 

This year, SJI approved a Partner Grant to support the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Public Safety Performance 

Project. The goal of the overall project is 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 (NCSC), the Crime and Justice Institute (CJI), and the National 

Judicial College (NJC) are working together to provide technical assistance, education, and training to State 

courts in this vital area. 

The objectives of the Public Safety Performance Project are to: 1) help states collect and analyze data on who is 

admitted to their prisons, how long they stay, who returns, and the implications of these practices for public 

safety and state budgets; 2) help states understand how their existing sentencing, release, and community 

supervision policies, practices and outcomes compare to those of other states; and 3) encourage states to use 

advance reforms that will reduce crime and recidivism, and deliver a solid return on taxpayers’ investments. 

The project is currently working in 14 states (with additional partners such as the Council of State Governments 

and the Vera Institute of Justice) and producing reports on key topics such as One in 100: Behind Bars in 

America, 2008 (http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/report_detail.aspx?id=35904). 

To date, NCSC activities as part of the Public Safety Performance Project include expert assistance to targeted 

states, encouraging cross-state learning and collaboration, and raising awareness of and support for sentencing 

practices reform at the national level. Specific activities underway or completed include: working with CJI and 

the Vera Institute to provide assistance to Alabama’s Statewide Steering Committee’s Cooperative Community 

Alternative Sentencing Project; assisting with the development and presentation of an educational program on 

risk assessment and evidence-based practices for Vermont; and preparing and disseminating Assessing 

Consistency and Fairness in Sentencing: A Comparative Study in Three States, which was released in May 

2008 (http://www.ncsconline.org/images/PEWExecutiveSummaryv10.pdf). 

Page 2 E-SJI News – Vol. 18, No. 11
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 

The State Justice Institute is a 

private, nonprofit corporation 

established by Federal law in 1984 

to improve the quality of justice in 

state courts, and foster innovative, 

efficient solutions to common 

issues faced by all courts. SJI is 

governed by a Board of Directors 

appointed by the President and 

confirmed by the Senate. 

FINAL GRANT APPLICATIONS 

FOR FY 2008 

SJI received 17 new grant applications totaling $1,009,004 for the 4th quarter 

of FY 2008. These included 4 Project Grant applications totaling $665,124; 9 

Technical Assistance Grants totaling $263,880; and 4 Curriculum Adaptation 

& Training Grants totaling $80,000. The SJI Board of Directors will meet on 

September 19, 2008, to consider these new grant applications. 

DEADLINES FOR NEW 

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS 

This year, SJI permanently aligned the application deadlines for both new 

grant and scholarship applications. These deadlines, November 1; February 1; 

May 1; and August 1, correspond with the federal fiscal year quarters. The 

SJI Board meets on a federal fiscal year quarterly basis to make funding 

decisions because SJI is 100 percent federally funded. This structure allows 

SJI to start awarding new grants and scholarships once its budget is provided 

by Congress each fiscal year, and allocate the grant funding across four fiscal 

quarters. 

For the 4th quarter of FY 2008, SJI continued to receive scholarship 

applications after the due date of August 1. Potential applicants are 

encouraged to review the deadlines prior to submitting scholarship 

applications, and to plan their courses accordingly. 

More information about SJI grant and scholarship deadlines can be found on 

the SJI’s website: http://www.sji.gov/deadlines.php. 

SPECIAL ANNOUCEMENTS 

3⁄4 Next grant and scholarship application deadline: November 1, 2008 

(1st QTR, FY 2009). 

3⁄4 The next Board meeting is September 19, 2008 (4th QTR, FY 2008). 

Page 3 E-SJI News – Vol. 18, No. 11