SJI Newsletter

February 2018 | Volume 28, No. 5

SJI and NCSC Partner to Develop Elements

of Judicial Excellence

With grant funding from SJI and technical expertise from the National Center for State Courts 

(NCSC), the Elements of Judicial Excellence framework was created to support professional 

development of state trial court judges. This unique resource identifies three specific elements 

necessary to achieving judicial excellence and professional growth, including:

1. Citizen of the Court Community: Ethics and Integrity; Engagement; and, Well-Being

2. Informed and Impartial Decision Maker: Knowledge of the Law and Justice System; Critical

Thinking; and, Self-Knowledge and Self-Control

3. Leader of the Court Process: Managing the Case and Court Process; Building Respect and

Understanding; and, Facilitating Resolution

Based on the Illinois state Circuit Court and associate judges model, the following guiding 

documents are included in this new resource:

• Elements of Judicial Excellence Framework: The framework and how to use it is detailed in

this 39-page document that introduces concepts, provides citations and resources for further

reading, and practical application by trail court judges.

• Elements of Judicial Excellence D Final Report: The complete project final report provides an

overview of the framework and its development, explains how the framework can be

appropriately used, identifies key lessons learned from the project experience, and describes

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Elements of Judicial Education combines established needs, best practices, and new insights that

judges themselves believe are important to judicial excellence, as well as recommended strategies

to support professional growth.

Minnesota Concludes Statewide Multidisciplinary

Project to Address Human Trafficking

On May 22-25, 2017, the Minnesota Judicial Branch, with support from SJI, the Ramsey County

Attorneys Office, and the Womens Foundation of Minnesota, hosted a statewide training: Sex 

Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation 102: Engagement Strategies for Working with Sexually

Exploited Children.

Judges from each of Minnesotas ten judicial districts and one United States District Court judge

each selected a team of systems professionals to represent their district in this training, which

focused on building an effective systems response to sex trafficking and sexual exploitation of

children. In all, 21 judges and 71 systems professionals, including Minnesota Safe Harbor

Regional Navigators, community-based advocates, law enforcement, prosecution, victim

services, child protection, and probation, participated in this two and a half-day training.

Following the program, a report was prepared, containing a summary of major themes from the

training and recommendations for next steps in building an effective systems response to sex

trafficking and sexual exploitation of children. These recommendations include:

• Utilizing the influence of judges on the systems response and in the community;

• Developing a comprehensive response;

• Leveraging existing resources;

• Adhering to the Minnesota Safe Harbor Protocol Guidelines;

• Working towards systems change;

• Ensuring a culturally-responsive systems response; and,

• Incorporating the youth/survivor perspective

The full report is available online. In addition to the elements above, a report-back on 

the district-specific multidisciplinary team activities is featured.

several potential research directions. The report includes a technical appendix on data 

collection (Appendix A) and, importantly, the Elements of Judicial Excellence framework 

document (Appendix B). 

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Reimagining Dependency Courts

Issues Permanency Report

An initiative of the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), Reimagining Dependence 

Courts (RDC) launched in 2016 with support from Casey Family Programs and SJI.

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RDC released its inaugural eight page Permanency Report providing a snapshot of foster care 

system. The report details state-by-state data on key foster care and permanency measures, as 

well as examples of strategies being implemented through the project to reduce court delay in 

achieving permanency.

The project has already realized results by providing judicial leaders with children and family and 

outcome data, in addition to the court process measures courts. Some of the measures found in the 

Permanency Report include the percentage of children in foster care who have been in care for 

more than 24 months and the percentage of foster children in the state who are waiting for adoption.

In addition to this project and the report, the NCSC also hosts an online resource guide devoted to 

dependency courts.

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

John B. Nalbandian

Partner

Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP

Cincinnati, OH

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

Hartford, CT

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

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.

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Products and Resources

Since 2011, SJI has designated the library at the National Center for State Courts as 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.

Share the News

SJI uses Facebook and Twitter to promote the work of its grantees and also shares 

information of interest to the entire state court community. If your organizations work 

complements ours, let us know and we will share.

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