September 2009 V

E-SJI New

ol. 19, No. 12 

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BOARD AWARDS GRANTS FOR THE 4th QUARTER 

On June 26, 2009, the SJI Board of Directors met to award grants for the 4th quarter of FY 2009. A total of 

$374,456 in new grants were awarded. Awarded grants included a Project Grant to the Maryland Judiciary for a 

comparative evaluation and cost analysis of three teen court models in the state. Teen courts provide an 

alternative program for first time teen offenders and are growing in popularity across the United States. 

However, evidence of their effectiveness is inconclusive. Therefore, this project will provide an understanding 

of how teen courts function in Maryland, and their effectiveness in impacting outcomes for at-risk teens. 

Another Project Grant was awarded to the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts for Phase II of their 

Justice System Interpreter Resource Project. This project will continue to improve the use of interpreters in the 

state, in addition to the pooling of limited interpreter resources across the justice system. 

Five (5) Technical Assistance (TA) Grant applications were awarded, including a strategic planning project for 

the Coconino County, Arizona, Superior Court; a case flow management project for Shelby County, Indiana; a 

county-wide justice system collaboration project for Troupe County, Georgia; and an Electronic Document 

Management System planning project for the 5th District Court of Appeal in California. Four (4) Curriculum 

Adaptation and Training (CAT) Grant applications were awarded, including emergency management training 

for the 18th Judicial Circuit in Florida; support for the National Judicial College’s water law education 

programs; a D.C. Bench/Bar/Media education program to be conducted by the Council for Court Excellence; 

and Court Management Program training for the 20th Judicial Circuit and Ottawa County, Michigan, Probate 

Courts. 

FY 2009 was another successful year for SJI. In addition to continuing to support individual state courts 

through numerous grants, SJI continued its focus on national court issues, such as immigration in the state 

courts and court budgeting, through the Strategic Initiatives Grants program. SJI is committed to continuing 

these efforts in FY 2010. 

 Legal Services Corporation and SJI 

Finalize 4th Year Partner Grant 2 

Inside

Update on Efforts to Assist the State Courts 

with Budget Issues 2

New Handbook will Assist Journalists 

in Reporting on the D.C. Courts 3
UPDATES ON EFFORTS TO ASSIST THE STATE COURTS 

WITH BUDGET ISSUES 

In FY 2009, SJI awarded a Strategic Initiatives Grant (SIG) to the National Center for State Courts (NSCS) to 

provide direct technical assistance to state courts facing severe budget shortfalls. The current and projected 

fiscal conditions for state and local governments are extremely dire; having a significant negative impact on the 

state courts. SJI has already received grant requests to assist state courts in these difficult times. For example, in 

FY 2009, SJI awarded a grant to the Vermont Supreme Court to re-engineer the court system as a result of 

budget shortfalls in that state. This SIG project is providing the technical assistance needed to assist the state 

courts in adapting to budget cuts, while maintaining service delivery and access to justice. The assistance 

includes: documenting and analyzing the experiences at selected sites for general guidance for courts; and 

assistance to the sites in defining and prioritizing their options, and re-engineering processes. 

NSCS is currently working in Vermont, Oregon, Minnesota, and Utah. As an example, NCSC has assisted the 

Salem, Oregon, Municipal Court on their Collections Improvement project. The Court and the City of Salem 

have worked collaboratively to document current collections processes and procedures in both the Court and 

City offices; document collections rates and receivables based on available information; and develop processes 

and procedures that improve collections. NCSC is also monitoring several states (where it is not working) who 

are responding to the fiscal crisis with innovative solutions. 

Also as part of the SIG re-engineering project, NCSC conducted a budget survey of the Conference of State 

Court Administrators (COSCA). The results of this survey, and information on the ongoing work in the state 

courts, are available on NCSC’s Budget Resource Center website. The website includes an interactive map of 

state activities that provides information on what the state courts are doing to address the fiscal crisis. 

LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION & SJI 

FINALIZE 4th YEAR PARTNER GRANT

 

LSC and SJI began working to tighten the bonds between courts and legal aid providers in FY 2006. SJI 

provides additional funding for LSC to make awards for projects that have a court component in their 

Technology Initiative Grants (TIG) program. LSC and SJI work together to determine appropriate projects for 

joint funding. 

In FY 2009, LSC and SJI are continuing these efforts by recently finalizing a Partner Grant totaling $660,000. 

This 4th year Partner Grant will fund a slate of innovative technology projects designed to promote full access to 

justice through the use of technology. The partnership uses LSC’s existing Technology Initiative Grants (TIG) 

program to support these innovative projects. SJI’s share, $330,000, is fully matched by LSC, and will provide 

additional resources to develop collaborative efforts between the courts and legal service programs in order to 

better serve self-represented and low-income litigants across the United States. Between FY 2006 and 2009, 

LSC/SJI Partner Grants have supported $2.6 million in TIG projects. More information on the FY 2009 Partner 

Grant will be available in the future from both LSC and SJI. In the meantime, those interested in LSC’s TIG 

program should visit the program website: http://tig.lsc.gov/. 

Page 2 E-SJI News – Vol. 19, No. 12 
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 

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, non-profit 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. 

NEW HANDBOOK WILL ASSIST JOURNALISTS 

IN REPORTING ON THE D.C. COURTS 

In September, the Council for Court Excellence (CCE) released the 

Journalists’ Handbook to the Courts in the District of Columbia. The 

development of this handbook was supported by a SJI grant (SJI-07-N-058). 

The handbook is a result of a two-year effort by a diverse and highly 

experienced cross-section of journalists, judges, court public information 

officers, media attorneys, and the civic community to develop the first guide 

for members of the press who cover the local and federal courts in D.C. The 

handbook is designed to assist journalists in covering the courts accurately, 

fairly, comprehensively, and with respect to the processes and participants. It 

includes frequently asked questions, definitions and terms, and details on the 

roles and processes of the courts in D.C. 

SJI has been focused on improving the relationship between the courts and the 

media, and this project has been an important component of those efforts. In 

addition to its justice system reform efforts, CCE has a long history of 

publishing other law-related education guides for the D.C. community – to the 

foster care system, the probate system, the jury system, and the adult juvenile 

system. CCE recently finalized a guide to the juvenile justice system; which 

was also supported by a SJI grant. 

The Journalists’ Handbook to the Courts in the District of Columbia, in 

addition to other court-related publications, is available on the CCE website: 

www.courtexcellence.org. 

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS 

3⁄4 Next grant and scholarship application deadline: November 1, 2009 

(1st Quarter, FY 2010). 

3⁄4 The new SJI Grant Guideline for FY 2010 will be available on the SJI 

website in October 2009. 

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