CJI will help the educate judges and court staff in Louisiana about JRI changes. CJI has also volunteered to create a specialty courts best practices manual.
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CJI met with members of the Supreme Court staff to discuss judicial training and education on JRI through a combination of in-person presentations and webinars. CJI put together a presentation providing an overview of JRI changes, with a focus on the changes that will affect judges the most. A member of Court staff will give this presentation in January or February. CJI also helped staff talk through a script for a series of judicial education webinars, and will likely help write the scripts next month.
In January, CJI travelled to Louisiana for meetings with implementation stakeholders at DOC and the Courts. While many of the meetings with DOC were cancelled or rescheduled due to inclement weather (the entire state was shut down due to icy roads), CJI was able to meet with Court Administrators to discuss continuing judicial training and education on JRI. This will be done through a series of in-person presentations and recorded webinars. CJI also talked with administrators about creating a team of judges who can be thought leaders on JRI. This team will be trained on the research behind JRI, and will be a place for judges to discuss ways to educate their colleagues about the logic behind the reforms. Administrators are working to identify judges who would be a good fit for this project, and a first meeting is tentatively scheduled for May.
In February, CJI has continued to meet with Court Administrators to discuss judicial training and education on JRI. This will be done through a series of in-person presentations and recorded webinars. CJI and administrators are also working to create a team of judges who can be thought leaders on JRI. This team will be trained on the research behind JRI, and the group will provide an informal venue for judges to discuss ways to educate their colleagues on the reforms. Administrators have identified some judges who would be a good fit for this project, and CJI is planning a meeting with Court leadership in March to plan the first session. CJI also helped prepare one pagers to help educate judges about supervision and time accounting practices, as some judges seemed to be confused about how JRI would impact the practices of their criminal justice partners.
During the March site visit, CJI continued to work with Court Administrators to discuss judicial training and education on JRI. As part of this plan, CJI and administrators are working to create a team of judges who can be thought leaders on JRI. The team will be trained on the research behind JRI, and the group will provide an informal venue for judges to discuss ways to educate their colleagues on the reforms. CJI met with Court Administrators and Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Johnson to discuss this plan. The Chief is supportive of the idea, and would like to turn it into a longer retreat-like event later in the summer. CJI is currently working with administrators to sort out logistics of this new plan.
During the April site visit, CJI met with Court Administrators and the Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice to discuss the idea of creating a group of judicial thought leaders. The Chief Justice suggested having a few weekend retreats with this group and cover a variety of JRI-related issues. CJI is working with staff at the Supreme Court to coordinate the timing of this event with other Judicial College work and judges’ schedules.
In May, CJI talked with Court Administrators to discuss this program as well as other ways CJI could provide assistance. Recently, DOC decided to award a portion of the reinvestment funding to help expand specialty courts; given this, CJI offered assistance in developing policies & processes for new courts and helping ensure the new courts follow best practices. This assistance was eagerly accepted. CJI will review educational materials the court currently provides, research best practices in the coming weeks, and then will meet with court staff on our June site visit to discuss specific deliverables. The judicial leadership program that was tentatively scheduled for August has been put on hold for now due to the staffing change. This will also be a topic of discussion at the June meeting.
CJI has offered to help draft policies and procedures as Louisiana works to expand their specialty courts. In June 2018, CJI met with court staff to discuss the ways in which we could help, and volunteered to create a manual of standards for specialty courts, along with instructions on setting up a court. This will involve updating their current drug and re-entry court standards and using these as a basis to create standards for other types of specialty courts. CJI is reviewing their current standards and procedures and then will begin the process of combining and updating them.
CJI has volunteered to help create a manual of standards for LA specialty courts. In July 2018, CJI reviewed their current standards and began the process of combining and updating them. In October 2018, CJI met with staff from the Specialty Courts while in state to review the progress made so far, and talk about next steps.
From January to June 2019, CJI met with Specialty Court staff to discuss their feedback on a draft of the manual. CJI then worked to continue to add new content to the manual, revise current sections based on that feedback, edit and finalize formatting. In December, CJI met with Specialty Court staff to review the most recent draft.
In March 2020, CJI met with Specialty Court to discuss feedback and review the current draft of the manual. In April, May, and June, CJI continued to add new content and revised sections of the manual based on feedback from Specialty Court staff. CJI is currently waiting to hear back from Specialty Court staff to schedule a virtual meeting to review the complete draft of the manual.
In August, CJI held a virtual meeting with Specialty Court staff to review the complete draft of a manual of standards for all courts. In September, CJI incorporated the Specialty Court team’s feedback into the manual. CJI sent a final draft to the Specialty Court team, which they will now be able to add to as new research emerges or new laws are passed. The final manual is attached as a deliverable.
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