Domestic Violence Courts

Providing technical assistance to public defender trainers and law school clinicians in order to export the Gideon's Promise model.

began working on updating several courses that will be funded under this grant. These courses include the 'Tribal Court Management of Alcohol and Drug Cases' and 'Handling Domestic Violence Cases in Tribal Court'. We are looking at the session offered in each course and evaluating their effectiveness and updating as needed. Also continuing development of online court clerk and court administrator courses.

Project TEAM provided TTA at three separate, two-day, on location meetings. The goal of TTA was to help the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians (SSBMI) and El Dorado County Superior Court (EDCSC) develop a joint jurisdiction court dedicated to serving juveniles and transitional youth AND their families who had any involvement with juvenile justice, dependency (child welfare) or truancy. Project TEAM facilitated meetings and the project development, resulting in a draft court procedures manual and a structure for court operation. TTA completed in October 2014.

Batterer Programs: Prior Research and Future Implications
Michael Rempel presented on the batterer program research literature and implications for future practice to an audience of judges, court administrators, and domestic violence court program staff in courts around New York State.

Academy for Justice-Informed Practice: Best Practices in Working with People with Mental Illness in NYC Criminal Proceedings;
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, NY, NY
Carol Fisler moderated a panel on “Communicating Effectively with People with Mental Illness in Criminal Justice Settings” for an audience of approximately 200 judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, probation officers, case managers, and social workers

Josy Hahn presented on initial findings for a domestic violence (DV) recidivism analysis to an audience of researchers and DV advocates.

This conference is focused on providing Alaska Tribal Justice Systems with information children’s cases, domestic violence, and misdemeanor/juvenile cases. There is an emphasis on restorative justice and sentencing circles. One other component of the training is improving tribal-state relations. This conference is intended to provide information to tribes just beginning tribal court development, for tribes that want to enhance or make modifications to their courts, as well as for tribes pursuing on-going tribal court training.

This educational course was developed to provide the most targeted training needed in Alaska Tribal courts, from court administration issues to case management. There are separate tracks for the judges and court administrators/court clerks to be able to target specific needs for each job.

Nashville-Davidson County, TN has the second largest criminal justice system in the State of Tennessee. We have 5 (law trained) magistrates/ judicial commissioners that are part of the General Sessions Court for our jurisdiction. The magistrates' workload has grown significantly since its inception over 30 years ago without any additional staff and their working conditions are absolutely deplorable.

Conference: Community-Oriented Defender Network Annual Conference
Sponsored by: National Legal Aid & Defender Association
Location: Washington DC (American University Law School)
Date: July 25, 2014 (conference was July 24-25, 2014)
Session: Defenders Teach for Change (Closing keynote address)
Audience: Defense attorneys/public defenders, social workers, office administrators.