NASJE’s Annual Conference, Changing Perspectives in Judicial Branch Education: Re-Engage, Rethink, Renew, September 25-28, in beautiful Burlington, Vermont. The Annual Conference Committee has planned an excellent array of educational sessions, including:
- The what, why, and how of leveraging mobile learning for judicial branch education
- Application of NASJE’s respected Curriculum Designs, from dealing with challenges in creating courses and developing faculty to addressing cutting-edge issues
- Reducing stress and increasing resiliency for ourselves and those we work with
- Many others including restorative justice, procedural fairness, gray area thinking, and re-evaluating the justice system’s role as it relates to mental illness
The 2016 Conference Schedule has a full list of sessions and speakers. Please note that there are educational sessions on Sunday for both newer and experienced judicial branch educators. The conference will be held at the Hilton Burlington, on the shores of Lake Champlain and within walking distance of shopping, dining and entertainment.
Make your HOTEL reservations for the Hilton Burlington by August 30th.
Bring your unique perspective and join us for invigorating educational sessions and a collaborative exchange of ideas and best practices with colleagues from around the country and the world.
NASJE Annual Conference Committee co-chairs Joan Bishop and Kelly Tait
Impressions of the NASJE Conference by a Newbie
By Mary Ann Koory, Ph.D.
Last month, I found myself sharing a taxi from the Vermont Airport to the Burlington Hilton late Saturday night with another newly minted judicial educator, Meg Rowe. Meg and I were chatting in the back seat – we’d just met — when the taxi driver asked us what “judicial education” was. Even as newbies, we’d answered that question a few times already and offered him practiced explanations. When we were finished, he said, “Do you work on those new drug courts? Because the one here saved my life.” And he told us a bit about himself, offering us a story and a life that connected the NASJE Conference and our new profession to something more real than practiced explanations about judicial education. Our cab ride unexpectedly reminded us of the human value of the work we do.
It was an auspicious beginning to the week, which included a series of other —more intentional – kinds of experiential learning. The established members, particularly officers, made a special point of welcoming new people. My fellow new members were much in evidence at the Conference, joining Committees and networking. (Lynne Alexander recruiting me to write this article is a good example of that!)
By the end of Sunday, the Fundamentals of Our Profession day, a major theme had emerged: NASJE is a significant personal and professional resource for its members. There were several stories of picking up the phone with a problem and having a NASJE member answer with a solution and encouragement. The incoming President, Caroline Kirkpatrick, told the new members about a program of hers the previous week — a speaker had dropped out at the last minute. In days, her contacts at NASJE found her another speaker.
That support network is formalized with the mentoring program, chaired by Lee Ann Barnhardt, the value of which Tony Simones enthusiastically attested to. It turns out Tony was a new member not so long ago; it was encouraging to hear how NASJE has supported his career. A fully functioning, formal mentoring program for an organization as small as NASJE is impressive.
Another theme that emerged was that NASJE may be forward-looking and welcoming to new members but it also remembers and honors its history. At the end of the Fundamentals of Our Profession, a panel of long time members (Judith Anderson and Larry Stone) spoke about the evolution of NASJE and judicial education. I was impressed that time was taken out of a full program focused on the profession’s present to have us meet members who contributed to its beginnings. The Karen Thorson Award was another example of NASJE’s commitment to its own history and the lifetime achievements of its members.
Those were just a few of my impressions of my first 2016 NASJE Conference. Thanks for asking, Lynne!
Mary Ann Koory is a Senior Education Developer for the Center for Judiciary Education and Research (CJER). Prior to joining the Judicial Council, she was a lecturer in English literature at SFSU. She has also taught writing to adults for SFSU’s Paralegal Studies Program and for UC Berkeley Extension, where her fully online, asynchronous courses won national awards and she was named an “Honored Instructor.” Mary Ann also serves a dramaturg for the Marin Shakespeare Company in San Rafael.
VIDEO: Jim Drennan receives Thorson Award
James “Jim” Drennan echoes the qualities honored by the Karen Thorson Award through his forty-year University of North Carolina School of Government career that started in 1974, and through his contributions to NASJE.
NASJE President Margaret Allen presented the award to him at NASJE’s 2016 Annual Conference in Burlington, Vermont (September 25-28) as one of her last official duties.
Dr. Maureen Conner, Director of the Judicial Administration Program at Michigan State University and 2013 Karen Thorson Award winner, shares her support for Jim’s recommendation for the 2016 award. Dr. Conner states, “Jim’s power of inquiry helped the emerging profession of judicial branch education define itself and its call to service. He would invite us to think about the big questions, such as what business is judicial branch education truly in and what is the educator’s obligation to insure a court system that guarantees equal access and due process to all. I believe that Jim’s pursuit of these ideals propelled him to serve on multiple NASJE committees.”
Dr. Conner continues, “Jim understood that the mission of education was to create a culture of intellectual curiosity that would result in others seeking-out new knowledge and skill in service to the rule of law and administration of justice. He made it safe for others to question the legal and judicial systems so that they could think, act, and do in ways that met the challenges of the day. In short, Jim mentored each of us to be what Warren Berger in his book, The More Beautiful Question (2014), referred to as the restless learner—a person who can never be comfortable with her/his own expertise in the face of rapid knowledge advancements, research revisions, and obsolescence of facts.”
Below is a video interview of Jim Drennan where he reflects upon his judicial education experiences. Jim shares his hopes and outlooks for the future of judicial education.
We thank Jim for his service and humble guidance.
The Promise of Restorative Justice: Reduced Pressure on Courts, Reduced Recidivism, Increased Public Trust in the Rule of Law
Article by Mark Goodner
Based on a September 27, 2016 presentation by Professor Johannes Wheeldon or Norwich University and Honorable David Suntag of Vermont Superior Court.
In a thought provoking session at NASJE’s 2016 Annual Conference in Burlington, Vermont, Dr. Johannes Wheeldon and the Honorable David Suntag offered the underlying premises of restorative justice — while attempting to respond to criminal acts, the justice system itself causes harm, and the participation of those in the justice system is often limited to hiring a lawyer to navigate complex procedures. This lack of participation by those whose lives are affected leads to a default society. Restorative justice, on the other hand, demands meaningful participation and affords an opportunity to articulate our needs. This healthy communication forms a foundation for strong, cohesive communities where the best crime prevention exists largely thanks to the use of informal social controls.
The instructors explained that while restorative justice had multiple definitions as well as numerous variations, the theory emphasizes repairing the harm caused or revealed by criminal behavior. The harm is not a mere violation of a criminal law or the defiance of governmental authority; crime’s harm is a disruption in a relationship between three parties: the victim; the offender; and the community. In recognizing the harm to the victim and the community, the primary goals of restorative justice are to restore the victim and the community, repair harms, and rebuild the disrupted relationships. These goals are best attained when the government surrenders its monopoly over responses to crime, all the stakeholders participate in determining what happens focused most intently on the needs of the victim and community as opposed to the offender’s needs or culpability, dangers the offender presents, or the offender’s criminal history.
Wheeldon and Suntag provided evidence that implementation of restorative justice efforts shows measurable results, leading us to consider how best to capture its promise with broadened use. Specifically, evidence shows that restorative justice can substantially reduce repeat offending, reduce victims’ post-traumatic stress symptoms, and provide increased satisfaction to both victims and offenders. Further, restorative justice lessens the desire for victims of crime to seek violent revenge and reduces the costs of a traditional criminal justice system. More information on the promise of restorative justice can be found in the member area of nasje.org. The materials list several resources for further academic reading, as well as the successful results of restorative justice used by Judge Suntag in the Vermont Integrated Domestic Violence Docket Experiment.
CONFERENCE SPOTLIGHT: Keynote Speaker Judge Victoria Pratt on Procedural Fairness
By Kelly Tait
Judge Victoria Pratt, chief judge of the Newark Municipal Court in Newark, New Jersey, will be the opening keynote speaker at NASJE’s 2016 Annual Conference in Burlington, Vermont, Sept. 25-28. Judge Pratt runs the pioneering court that she helped build from the ground up based on procedural fairness principles.
Procedural fairness (also called procedural justice) is in large part based on perceptions of how decisions are made and the quality of interpersonal treatment by authority figures. Improved procedural fairness has a ripple effect throughout the justice system, from increasing litigants’ voluntary compliance with court orders, to reducing recidivism, to increasing overall trust and confidence in the system.
Judge Pratt’s keynote address, “Re-Imagining the Justice System to Include Procedural Fairness,” will include the principles of Procedural Justice as well as how to put these principles into practice. Conference attendees will consider the implications for judicial branch educators and the justice system overall.
For more on Judge Pratt and her court, see “The Simple Idea that Could Transform U.S. Criminal Justice” by Tina Rosenberg in The Guardian (6/23/15). Also see a six minute interview with Judge Pratt at MSNBC.
CONFERENCE SPOTLIGHT: Award-Winning Documentary to Illuminate the Intersection of the Criminal Justice System and Mental Illness
A highly anticipated session at NASJE’s upcoming annual conference in Vermont is a plenary session built around the award-winning documentary God Knows Where I Am, a film that personalizes the intersection of the criminal justice system and mental illness. In advance of its theatrical release, conference attendees will have an opportunity to view the documentary and discuss its relevance to judicial branch educators.
The body of a homeless woman is found in an abandoned New Hampshire farmhouse. Beside the body lies a diary that documents a journey of starvation and the loss of sanity, but told with poignancy, beauty, humor, and spirituality. For nearly four months, Linda Bishop, a prisoner of her own mind, survived on apples and rain water, waiting for God to save her, during one of the coldest winters on record. As her story unfolds from different perspectives, including her own, we learn about our systemic failure to protect those who cannot protect themselves.
The film will be debriefed by Judge Steven Leifman from Florida, recipient of NCSC’s 2015 William Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence, and Joan Bishop, retired New Hampshire Director of Judicial Branch Education and sister of the subject of the movie. Judge Leifman will then delve into how to address the issues surrounding mental illness and the courts, drawing on his groundbreaking work in changing the approach of the justice system to people with mental illnesses. The role of judicial branch educators in this context will be examined.
God Knows Where I Am has won a number of awards from prominent film festivals. Get more information about the film including a trailer. See more on Judge Leifman’s work.
Ending the Criminalization of Mental Illness
Presented by Ms. Joan Bishop and Judge Steven Leifman on September 27, 2016
Article by Nancy Smith of Arizona
This compelling blended learning event at the 2016 NAJSE annual conference combined experiential learning and more traditional learning. Session participants watched the heart-wrenching, award-winning documentary God Knows Where I Am, participated in a discussion about the film with colleague Joan Bishop, and listened to a presentation by Judge Steve Leifman about his judicial experiences and interactions with the mental health system and the mentally ill appearing before him. Attendees received valuable insights not only into what happens to the mentally ill in the system, but also into methods used in Judge Leifman’s and other courts to deal with the mentally ill and help keep them out of jail. Finally, participants learned about some training resources available to assist judges wanting to change their courts to effectively work with the mentally ill.
First the film. The documentary God Knows Where I Am portrays the descent into mental illness of Linda Bishop, NASJE member Joan Bishop’s sister. It conveys the tragedy of our society’s inadequate mental healthcare system, the ineffectiveness of laws written to help the mentally ill, and the criminal justice system’s uneasy relationship with both the mentally ill and mental healthcare providers and organizations. It also illustrates how mental illness affects families and the patients themselves. It is no surprise that the documentary has won many awards* and is written about in publications like The New Yorker (see newyorker.com). As participants in the NASJE conference, we not only saw the movie, but we also were allowed access into our colleague Joan Bishop’s life. As part of the session, she responded to questions and provided insights into her sister’s fight with mental illness, and the impact of Linda’s illness on family members. It is rare to get such a personal connection as part of a conference session. It takes a courageous person to share such intimate details. Thank you Joan Bishop.
Judge Leifman is a nationally known judge from Florida who learned about the mentally ill and their difficulties as a judge. Through extensive research, experience, and effort, he has created ways for judges and court staff to better understand the mentally ill, and to handle their cases in more appropriate and humane ways. One really tough issue he talked about is the number of mentally ill people in jail. Not only does the United States have about 25% of the world’s prisoners, in 2012 about 37% of them were mentally ill (15% of men, 30% of women) (see nami.org). According to Judge Leifman, among women prisoners, 97% of them were sexually abused as a child, often over long periods of time, and suffer mental illness as a result.
In Miami-Dade County, where Judge Leifman works, the recidivism rate for mentally ill defendants in the misdemeanor program has been reduced from 75 percent to about 20 percent a year, with repeat offenders typically being people who are incompetent to stand trial. The recidivism rate for people who complete the program after being charged with a felony is 6 percent, compared to an 86 percent repeat offense rate nationally for persons with severe mental illnesses (see miamiherald.com).
Judge Leifman made us aware not only of the numbers of mentally ill in jail in our country, but also about some traits of mental illness. He taught the group that mental illness can come on gradually, and that every psychotic break causes more damage to the brain, limiting the prospects of recovery over time. The longer a person with mental illness remains untreated, the more damage occurs in their brains. Most mentally ill prisoners receive little or no treatment in jail.
The Stepping Up Initiative, a partnership of the Council of State Governments Justice Center, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the National Association of Counties and the American Psychiatric Association Foundation, is a national effort to reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in jail (see stepuptogether.org). The human toll of this problem is huge, and the financial costs are staggering. Judge Leifman encouraged judicial branch educators to seek to educate their judges about the problem and ways to improve the situation to benefit our entire society.
Cultivating Resiliency: A Personal and Professional Journey
Presented on September 26, 2016 by Dr. Linda Stone & Larry Stone
The 90-minute workshop consisted of discussions in four areas: introductory material, a PowerPoint presentation, small group work, and wrap-up.
Introduction
Mr. Stone showed an excerpt from a 1970s television sitcom to demonstrate a situation where someone is forced to adapt to change. “The Tony Randall Show” concerned the trials and tribulations of Judge Walter Franklin (Randall). In the excerpt, Franklin has to deal with the defense attorney in a criminal case constantly making frivolous objections. He is frustrated and upset that the trial has gone on for four weeks, thanks to the delays caused by the attorney. The excerpt clearly demonstrates that Franklin needs something to deal with his frustrations, as we all do when we confront misfortune or change.
Drawing from her experiences with physicians and medical students and knowledge of the literature, Dr. Stone discussed the factors related to professional burnout and the need to find a pathway to resiliency. She provided two definitions of resiliency: “An ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change,” Merriam-Webster dictionary, and “Bounce Back Capability,” A definition a mother might make.
Drawing from her experience with physicians, research for the medical profession and drawing parallels to similar research related to the legal profession, she discussed a number of common themes useful in analyzing the need for resiliency and how to achieve it.
The first four themes concern analyzing personal attributes:
- Begin at the Beginning: What Do I Stand For?
- What relationships do I count on?
- Where do I center my spiritual life?
- How do I care for myself?
The remaining themes concern actions that can be taken on the road to resiliency:
- Who do I want to thank today?
- Having meaning and purpose in my life; what does that mean for the everyday?
- Have I nurtured my sense of humor?
- Where might a little kindness make a difference today?
- Have I built life-sustaining relationships I planned on?
- Have I understood the importance of respect?
- Do I understand the vocation I have been called to?
Small Group Exercise
Mr. Stone showed another video excerpt wherein Judge Franklin turned to his family (as discussed in theme 2) for support.
He then guided attendees through a timed small group exercise where each group member had an opportunity to identify one of the themes that was of special interest and share that concern with members of the group. Each group then discussed the interest of each member for a specific amount of time, thus guaranteeing that each member’s topic would be discussed and no one member could dominate the discussion. Groups were also asked to identify one of the topics to share with the group as a whole.
Wrap-Up
Dr. Stone then led a discussion of the topics identified by each small group, recognizing the contributions made to the legal profession by judicial branch educators.
She closed the session with a quote from Wayne and Mary Sotile, The Resilient Physician, that she uses to end all of her presentations on humanism: “A hero is someone who creates safe spaces for others.” She indicated that she felt that that is what we do as educators and encouraged the attendees to do the little things to create safe spaces for themselves and for those around them.
Linda C. Stone, MD, MA, FAAP Associate Dean for Student Affairs (retired), Special Assistant to the Dean for Humanism and Professionalism Ohio State University College of Medicine
Laurence B. Stone, MA, Executive Director, Ohio Judicial College, Retired