NEWS RELEASE

The National Center for State Courts
300 Newport Avenue · Williamsburg, Virginia  23185

Contact:
Lorri Montgomery
Communications Manager
The National Center for State Courts
757.259.1525 or lmontgomery@ncsc.dni.us 

Race and Ethnic Fairness Initiative Debuts Database

Williamsburg, VA (June 10, 2004) – The Race and Ethnic Fairness Initiative of the National Center for State Courts recently compiled an electronic database containing the findings and recommendations issued by judicial branch commissions and task forces on racial and ethnic fairness. The database can be accessed through the Internet, and is available free of charge. The new database serves as a recognition of the accomplishments of the National Consortium on Racial and Ethnic Fairness and a way to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education. 

“Beginning with a New Jersey report in 1984 and extending most recently to a 2004 Maryland report, the judicial branches of the majority of state courts have recommended concrete steps that remove racial and ethnic bias from their courtrooms, procedures and policies, and employment practices,” said David Rottman, the Initiative’s chairman.  “Those recommendations, and the detailed research and analysis that underlie them, are a remarkable resource of insights and practical guidance.  Now, for the first time, the work of the 29 task forces and commissions can be examined in one place through simple search commands.”

The database can be searched by state, topic, or a combination of both. Topics include access to justice, judicial selection and discipline, juries, and hiring and promotion policies. The database is located on the NCSC Web site at www.ncsconline.org/Projects_Initiatives/REFI/reb.htm and on the National Consortium’s Web site at www.ncsconline.org/consortium/news.

The National Center for State Courts is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the administration of justice by providing leadership and service to the state courts. The National Center, founded in 1971 with the encouragement of Chief Justice of the United States Warren E. Burger, provides leadership, research, technology, education, and training to the state courts.

The Race and Ethnic Fairness Initiative was created in 2003 to identify and create knowledge and practices that help courts implement strategies promoting race and ethnic fairness in the courts and in the justice system overall. Specific objectives include helping courts that wish to follow the recommendations put forward in the Conference of State Court Administrator’s (COSCA) position paper on State Courts’ Responsibility to Address Issues of Racial and Ethnic Farness; helping the state courts obtain the value of work undertaken by the National Consortium on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts; and make NCSC a key participant in scholarly and practitioner efforts to create new knowledge and methodologies relating to fairness in the courts.

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