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Practice
Area: Other:
Interdisciplinary Training of Judicial and Non-Judicial Staff on
Family Violence Issues
Date
of Implementation:
1994
Overview:
A comprehensive
program to provide training sessions and roundtable discussions for
judges and non-judicial personnel with respect to all aspects of
family violence including legal, medical,
and psycho-social issues.
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Key
Elements:
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Strong support from the Chief Judge
& Chief Administrative Judge underscoring the importance of
universal participation in the Family Violence Task Force programs,
buttressed by the new court rule making attendance mandatory.
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A survey of all judges at every
level to ascertain their views of their training needs, followed by
meetings with various segments of the domestic violence and justice
communities.
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Highly interactive formats, often
including multi-disciplinary panels addressing hypothetical cases and
fact patterns using a “Fred Friendly” roundtable approach.
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Utilization of cutting-edge
national experts, combined with local judges and practitioners, so as
to highlight national trends and expertise while also making the
programs very real to the attendees.
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Dissemination of comprehensive
written materials drawing from various
disciplines so that attendees leave with concrete resources
in-hand.
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Video-taping of programs so that
tapes can be available to those who cannot attend and can be used by
local courts as discussion vehicles on particular issues.
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Regular evaluation and feed-back through written
evaluations by all attendees, as well as regular consultation and
solicitation of views (not only internally, but among advocates, law
enforcement, defense, prosecution, DV survivors, and other members of
the justice community).
Evaluation:
Evaluation data not
available at this time. The jurisdiction solicits written feedback
from participants following training sessions and regularly consults
with members of the justice system and family violence community.
Other Support:
See,
J.S. Kaye and S. Knipps “Judicial Responses to Domestic
Violence: the case for a Problem-Solving Approach,” 27 Western St.
Univ. L.Rev. 1 (1999-2000).
Contact & Related Links:
Janet R. Fink
Deputy Counsel
NY State Unified Court System
25 Beaver Street, #1170
New York, NY 10004
(212) 428-2150
(212) 428-2155 Fax
jfink@courts.state.ny.us
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