Court-Community
Public Trust and Confidence
Outreach Programs
State Links

Alaska’s CourtWatch program (temporarily closed) recruits volunteers to observe court proceedings and evaluate the justice system from a citizen’s perspective. CourtWatch is sponsored by the nonprofit organization Victims for Justice.

LawForKids.org was created by the Arizona Bar Foundation with the specific goal of educating Arizona's youth, their parents, communities, and schools to increase their knowledge about youth laws and to encourage law-abiding behavior.

A Guide to Arizona Courts is a booklet designed to inform the general public about Arizona’s court system.

The Arizona Supreme Court goes “On the Road” to hold sessions in different cities and towns across the state, followed by community discussions.

The State of Connecticut Judicial Branch provides an organized Volunteer and Intern Web sites with detailed information on program objectives, positions available, the application process, and volunteer/intern experiences. The site also provides a brochure and application for those interested.

Brochure: Connecticut Superior Court Visitation Program Manual.  Connecticut Superior Court, undated. This manual provides information suited to older students.  Teachers can prepare students for what they will see on a courthouse tour with this resource material, which includes pretests, posttests, court system information, and vocabulary.

Connecticut’s Job Shadow Program:  The judicial branch offers students an opportunity to "shadow" an employee working in a courthouse or at a judicial branch facility. The Job Shadow Program provides an opportunity for high school students to explore career interests and vocational skills by "shadowing" a judicial branch employee during a workday.

Connecticut’s Speakers Bureau comprises judges and court officials interested in speaking to community audiences on court-related topics. Connecticut also held Judicial Open House Community Celebrations throughout the state to acquaint the community with the role and function of the judicial branch and to provide opportunities for adults and children to visit their local courthouse and meet court personnel.

Delaware Law Related Education Center:  This is an educational center that focuses on increasing law-related education initiatives in the state of Delaware.  The center has several programs dedicated to the public.

State-by-State Guide to LRE Projects

The Florida Supreme Court’s Justice Teaching Institute provides law-related education to secondary school teachers.

The Miami-Dade County government’s Commission on Ethics and Public Trust coordinates a Community Ethics Education and Outreach Program that conducts conferences, meetings, and training workshops for government employees, elected officials, and community organizations.

Florida’s Conference of County Court Judges is creating Public Education in the Courts Teams (PECTs) in each of Florida’s 20 judicial circuits.  The PECTs engage in a variety of public education efforts, such as holding forums and providing information on the structure and function of the courts.

Communications and Publications Department: “The department issues press releases on issues of importance to the courts, and responds to inquiries from the public and the media. It also manages the AOC’s website, , to assist both the courts and the public.” 

Georgia AOC: “The AOC carries out the mandate of the Supreme Court Commission on Equality, which is now known as the Georgia Commission on Access and Fairness in the Courts to promote gender equality and minimize racial and ethnic bias in all Georgia courts. It does this through education and training. It also works to improve the treatment of adult victims of sexual violence in the justice system. In addition, the AOC maintains a list of certified interpreters for the hearing impaired.”

The Georgia Judicial Branch evaluates Web page access statistics to help prioritize which Web pages and topics need to be updated most frequently.

A state judge from Hawaii held a live Internet chat with students about the juvenile justice system.  During the previous week, the students learned about the juvenile justice system through the “Judges in the Classroom,” a law-related curriculum that involves state judges. The curriculum, intended for grades seven to 12, introduces students to Hawaii’s Family Court System. Students learn the meaning of the term “minor” and examine the disposition process and review sentencing options. During the last session, the students participate in a simulated family court hearing. 

Indiana Court Web casts.

The Kansas Supreme Court continues to train the judiciary on topics related to community outreach.  The court’s statewide 2001 Judges’ Spring Conference focused on outreach to juveniles and senior citizens.

In Kentucky, lawyers are given two hours of CLE credit for court-related presentations to high school students.

Louisiana expanded its Courting Louisiana Students and Schools (CLASS) program by coordinating efforts with the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Center for Law and Civic Education to reach out to high school social studies and civics teachers.  In the CLASS program, oral arguments are videotaped, and copies are provided to schools throughout the state, accompanied by a handbook for teachers and curriculum planners.  Through an Internet lesson plan, students write their own opinions and then compare them with the court’s official decision in the case. 

Court Column, the quarterly newsletter for Louisiana’s judiciary continues to highlight the work of Louisiana courts in community outreach, judicial reform, and innovations in court management and case processing.  It has a circulation of 5,000. 

Just'Us for All.  Maine Administrative Office of the Courts.

The Maryland Judiciary provides electronic versions of brochures and the court newsletter, Justice Matters.  

Maryland Judiciary Speakers Bureau

The judiciary also provides instructional videotapes (some in English and Spanish) on jury duty, court operations, and the domestic violence case progression.

The Bench-Bar-Media Advisory Group is "designed to improve communication and relationships between judges, attorneys, and local media."  

Journalist’s Guide to Maryland’s Legal System is designed to "enhance the quality of media coverage of the courts."

The Citizen Law-Related Education Program for the Schools of Maryland offers teacher training, peer-conflict mediation, and other resources for the promotion of law-related education in public and private schools.

The Maryland Judiciary launched a statewide program, Partners in Justice, to recognize and honor employers with juror-friendly policies.

The Maryland Court Information Office keeps the public, through the media, apprised of newsworthy events by issuing press releases and responds to media requests for information, statistics, and photographs.  It also conducts ongoing forums with the media.

Franklin County Futures Lab: “The Franklin County Futures Lab, which is also identified by multiple types of interaction with the community, is [an] example of a court that has institutionalized the court and community collaboration philosophy.  Here, however, the primary emphasis is on obtaining significant community input from a broad cross-section of the community at the ‘front end’ of the reform process rather than just at the implementation stage of specific projects.  The Franklin County Futures Lab first brought together a 38-member task force and convened four town meetings across the county in an effort to obtain broad community input and commitment to court reforms.  The creation of a new structure to oversee and implement new pilot projects, which includes a community outreach and education board, institutionalized the initial drive for community input.  The court created a full-time position to oversee community outreach and public education programs for the court that emphasize court and community dialogue and outreach by the court to the community.  The court has also fostered close relationships with the community to develop the community as a resource for cases that are appropriate for some type of alternative disposition.”   

The Court Compass: Newsletter of the Massachusetts Judicial Branch.  Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Public Information Office (1999).

State courts host the Judicial Youth Corps, a summer-mentoring program for high school students. The program includes discussions with judges, attorneys, probation officers, other court personnel, and law-enforcement officers; mock trials and hearings; visits to courthouses, jails, law firms, and sheriff’s departments; and internships with court clerks, probation officers, and others.

The Michigan Courts Web site provides several Customer Service Training resources, such as Michigan Justice Institute training modules, QuicKnowledge.com online-training modules, pamphlets, and videos.

Youth Assistance Program:  “[The program], administered by the Oakland County Probate Court and the Circuit Court-Family Division, allows local volunteer boards to oversee programming at each of the 26 offices throughout the county.  Local volunteer boards work with the court and caseworkers employed by the probate court to work on solutions to youth problems.  A countywide coordinating board, made up primarily of the chairs of the 26 local boards, provides advice, consultation, and support to the central office and to the local boards.  Now an enduring element of the court structure in Oakland County, these citizen boards provide local communities with an official and ongoing say in the use of court resources and into court programming decisions.” 

Minnesota State Court System. Minnesota Public Trust and Confidence Survey, 1999-2000, Minnesota Public Trust and Confidence Strategies.

Fanning, Rebecca. I’ll See You in Court: A Consumer Guide to the Minnesota Court System. Minnesota Supreme Court, Public Information Office, 1992.

The Minnesota Supreme Court takes its oral arguments “on the road” into schools across the state. The program reaches more than 4,000 students each year. Twice a year, the court hears oral arguments of actual cases and then opens the program to questions from the students in attendance. The visits include stops at other local schools. Volunteers from local bar associations review case briefs and prepare students for the oral arguments. The Bemidji and St. Cloud visits also included community-wide dinners attended by several hundred people, who represented a cross-section of the local communities. The dinners offered justices and local judges an opportunity to meet the people they serve and learn about the challenges and innovations of the criminal justice system in those communities.

The Minnesota Supreme Court held an open house to meet the people they serve and provide an opportunity for the public to learn more about the judicial branch. The open house included tours, opportunities to chat with judges and justices, information about law-related topics and court/law careers, and presentations about Minnesota’s historic courthouses.

New Hampshire Court Information Office.  The home page of New Hampshire's court PIOs.

Supreme Court Oral Arguments Online.  

Juvenile Conference Committees: “The Hudson County Family Court established ‘Juvenile Conference Committees’ (JCCs) through which one-third of its minor, first-offense cases are disposed.  Six to nine community volunteers staff each of the committees and hear cases that do no warrant a court hearing, but are worthy of an expression of social and judicial disapproval.  By court rule (compliance with which is monitored by the state court administrative office), members match the racial and ethnic composition of the locality.  The state’s central administration merits much of the credit for judicial confidence in JCC decisions and the record of successful retention of volunteers over long periods of time.” 

In 2001, the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts published the handbook, New Mexico Court Volunteer Program: Recruiting, Retaining, and Recognizing Court Volunteers. Contains program examples and tips on how to develop a successful relationship with volunteer participants.

The Supreme Court of Ohio's Public Information Office.  Provides online access to speeches, news releases, and other publications. 

Citizen Guide Brochures.  The brochures are designed to inform the public about Ohio's judicial system.

Rhode Island’s Supreme Court created a statewide Judicial Speakers Bureau to match judges, magistrates, and other state court officials with schools and organizations interested in topics related to the judiciary.   

Tennessee implemented its first daylong “Law School for Journalists” in June 2001.  Instruction was provided on topics as diverse as cameras in the courts and legal research methods.  The law school is being cosponsored by the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University.  The committee is also working on videos and brochures to assist in juror orientation, coordination of bar association speaker’s bureaus, and other activities.

The State Bar of Texas has helped create and utilize local teams of attorneys to respond to unfair or inaccurate criticism of the profession.  These local media response teams, trained in part with the help of the ABA at the midyear meeting in February 2000, are encouraged to participate by writing letters to the editor, responding to calls for interviews, and participating in the bar’s Law Day and Keep Justice Alive Week activities.

State Bar of Texas. This year the State Bar of Texas under the leadership of President Gib Walton launched Let's Do Justice For Texas, the educational initiative to help Texans better understand their role in helping to maintain justice.

The Virginia Judicial Council adopted several action items for inclusion in its 2000-2002 strategic plan.  Among these were to create “district court service centers” to better assist pro se and other litigants who desire to or are required to use the courts for dispute resolution and to plan, develop, and sponsor a statewide conference on public trust and confidence in the courts.  

Public Perceptions of the Fairfax Circuit Court (June 1994). A survey research project of Fairfax city and county residents’ opinions about the Fairfax Circuit Court.

Inside Washington State Courts.  This daily newsletter is available via e-mail and provides news from the Washington state courts.  To subscribe, simply e-mail judicialnews@courts.wa.gov.

Judges in the Classroom: “Court Access, a grant-funded variant of Judges in the Classroom, in which judges are paired with teachers of English as a Second Language (ESL) to present LRE lessons from prepared lessons that incorporate ESL teaching strategies.” 

WSBA Speakers Bureau Program:  “Matching volunteer attorneys with middle school and high school teachers on an as-needed basis (in conjunction with the WSBA Young Lawyers Division Public Service Committee) to assist with mock trials and studies of government and the legal system.”

WSBA Young Lawyers Division:  “Has developed and implemented or supported a number of public education programs: the annual 'Minority Pre-Law Conference' for high school youth, the annual 'YMCA Mock Trial Program' for high school youth, annual 'Law Day' projects, the 'Aspiring Youth Program' for middle school youth, and a mentorship/scholarship program whereby high school students shadow attorneys.”

Juror Appreciation Month: “In February 2002, the West Virginia court system celebrated its first Juror Appreciation Month. Circuit courts used posters, newsletters, bookmarks, appreciation certificates, and thank-you letters to show appreciation for jurors.”

LAWS: “The LAWS (Legal Advancement for West Virginia Students) is a West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals initiative designed to educate high school students about the judicial branch of government. Participating students have a unique opportunity to attend a Supreme Court session in their own, or a nearby, community.  The Supreme Court is proud to have educated about 2,000 students through LAWS since the program began in 1999.”

Mock trials sponsored by the State Bar Association of Wisconsin.

The Justice on Wheels programs gives people in other parts of the state a chance to watch an oral argument of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.  The proceedings are sometimes aired on cable access television to make them available to a larger audience.