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Policy Reform Reports
District
of Columbia Democracy and the Third Branch of Government– Prologue.
Written by John W. Nields & Timothy J. May.
District
of Columbia Democracy and the Third Branch of Government– The Legal
and Constitutional Foundations for the District of Columbia Judicial Branch.
Written by Steven M. Schneebaum.
District
of Columbia Democracy and the Third Branch of Government– Who Should
Appoint Judges of the D.C. Courts? Written by Charles A. Miller.
District
of Columbia Democracy and the Third Branch of Government– Should
the District of Columbia Have Responsibility for the Prosecution of Criminal
Offenses Arising Under the District of Columbia Code? Written
by John Payton
District
of Columbia Democracy and the Third Branch of Government– Organization,
Budgeting and Funding of the District of Columbia's Local Courts. Written
by Peter R. Kolker.
Effect
of DC Juvenile Speedy Trial Legislation, September 2008. DC
juvenile cases are being resolved quicker due to DC Speedy Trial Juvenile
legislation enacted in 2008. The
report found that the DC juvenile justice system achieved a high rate
of compliance with the speedy trial deadlines and with reducing the time
juveniles spent in secure detention following an order to shelter care.
District
of Columbia Child Welfare System Reform – A Third Progress Report,
December 2006. Even after
dramatic improvements in the performance of the District of Columbia’s
child welfare system, DC foster children still spend multiple years in
temporary care before finding permanent homes. In addition, two hundred
children have left the system in each of the past two years without ever
finding a family.
Creating
an Expungement Statute for the District of Columbia:
A Report and Proposed Legislation. "Expungement" is
frequently the term used for the process of erasing an individual's criminal
record – the official records regarding arrests and/or a conviction
-- to afford citizens the opportunity to put past contact with the criminal
justice system behind them. The Council for Court Excellence (CCE) undertook
to address the subject of expungement and to prepare a report that would
summarize the existing state of the law, discuss key issues, and set forth
options that the Council of the District of Columbia might wish to consider
in enacting legislation on the subject. (107 Kb, PDF). Download
the legislation here.
Improving
Juror Response Rates in the District of Columbia,
March 2006. This report by G. Thomas Munsterman of the National
Center for State Courts, presents concrete steps to expand citizen participation
in jury service. The report describes the current process by which District
of Columbia citizens are summoned to jury service, and it suggests governmental
reforms to increase the proportion of summoned citizens who actually serve.
(683 Kb, PDF)
The
District of Columbia Family Court Appointed Counsel System: Report and
Recommendations, October 2005. The report is a comprehensive
analysis of the District of Columbia's system for providing lawyers to
represent all children and indigent adults in child neglect court proceedings.
Such representation has been guaranteed by DC law for twenty years and
is a far more comprehensive legal safety net than in many jurisdictions
in the nation. This CCE report builds on four studies published by the
DC Bar since 1975 of Superior Court appointed counsel systems for criminal
and family cases, and it traces the results of the most recent of the
four studies, the Muse Report of 1993.
Needs
Assessment of the DC Misdemeanor and Traffic Court of the District of
Columbia, October 2005. In September 2004, the Council for Court
Excellence received a contract from the DC Criminal Justice Coordinating
Council to perform a needs assessment of the DC Superior Court DC Misdemeanor
and Traffic Court. This Court is one of two community courts created as
a result of a recommendation by the Council for Court Excellence and the
Justice Management Institute publication A Roadmap To A Better Criminal
Justice System (April 2001), which can be dowloaded here.
Community
Observation of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia,
August 2004. This report is the fruit of the project that was
developed by CCE's Public Service Committee. It is the first observation
project of a federal courthouse in the nation, and third court observation
project overall for CCE. The previous two projects in 2001 and 2002 were
held at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia's criminal and
civil divisions.
District
of Columbia Child Welfare System: A Second Progress Report, June 2004.
This report, designed for the public, summarizes the findings
in CCE’s detailed report to Congress dated May 6, 2004 on the performance
of the DC child welfare system. It contains findings and analysis on the
city’s compliance with the federal and DC Adoption and Safe Families
Acts and the DC Family Court Act. It concludes with a list of recommendations
for improvement as well as a list of issues requiring further study.
District
of Columbia Child Welfare System: Compliance with the Adoption and Safe
Families Acts and the District of Columbia Family Court Act, May 2004.
This is CCE's second public progress report on DC's child welfare system.
This report is issued at the direction of Congress who in early 2003 provided
CCE with funding and a mandate to "Continue independent oversight...
[of the system and to provide]...an annual report to Congress on the implementation
of the DC Family Court Act of 2001 and the [federal] Adoption and Safe
Families Act of 1997 (ASFA)."
Two
Years Down the Road: A Status Report on A Roadmap to a Better DC Criminal
Justice System, 2003. This report examines the progress made
by the DC criminal justice system to implement the 27 recommendations
of the Council for Court Excellence’s 2001 study, entitled A
Roadmap to a Better DC Criminal Justice System. Two Years Down
the Road found that progress had been made to reengineer misdemeanor
case processing, but that felony cases were being processed much the same
way as reported in 2001.
District
of Columbia Child Welfare System Reform - A Progress Report, October 2002.
This report has two purposes: a) to increase public accountability of
the District of Columbia's child abuse and neglect system, and b) to increase
the community's understanding of that system. This is the CCE's first
public report on the progress made by the leaders of the DC child welfare
system to bring the District of Columbia into compliance with the federal
and local Adoption and Safe Families Acts ("ASFA"). Please
call 202.785.5917 to order over the phone.
Report
and Recommendations of the Court Community Observers Project, July 2002.
The court community observers project used trained community volunteers
to observe individual DC Superior Court criminal court hearings and related
court functions during the spring of 2002. Volunteers recorded their observations
and the Council for Court Excellence published the major findings in this
report to the courts and to the community. Please call 202.785.5917
to order over the phone.
Report
and Recommendations of the Court Community Observers Project, July 2001.
The court community observers project used trained community volunteers
to observe individual DC Superior Court civil court hearings and related
court functions during the spring of 2001. Volunteers recorded their observations
and the Council for Court Excellence published the major findings in this
report to the courts and to the community. Please call 202.785.5917
to order over the phone.
The
Grand Jury of Tomorrow, New Life for An Archaic Institution - Final Report,
July 2001. Final report of the Council for Court Excellence District
of Columbia Grand Jury Study Committee. Report contains 23 law reform
and grand juror quality of life recommendations to improve the grand jury
systems in Washington, DC. Please
call 202.785.5917 to order over the phone.
The
Grand Jury of Tomorrow, New Life for An Archaic Institution - Executive
Summary, July 2001.An Executive Summary of The Grand Jury of Tomorrow,
New Life for An Archaic Institution publication. Please
call 202.785.5917 to order over the phone.
A
Roadmap To A Better Criminal Justice System, April 2001. Report summary
and recommendations of practical strategies to increase DC public safety
and save taxpayer dollars. Please
call 202.785.5917 to order over the phone.
Juries
for the Year 2000 and Beyond, February 1998.
Juries for the Year 2000 and Beyond is a comprehensive Council for Court
Excellence policy report examining the trial level jury systems of the
federal and local trial courts in Washington, DC. Notable for its focus
from the petit juror's perspective, this report offer a variety of constructive
and practical proposals for enhancing jury participation and the jury
experience. (Online
Only)
Juries
for the Year 2000 and Beyond - Executive Summary, February 1998. An
executive summary of the Juries for the Year 2000 and Beyond publication.
Please
call 202.785.5917 to order over the phone. (Online
Only)
Juries
for the Year 2000 and Beyond - Final Report, December 2000 (Update).
An update to the community of the Juries for the Year 2000 and Beyond
publication.
Please call 202.785.5917 to order over the phone.
Partnerships
for Reform, Civil Society and the Administration of Justice, June 2000.
The combined efforts of Samuel F. Harahan, Executive Director of the Council
for Court Excellence, and Waleed Haider Malik, Senior Public Sector Management
Specialist and Task Manager in the Public Sector Group of the Poverty
Reduction and Economic Management Unit of the Latin America and Carribean
Region of the World Bank, produced this booklet geared towards analyzing
the policy considerations relating to establishing and promoting more
effective civil society participation in the administration of justice.
Please
call 202.785.5917 to order over the phone.
Criminal
Punishment in the District of Columbia: Intermediate Sanctions, Prisons
and Public Safety, March 1996. This March 1996 report
examines how the District of Columbia deploys its adult correctional resources,
programs, and usage as compared with that of other jurisdictions. Focusing
in particular on the nonviolent offender and the limited availability
of expensive prison bedspace this policy report presents findings on innovative
criminal justice programs that are programmatically effective and far
less costly than prison. The Council for Court Excellence authored the
report under contract for the Federal City Council. Please
call 202.785.5917 to order over the phone.
Council
for Court Excellence | T 202.785.5917 | F 202.785.5922 | 