procedural justice

Center staff will assist leadership at the Allegheny County (PA) Adult Probation Services to convene a strategic planning session on the topic of procedural justice. The goal of the session will be to educate agency leadership about the topic and inform the development of a probation-specific training curriculum on procedural justice that can be developed and implemented agency-wide.

Center staff members, Emily LaGratta and Michela Lowry, presented on procedural justice at the Connecticut State Public Defender's statewide leadership training on November 14, 2016. The session was titled "Externalizing Client-Centered Leadership: Procedural Justice for Defenders" and was attended by supervisory staff from across the state.

Center staff will assist leadership at the Connecticut State Public Defender's Office to conduct site assessments of local practices in approximately three jurisdictions. The assessments will include interviews and focus groups with key stakeholders, as well as court observations. Center staff will produce a report following each site visit, as well as a summary report with statewide recommendations to implement and scale promising practices.

Emily LaGratta presented on procedural justice at the annual conference for the National Legal Aid and Defender Association. She co-presented with Alison Bloomquist, the training director of the Connecticut State Public Defender Office.

Emily LaGratta presented on procedural justice at the annual conference for the National Association for Court Management. She co-presented with a court administrator from Allegheny County, PA, who discussed their experiences undergoing a site assessment in procedural justice and pursuing related recommendations.

NTTAC is sponsoring two travelers from West Memphis, AR to attend the Office of Justice Programs Diagnostic Center Procedural Justice Training in Little Rock, AR on September 12 – 16, 2016

The Center will convene a national roundtable on September 15, 2016, with BJA and a number of procedural justice experts, titled “Designing Best Practices in Procedural Justice.” Participants will include court leaders and other experts from around the country who have worked to improve public trust and confidence and the user experience in the justice system. The goals for the roundtable are: to create a concrete set of evidence-informed, recommended practices that criminal court professionals can implement to promote perceptions of fairness.

The Center's research department is conducting a two-site procedural justice study among individuals with justice system experience in Cleveland, OH and Newark, NJ. The first portion of this study includes a closed-ended survey that will be administered outside of criminal courthouses in the study locations. The second will be an open-ended survey among a select number of justice-involved participants.