National Association for Presiding Judges and Court Executive Officers

ABA Task Force Issues 14 Guiding Principles to Improve Plea Bargaining System

In a new report published Wednesday, the ABA Criminal Justice Section’s Plea Bargain Task
Force provides 14 principles that outline how plea bargaining should operate within the larger criminal justice system. These principles are based on testimony from criminal justice experts and people impacted by plea bargaining, as well as scholarly and legal reports on the process, state and federal rules of criminal procedure, and other materials.

NAPCO Board Chair teaches in Saudi Arabia

Last year, Judge John J. Russo received an invitation from King Saud University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to teach a course in basic criminology. In narrowing the topic to an issue that would be helpful to the Saudis, given the differences in U.S. and Saudi justice systems, he settled on a program focused on financial crime. He turned to the Egmont Group, which facilitates and prompts the exchange of information, knowledge, and cooperation amongst member financial intelligence units worldwide. With their help, he was able to structure a course.

World’s Longest Study Of Adult Development Offers Good Advice for Happy Living

What is it that we found that really contributes to well-being? There were two big items over 85 years: one is taking care of our health. The part that surprised us was that the people who were happiest, who stayed healthiest as they grew old, and who lived the longest were the people who had the warmest connections with other people. In fact, good relationships were the strongest predictor of who was going to be happy and healthy as they grew old.

Where Have All America’s Workers Gone?

Organizations’ hiring plans suggest that the economy remains robust for now. Total labor supply (people who have or are seeking jobs) is roughly back to pre-pandemic levels. By contrast, labor demand (filled plus open jobs) has increased by 3M positions. The excess demand represents about 3% of all those employed, which has contributed to big nominal wage gains. Slower GDP growth—whether a recession or not—will help restore balance.

Why Pointing Fingers is Unhelpful

Casting blame is natural: it is tempting to fault someone else for a snafu rather than taking responsibility yourself. But blame is also corrosive. Pointing fingers saps team cohesion. It makes it less likely that people will own up to mistakes, and thus less likely that organizations can learn from them. Research published in 2015 suggests that a shaggy culture (“It wasn’t me”) shows up in organization performance. Organizations whose managers pointed to external factors to explain their failings underperformed organizations that blamed themselves.

Law is the most stressful profession, newspaper’s analysis finds

By Debra Cassens WeissSource: ABA Journal e-EditionJanuary 24, 2023 The most stressful occupation in the United States is being a lawyer, according to an analysis by the Washington Post of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Washington Post looked at a subset of well-being data collected in four American Time Use Surveys…

WEBINAR: Ways to Improve Inclusiveness and Representativeness in Juror Summonsing

On January 19, 2023, NAPCO facilitated a webinar called “Eliminating Shadows and Ghosts: Ways to Improve Inclusiveness and Representativeness in Juror Summonsing”. State and local trial courts have expressed heightened interest in assessing and improving the demographic representation of jury pools over the past several years. This concern became more urgent in 2020 in light of events causing the American public to question fairness and equality in the criminal justice system. Underrepresentation of people of color may result from multiple factors in the jury summonsing process, including nonresponse, undeliverable mailings, disqualification, and excusal rates.

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