National Association for Presiding Judges and Court Executive Officers

Judging the Judges [in Latin America]

One morning this year, in a windowless modern courtroom, Jorge Alberto Rodriguez faced justice. He was accused of driving a stolen car with changed number plates. The judge began by explaining his rights to him. His lawyer then tried to trip up the policemen whom the prosecution had produced as witnesses. To no avail: after an adjournment to allow a missing defense witness to appear via video link, the judge found Mr. Rodriguez guilty. That seemed to square with the evidence.

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2018 Court Leadership Conference Agenda

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR PRESIDING JUDGES AND COURT EXECUTIVE OFFICERS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR STATE COURTS Third Annual Court Leadership Academy and Leadership ConferenceLaunching and Leading Turnarounds to Reshape and Renew CourtsOctober 14-17, 2018 • The Ritz-Carlton Hotel • St. Louis, Missouri Get the Full Agenda: PDF SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14, 201812:00-6:00pm • Registration… Continue Reading 2018 Court Leadership Conference Agenda

There is no constitutional right to cash money bail, 3rd U.S. Circuit Court rules in NJ case

A federal appeals court on Monday, July 9, 2018, upheld the constitutionality of a New Jersey law that mostly ended the use of monetary bail in that state. The Philadelphia-based Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law in a challenge by Brittan Holland, who was accused of second-degree aggravated assault for his alleged involvement in a bar fight. The New Jersey law had prioritized nonmonetary conditions of release over money bail and had called for a risk-based assessment system to determine whether a defendant is a flight risk or a danger to the community. Holland was released before trial on home detention with electronic monitoring.

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Registration is now open for the 2018 NAPCO Conference

Registration is available online, and a mail-in form is available, too.

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AJA Statement on Separating Immigrant Children from their Families at the U.S. Border

The American Judges Association (AJA) joins our colleagues in the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) in deploring the recent policy decision to separate children of all ages from their parents at the U.S. border, without any due process of law. We are heartened to read news reports that the worldwide and bipartisan U.S. condemnation of this practice has now produced an executive order that ends outright separation, by requiring “detaining alien families together where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources.”

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NAPCO Participates in Dred Scott Symposium on Reconciliation and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts

The Dred Scott case, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1857, was an indirect catalyst for the American Civil War, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1868), which gave African Americans full citizenship. This controversial ruling has been universally denounced as one of the Supreme Court’s worst decisions.

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NAPCO Creates 3-Year Leadership and Governance Strategic Campaign

NAPCO’s Strategic Planning Committee, co-chaired by the Hon. Paula Carey, Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Trial Courts, and Sandra Lonergan, Trial Court Administrator for the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida in Miami/Dade County, recently developed a set of initiatives that chart the organization’s course over the next three fiscal years (July 2018 – June 2021).… Continue Reading NAPCO Creates 3-Year Leadership and Governance Strategic Campaign