National Association for Presiding Judges and Court Executive Officers

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

Making the Case for Bail Reform: Cuyahoga County

If you were arrested, could you afford a bond of $500? Three different people could give you three different answers to that question. One person might be able to pay on the spot, another would never be able to afford that much, and a third person could pay it, but only after sitting in jail for a week or so trying to raise the funds.

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Improved justice for the poor as St. Louis County public defenders get help from private attorneys

Overburdened public defenders in St. Louis County are going to get some help from private attorneys courtesy of an order from Presiding Circuit Court Judge Douglas R. Beach. Beach has been meeting for months with criminal justice stakeholders to find ways to reduce defenders’ workloads. He has come up with an equitable solution to help make sure low-income defendants in county courts get the fair representation they deserve.

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