National Association for Presiding Judges and Court Executive Officers

Burger Award nominations being accepted

NAPCO is proud to encourage its members to nominate candidates for the National Center for State Courts’ esteemed Warren E. Burger Award recognizing a court executive officer who has significantly contributed to improving the administration of the state courts. Service may be at the local, state or national levels. This prestigious honor recognizes an individual… Continue Reading Burger Award nominations being accepted

NAPCO Reference Guide on Remote Technology Use by State Courts

A report and reference guide on the use of remote technology in state courts, commissioned by NAPCO and funded through a special grant from the State Justice Institute (SJI), has recently been completed and is now available to court leaders throughout the country. Michael Bridenback (ret.) Court Administrator, Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, Tampa, Florida, aided by Melissa Foss, Judicial Staff Attorney at the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, conducted the research produced the report. The report/reference guide is intended to aid courts in developing plans to use and expand this beneficial technology.

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36 Hours in Cleveland

Cleveland, the city that is hosting NAPCO’s first national conference this September, has been revitalized with a cherished NBA championship, an energetic downtown, lively food and beer scenes, arty neighborhoods, and a growing hospitality sector.

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Former New York Chief Judge receives national court leadership award

Retired New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman is the recipient of the first-ever Mary C. McQueen Award for Excellence and Leadership in Justice System Improvement, presented by the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ), the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA), the National Association for Court Management (NACM), and the National Association for Presiding Judges and… Continue Reading Former New York Chief Judge receives national court leadership award

VIEWPOINT: What should we think about Donald Trump’s thoughts about judges?

We have seen this sort of attack before, and we no doubt will see it again. Donald Trump attacked Judge Gonzalo Curiel, the judge presiding over the Trump University litigation, stating that because the judge is “Mexican,” he was biased because Trump advocates building a wall between the United States and Mexico. Trump added fuel to the political fire by then stating a Muslim judge might also be unfair to him. Our nation has a long history of political figures brutally attacking judges. Politicians often take advantage of controversial decisions for political gain. But perhaps this one is different.

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Art, Science and the Challenge of Justice Reform

Almost every week brings more grim news about the state of criminal justice in the United States: Unwarranted uses of force, fees and fines being used to balance municipal budgets, dire statistics about mass incarceration, protests in the streets… the list goes on and on. Alongside these developments, we have seen—drip by drip—the continued erosion of public trust in justice, particularly in low-income neighborhoods and among communities of color. How should we respond to these challenges?

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How Cost-Benefit Analysis Might Save America’s Criminal Justice System

It took decades for politics – that messy, flawed business of gauging the public mood, haggling with interest groups and turning out votes – to build America’s prison system: a behemoth of staggering size and cost, unlike anything else in the developed world. What chance is there that the monster can be tamed by the dry, abacus-clicking discipline of economics?

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