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What the Courts Can Do
Effective Court Planning to Ensure Adequate Resources
In recent years the court system in California has made significant strides toward becoming both more efficient and accountable during a time of significant challenges from resource shortages and workload increases. The Governor’s Office and the Department of Finance continue to support the crucial role of courts in our three-branch system of government and to encourage the courts, through planning and public involvement, to demonstrate in clear ways the improvements in service for which court funding will be used.
The courts today face an unprecedented challenge. The courts must improve efficiency and services offered to the public, while at the same time demonstrating to the Legislature and the Governor the legitimate public service needs that will be met by full state funding of the courts’ budgets. Effective local planning is the key to enabling the courts to address both of these significant issues simultaneously.
Keeping in mind the appropriate limits and restrictions necessary to ensure independence in case decision making, the county courts can involve the public in planning. The public can help the courts identify areas in which changes and improvements can be made. The courts can then tailor those changes to the specific needs of their communities. At the same time, by identifying the program areas requiring most urgent attention, such as court interpreter, technology, and court security services, the courts can paint a clearer picture for the Governor and the Legislature of where the courts’ public money goes and what it is used for. This combination of accountability and independence will lead California’s justice system to a new level of excellence and will renew public trust and confidence in and consequently support for the courts.
Shifting Our Emphasis to Customer Service
Courts today are perceived by many as simply another part of government run by bureaucrats infected with terminal lethargy. To change that perception, courts must shift their emphasis to customer service in three primary areas.
- Staff Professional Development.
To create a culture that supports and rewards excellent customer service, we must restore in our employees pride that they are part of a very special and important part of our government. We need to energize them with the knowledge that they are important to the effective administration of justice. And we must reward them for exemplary customer service. Regular and recurrent training of staff and continued efforts to professionalize the service rendered by court employees to the public are not luxuries in the administration of justice. Court managers must take the lead to ensure that consumers who deal with the court are provided excellent service.
- Court Technology.
In an age where reliance on technology is commonplace in business and even in daily life, the public has a right to expect that courts will keep up with the rest of the community and other governmental agencies. Technology can provide new and exciting ways for the public and other affiliated justice system agencies to better access court services.
- Jury Service.
In addition to providing quality service to litigants who seek the courts’ help in resolving their disputes, the courts must emphasize improvements in jury services. Through jury service, citizens play an active and integral role in our third branch of government. Through their service, jurors, as partners with judges and court staff, ensure the fair and effective administration of justice. For too long, the public has regarded a jury summons as something to be avoided or disregarded. And for just as long, courts have resorted to threats to enforce a jury duty summons. By failing to examine why the public has resisted serving — such as issues of lost income, child care expenses, and horrible conditions in jury assembly rooms — the courts have not taken a leadership role in improving conditions that support jury service. A representative jury, a cornerstone of our justice system, can be obtained only when all segments of our society can serve without financial sacrifice or hardship. We must implement jury reforms that will make serving on a jury an opportunity to perform a civic duty rather than an obligation to be dreaded and avoided.
Community Outreach
One of the solutions urged for improving the administration of justice is called "community outreach," which consists of two primary parts: (1) public education about the role of the courts, and (2) court dialogue with the public about improving court operations.
- Public Education.
Historically, the courts have seen community outreach as a one-way street — an effort by the courts to "educate" the uninformed public about the role the courts play in our system of government. It is true that public education about the courts is necessary to ensure public understanding of the courts, and also that too often the public is uninformed about the principles and practices of the courts. The level of public understanding may have increased in recent years, given the broad media coverage of some high-profile cases, but the general need for public education about the court system is still a critical element in improving public perceptions of and trust and confidence in the system. Courts can actively participate in public education through their own outreach programs and by collaborating directly with the public education system to ensure that people learn what the basic concepts of civil and criminal law are, how the judicial system works, how to access it, and how we can use the basic concepts of personal responsibility for peaceful dispute resolution.
- Public Dialogue and Involvement.
In addition to taking the lead in public education, the courts must also be willing to open themselves to participation by the public in appropriate areas. To become responsive to public needs and concerns, courts must be willing to engage in a real dialogue with the public about how court services can be improved. The public and the courts share common goals and hopes: justice that is accessible, affordable, comprehensible, and as speedy as fairness allows. Better communication would go far toward bridging the gulf that currently exists. That communication can take many forms: including involving the public in court planning and seeking public opinion through routine surveys and open hearings. Through engaging in public education programs and opening public dialogue, the courts can revitalize the justice system in California.
On the Threshold
We stand on the threshold of a new era of court and community collaboration that promises greater community involvement in assuring justice for all. Our challenge as court and community leaders is to embrace this opportunity to explore new and vital ways of improving the administration of justice for all the people of California.
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