Summary of State and Local Justice Initiatives 2000

PUBLIC EDUCATION: Public Information, Law Related Education

Education issues address public understanding of law and its role in society and how to provide people with accurate and balanced information about the law and lawyers while helping them develop skills, attitudes, and values needed to be responsible and participating citizens. Activities include Law Day, designed to reach the whole community with positive messages about our system of liberty under law, public relations campaigns about law related issues and projects that address public trust and confidence in the justice system. Numerous projects are underway involving citizens in law related education.

The Arkansas Bar Association and the Arkansas Judicial Council are jointly sponsoring a new Judicial Article for the Arkansas Constitution that includes a number of improvements to the judicial system, including a unified trial court system and elimination of the current division of trial courts between equity and law. The Legislature placed the new Judicial Article on the November 2000 ballot and the Bar Association is undertaking a comprehensive $200,000 public education campaign about the importance of passing the Judicial Article.

The Florida Bar has produced a series of 30 second TV and radio public service spots explaining how lawyers help improve the quality of citizens’ everyday lives.

The Iowa Public Education & Media Relations Advisory Committee, comprised of judges, attorneys, court staff and citizen representatives, is developing a new juror orientation and the Youth Education subcommittee is working to encourage more judicial involvement in youth education and courts and to develop a set of recommended behavioral objectives for Iowa’s 5^th and 8^th graders. The Adult Education subcommittee recommends the use of the Iowa Communication Network for judges to interact with and educate community groups and the expansion of Polk County’s People’s Law School to other counties.

The Kansas Bar Association received a 2000 Model/Demonstration Grant from the ABA Coalition for Justice and Committee on State Justice Initiatives for a public education project on merit selection stemming from the Citizen’s Justice Initiative.

In Michigan the State Bar received a 1999 Model/Demonstration Grant from the ABA Coalition for Justice and Committee on State Justice Initiatives for Public Education and Outreach Initiative to improve citizen participation and representation in the jury process.

The newly created "New Mexico State Bar Foundation" will sponsor a statewide public education ad campaign in 2000 that will contain a series of ads developed to educate the public on the good things lawyers do, and specifically how lawyers help ordinary people.

For further information on public education and law-related education, including Law Day materials, guides and curriculums, contact the ABA Division for Public Education, 312/988-5735, fax 312/988-5494, Email: abapubed@abanet.org