Since 1992 the American Bar Association’s Coalition for Justice and Committee on State Justice Initiatives have supported justice system reform at the state and local levels and urged that such efforts involve the community along with judges and lawyers. Feedback from court and bar officials is that the ABA can best help by providing current information on justice improvement activities underway across the country. The Committee thus conducts annual surveys of state supreme courts, state and local bars associations, and, in 2001, a selection of metropolitan trial courts. This is an indexed report on the 2001 survey. The instrument was mailed in January. A total of 126 responses were received (up from 87 in 2000)--most by April, but a few as late as August, when this document was going to press. There are three principal findings:

1. Bar associations and courts engage in a wide variety of justice improvement activities. The results show 1,201 areas of activity in which courts and/or bar associations currently work to improve access, combat bias, protect the community, upgrade judicial selection, enhance jury duty, preserve independence, inform the public, and make the courts more user-friendly. This is an increase of more than 16 percent over the 1,035 areas of activity reported in the 2000 survey.

The cumulative number of "justice initiative" activities—those that involve non-lawyer community representatives along with lawyers or judges--is 331, up from 272 reported in last year’s survey and 34 in 1995. The ABA particularly encourages justice initiatives as a way to improve our system of justice because community involvement 1) brings fresh ideas; 2) generates broader support for reform implementation; and 3) by so doing, strengthens public trust and confidence in our justice system.

3. Public trust and confidence is a key issue. Virtually all states are addressing public trust and confidence in the justice system as a result of the 1999 national conference on that subject sponsored by the ABA, Conference of Chief Justices, Conference of State Court Administrators, and the League of Women Voters in cooperation with the National Center for State Courts. As noted above, justice improvements build trust and confidence by involving the public in improvement activities.

The 331 justice initiative activities tabulated this year represent the heart of the national effort in improving our justice system. By definition, justice initiatives involve non-lawyers as well as lawyers or judges. For examples in specific states, see the "Justice Initiatives" table beginning on page 9. There are three types:

Citizens’ Conferences are events held by courts or state and local bars at which two-way communication is established with non-lawyers on general or specific justice issues. They include town hall meetings, community forums, and statewide conferences. The survey shows 88 such efforts, an increase over the 67 reported in 2000.

Justice Commissions are on-going groups, including committees and task forces, that identify and develop solutions to problems facing the justice system. The survey shows a total of 216 this year, up from 175 last year. Those with a general scope reflect a broad effort to determine and address the critical issues of a state or local justice system. This year’s survey shows 71 justice commissions with a general scope. A second type addresses a specific issue, such as jury reform or alternate dispute resolution. This year’s survey shows 145 justice commissions with a specific focus.

Futures Commissions are bodies established by state supreme courts to examine long-term possible scenarios for the justice system and to make plans to meet those alternate futures. Futures Commissions are usually in existence for several years before issuing a report. Puerto Rico and Rhode Island issued reports since the 2000 Summary report, bringing the total of state reports to 23. Four Futures Commissions were in progress (Georgia, Indiana, Oregon, and Wyoming), bringing total number to 27. This total is a slight decline from the 30 reported in 2000, as some states that had been considering a futures commission chose other vehicles for reform.

Traditional Activities

The activities in this category are numerous and varied. By definition, traditional justice improvement activities are carried out by courts and/or bar associations, without active participation by non-lawyer members of the community. The most popular activities involved access issues, followed by alternate dispute resolution, public information, and family courts. Below is a list showing how many courts or bar associations responding to the 2001 survey reported activity in each category.

The numbers above reflect that the activity occurred during the period since the last survey, i.e., approximately between the spring 2000 and the spring 2001. The numbers given earlier for justice initiative activities are cumulative from the earliest survey in 1995 up to July 2001. The calculation of the total number of current justice improvement activities in 2001 (n = 1,201) is based on the survey responses for both traditional activities and justice initiatives active during the 2000-2001 survey period.