This report provides an answer to those who say "They ought to do something about the justice system in this country!"

The answer is "They are doing a lot about it. And guess what? They’re asking you to help."

This Summary covers efforts to improve the justice system in every state. It is based on a survey of state supreme courts, state and local bar associations, and selected metropolitan trial courts conducted by the 2000-2001 members of the ABA Committee on State Justice Initiatives.

It shows at least 1,200 areas of activity to protect public safety, secure more affordable legal services, get information to the self-represented, combat bias, enhance jury duty, find better ways to select judges and to protect their independence, remake courts to solve problems as well as process cases, reach out to the public and make the courts user-friendly.

Increasingly, courts and bar associations are enlisting new partners for reform: business and community leaders and other members of the non-lawyer public. "Justice Initiatives"(JI) is our name for projects that actively involve non-lawyers as well as lawyers and judges.

The ABA Coalition for Justice encourages justice initiatives as a better way to improve the system because community involvement 1) brings fresh ideas, 2) generates broader support for implementation of reforms, and 3) by so doing, strengthens public trust and confidence in the system and the profession. The JI movement is content neutral, supporting the process of community involvement, not any particular policy. We want local people to identify local concerns and devise local solutions. The 2001 report shows a cumulative total of 331 of these commissions, summits, conferences and other such initiatives, up from 272 last year and 34 in 1995.

We congratulate the courts, bar associations, and community groups for their good work and for responding to our survey. We applaud the Committee members for gathering the information and our staff in the ABA Coalition for Justice, especially Jack Sweeney and Paula Nessel, assisted by Deidra Franklin and Brian Volkman, for compiling this report.

We hope the indexed information will help current projects and spark entirely new ones. We encourage readers to communicate with the contact persons listed in the activity overviews and state reports and with staff. And we look forward to your suggestions on how our future reports can better serve efforts to improve the justice system.

Linda Klein, Atlanta GA