Mission Statement

of the

Idaho Courts

           

Provide equal access to justice, promote excellence in service,

 

GOAL 1  Increase Access and Service to the Public

­                     Enhance and expand Court Assistance Office services, and increase public awareness of Court Assistance Office services.

­          Continue the development of interactive court forms in English and Spanish on a redesigned Court Assistance Office website.

­          Expand the recruitment, training and certification of court interpreters, and increase the availability and use of certified Spanish language interpreters.

­          Complete the implementation of the criminal ISTARS in the Ada County criminal justice system (March 2008).

­          In partnership with the Idaho State Bar, develop options for legal representation for persons of limited means where legal representation is desirable.

­          Provide public access to appropriate court information by way of the Internet.

­          Encourage use of E-citations to be filed with the court, and accept Internet payment of fines, fees, and court costs.

 

GOAL 2  Improve the Fast and Fair Resolution  of Court Cases

­                     Enhance Family Court Services in each district to promote early, non-adversarial, and effective resolution of all cases involving children and families.

­                     Evaluate new and emerging research on domestic violence calendars, courts, evaluations, offender treatment and victim support to improve court practices.

­                     Evaluate effective approaches for handling cases involving mentally ill parties.

­          Increase case dispositions and shorten the time to disposition through the expanded use of senior judges, traveling judges and the use of video teleconferencing.

­          Establish case management and ADR training institutes and develop new strategies to insure all cases are resolved timely.

­                     For cases for which time standards apply, resolve 90% of those cases within the time standards.

­          Develop understandable, accurate, and relevant reports for all judges, Administrative District Judges, and Trial Court Administrators, to assist judges in meeting the time standards and improving court practices.

­          In the area of child protection, strengthen and support local guardian ad litem programs and improve the timeliness and effective resolution of child protection cases.

GOAL 3  Promote Excellence in Service

­          Plan a Law Learning Center in coordination with the University of Idaho Law School and others to promote legal and judicial education, relocate the Law Library, and offer an expanded 3^rd year law school program.

­          Strengthen education and training of judges and court personnel by upgrading electronic resources with a knowledge management system, and expand technology-based instruction.

­          As funding allows, continue to enhance educational programs to court reporters, court interpreters, court security officers, jury commissioners, Court Assistance Officers, misdemeanor and juvenile probation officers, juvenile detention officers, Drug Court and Mental Health Court Coordinators, Family Court Services Coordinators and other court related personnel.

­                     Sponsor annual multi-disciplinary training institutes, involving children and families, substance abuse, mental health, domestic violence and other social concerns confronting the judiciary.

­                     In partnership with the Idaho State Bar, explore establishing standards for attorneys practicing in child protection, juvenile justice, and guardianship and conservatorship cases.

 

GOAL 4  Increase Public Trust and Confidence in Idaho Courts

­          Evaluate the effectiveness of community-based alternatives for juvenile offenders such as youth courts, truancy courts, drug courts, mental health courts, status offender programs, and community accountability boards.

­          Expand the capacity of drug courts, mental health courts and other problem solving courts, and continue to evaluate their effectiveness.

­          Update existing court security and emergency plans, including a coordinated response with appropriate governmental entities.

­          Encourage availability of effective sentencing alternatives statewide to reduce recidivism of felony, misdemeanor, and juvenile offenders.

­          Refine court performance evaluation systems and fully implement them to improve the responsiveness and performance of all judges and the Idaho courts.

­          Implement the guardianship/conservatorship pilot monitoring program in six counties, establish standards of practice for guardians and enforce court orders and annual accountings.

­          Increase the public awareness of the importance of the jury system and the participation of the public in that system, and develop strategies to improve services and appreciation of all jurors.

­          Encourage a misdemeanor probation system comparable to the juvenile and felony probation systems.

­          Promote the performance and productivity of the Judiciary by better helping judges and court personnel with a range of issues, addressing wellness, job satisfaction and productivity, medical/mental health, substance abuse and addiction, aging, and more.

­          Increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the Court of Appeals by adding a 4^th Judge to expedite the issuance of opinions and by increasing the use of technology, and other innovations, as recommended by the Appellate Task Force.

•           Conduct public surveys and outreach to improve the performance of the judiciary and hold Idaho courts accountable to the public by publishing regular reports of performance.

•           Establish, monitor, and publish regularly court performance measures relating to access and fairness, clearance rates, time to disposition, age of active pending caseload, trial date certainty, reliability and integrity of case files, collection of monetary penalties, the effective use of jurors, and court employee satisfaction.

 

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