Gender Fairness Strategies Project

THE GENDER FAIRNESS STRATEGIES PROJECT National Association of Women Judges Implementation National Judicial College Resources National Center Directory for State Courts American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession National Judicial Education Program COMPILED BY THE NATIONAL JUDICIAL EDUCATION PROGRAM* State Justice SJI Institute * A project of the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund in cooperation with the National Association of Women Judges. Gender Fairness Strategies Project: Implementation Resources Directory Compiled by Lynn Hecht Schafran, Esq. Director with Norma J. Wikler, Ph.D. Founding Director and Jill Crawford Program Associate National Judicial Education Program (A Project of the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund in cooperation with the National Association of Women Judges) Justice Betty Weinberg Ellerin Chair Gender Fairness Strategies Project National Association of Women Judges, National Center for State Courts, The National Judicial College, American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession, National Judicial Education Program 1998 © National Judicial Education Program to Promote Equality for Women and Men in the Courts, December 1998 Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has written of the task forces on gender bias in the courts: Self-examination of the court’s facilities and practices... can yield significant gains. First, such projects enhance public understanding that gender equality is an important goal for a nation concerned with full utilization of the talent of all its people. Second, self-examination enables an institution to identify, and devise means to eliminate the harmful effects of gender bias. Third, close attention to the existence of unconscious prejudice can prompt and encourage those who work in the courts to listen to women’s voices, and to accord women’s proposals the respect customarily accorded ideas advanced by men. And finally, self-inspection heightens appreciation that progress does not occur automatically, but requires a concerted effort to change habitual modes of thinking and action.* This Implementation Resources Directory is for all those who want to be part of that “concerted effort.” *Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Foreword to THE REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON GENDER, PREPARED FOR THE D.C. CIRCUIT TASK FORCE ON GENDER, RACE, AND ETHNIC BIAS, reprinted in 84 GEO. L.J. 1651 (1996). A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Directory reflects sixteen years of work by the more than forty state Task Forces on Gender Bias in the Courts and the committees charged with implementing their recommendations. A reform effort such as this requires many heads and many hands. We gratefully acknowledge the dedication and countless hours donated to the national gender bias task force movement by thousands of individuals across the country, many of whom will soon complete their second decade of commitment to eliminating gender bias in the courts. On behalf of the five partners in the Gender Fairness Strategies Project— the National Association of Women Judges, the National Judicial College, the National Center for State Courts, the American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession and the National Judicial Education Program— we thank our chair, Justice Betty Ellerin, for her commitment to making this project a reality and her guidance in its development. We also thank the State Justice Institute for its long term support of the national gender bias task force movement and for funding this project, which will bring the movement into its third decade with renewed energy. We are grateful to program manager Pamela Bulloch for her valuable suggestions for this Directory. With respect to the production of this Directory, we thank the Task Force and Implementation Committee members and staff who responded to a lengthy survey and provided materials for inclusion in the Directory. We are indebted to NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund legal and undergraduate interns, Debbie Fruendt, Margaret Hu, Jana Jacobson, Lisa Osiecki and Sabrina Wu, for help with research, cite checking and word processing. Funding for the interns was provided by the Everett Foundation and the Helena Rubenstein Foundation. A special thanks is due to Carol Schaeffer and Meredith Stern for designing the Directory cover. Our thanks to all of you who have taken an interest in the critical judicial reform effort to eliminate bias in the courts. We have created this resource to make your job easier. Use it well and keep the movement going. National Judicial Education Program to Promote Equality for Women and Men in the Courts* Lynn Hecht Schafran, Esq. Director Norma J. Wikler Founding Director Jill Crawford Program Associate *A Project of the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund in cooperation with the National Association of Women Judges. TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface . 1 Introduction to this Directory The National Gender Bias Task Force Movement .............. 2 The Need for this Implementation Resources Directory ........... 3 How the Directory was Developed ....................... 4 How the Items Described in this Directory were Selected ......... 4 Intended Audiences for this Directory ..................... 5 How to Use the Directory How to Obtain the Materials Described in this Directory ......... 6 Plan for Institutionalizing the Work of the Gender Bias Task Forces and Implementation Committees ............................ 7 Key Components of a State Institutionalization Plan . 8 Section 1: Products Bench Books . 11 Case Citations to Gender Bias Task Force Reports Opinions Listed by State and Federal Circuit . 12 Opinions Listed by Topic . 17 Codes of Conduct for: Judges ................................. 22 Court Employees .......................... 26 Lawyers ............................... 29 Complaint Procedures Formal . 33 Informal . 33 Court Chid Care .............................. 36 Court Conduct Handbooks ......................... 38 Court Employment ............................. 40 Court Rules .................................. 49 Court Watching ............................... 51 Data Collection Tools and Databases ................... 52 Education for: Court Personnel . 54 Judges . 56 Judicial Disciplinary Commissions . 75 Judicial Nominating Commissions . 75 Law Enforcement Agencies . 76 Lawyers . 77 The Public . 81 Evaluation (See Progress Assessment and Evaluation) Gender-Neutral Language ......................... 84 Jury Instructions ............................... 86 Legislation ................................... 88 Newsletters and Other Publications .................... 99 Progress Assessments and Evaluation .................. 100 Videotapes .................................. 106 Section 2: Substantive Law Areas Alimony (See Divorce) Child Abuse and Neglect . 111 Child Support . 112 Civil Damages . 114 Court Interaction . 115 Custody and Visitation . 116 Divorce . 122 Domestic Violence . 125 Equitable Distribution (See Divorce) Mediation . 139 Prisons (See Sentencing and Prisons) Rape and Sexual Assault . 140 Sentencing and Prisons . 142 Sexual Harassment Continuing Legal Education (See Education for Lawyers) Court Employment (See Court Employment) Judicial Disciplinary Commissions (See Education for Judicial Disciplinary Commissions) Law Schools (See Collaboration: Law Schools) Spousal Support (See Divorce) Section 3: Collaboration with Others Bar Associations . 147 Community Outreach . 152 Law Enforcement Agencies (See Education for Law Enforcement Agencies) Law Schools . 154 Appendices A. Descriptions of the five national organizations sponsoring the Gender Fairness Strategies Project: National Association of Women Judges National Judicial College National Center for State Courts ABA Commission on the Status of Women National Judicial Education Program B. List of Gender Bias Task Force Implementation Committees with Contact Names and Addresses C. State and Federal Case Citations to Gender Bias Task Force Reports - Annotated D. Chart - “Responsibility for Recommendations by Agency” from the Report of the State Bar of Michigan Task Force on Racial/Ethnic and Gender Issues in the Courts and Legal Profession (1998) (excerpts) E. Descriptions of the National Judicial Education Program and the Family Violence Prevention Fund Model Judicial Education Curricula P REFACE THE GENDER FAIRNESS STRATEGIES PROJECT: Identifying Our Resources and Maximizing Our Gains The Gender Fairness Strategies Project, funded by the State Justice Institute, is being carried out by the National Association of Women Judges, the National Judicial College, the National Center for State Courts, the American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession and the National Judicial Education Program*, five national organizations deeply involved in the twenty-year judicial reform effort to eliminate gender bias in the courts. The intent of the Gender Fairness Strategies Project is to promote states’ efforts to eliminate gender bias in the courts, and to define an agenda for moving this vital court reform effort forward in the next decade. The Project has three components. The first is this Implementation Resources Directory, based on a nationwide survey of the committees charged with implementing the recommendations of the forty state supreme court task forces on gender bias in the courts. The second is a Strategic Meeting of representatives from twelve geographically diverse task force implementation committees, convened in January 1999, to explore their experiences with implementation efforts and their strategies for

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