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Justice in the Domestic Relations Division of Philadelphia Family Court: a Report to the Community

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Justice in the Domestic Relations Division of Philadelphia Family Court: a Report to the Community Justice in the Domestic Relations Division of Philadelphia Family Court: A Report to the Community April 2003 125 South 9th Street, Suite 300 Philadelphia, PA 19107 T: 215.928.9801 F: 215.928.9848 W: www.womenslawproject.org E: [email protected] Justice in the Domestic Relations Division of Philadelphia Family Court: A Report to the Community Published by the 125 South 9th Street, Suite 300 Philadelphia, PA 19107 T: 215.928.9801 F: 215.928.9848 W: www.womenslawproject.org E: [email protected] April 2003 The report is available on our website at: www.womenslawproject.org. The report is also available in print form at the cost of $10 per copy. To order a printed copy of the full report, contact the Women’s Law Project, located at 125 South 9th Street, Suite 300, Philadelphia, PA 19107 or call us at 215.928.9801. Copyright © 2003 by the Women’s Law Project. This report may be reproduced in whole or in part without fees or permission, provided that acknowledgement is made to the Women’s Law Project. Preface The Women’s Law Project (WLP) is a public interest law center, committed to fighting discrimination and injustice against women and to advancing the legal, health, economic, and societal status of women and their families. The WLP has a long and dedicated history of advocacy and is recognized as a national leader in the field of women’s rights, as well as a unique resource for women in Philadelphia and other parts of Pennsylvania. It has been our goal since the WLP’s founding in 1974 to provide women with knowledge to empower them to address the problems in their own lives, to work to eliminate gender discrimination in laws and institutions, and to promote changes in the legal system that directly affect the status and opportunities of women. The WLP engages in high-impact litigation and leads advocacy, education, and public policy efforts on behalf of women and their families. Our vehicle for direct service to the community is a Telephone Counseling Service that has assisted more than 100,000 women in the Philadelphia area over the last twenty-five years by providing information about laws and legal procedures and referrals to social service and legal agencies. An alarmingly high number of calls to this service are from family law litigants without legal representation who seek information and assistance to negotiate the Domestic Relations Division of Philadelphia Family Court (Domestic Relations Division). The experiences of our callers in the Domestic Relations Division also provide direction for the WLP’s targeted advocacy and litigation initiatives and have helped to generate this report. Acknowledgments We wish to express our gratitude to the William Penn Foundation for its generous support of this project, which would have otherwise been impossible. We also wish to thank Jennifer Campbell, who designed the court observation project and patiently taught lawyers social science standards for data collection, and the WLP staff members Debra Rubin, Astra Outley, David S. Cohen, Lauren Sorrentino, and especially Kathy Kaib, who entered and helped analyze voluminous amounts of data. In addition, we thank our court observers, who sat through court proceedings and painstakingly filled out forms, and our telephone counselors, who year after year provide compassionate service to our callers. Our colleagues in the legal community deserve a special note of appreciation for their invaluable feedback and assistance. Most of all, we owe a debt of gratitude to all the women who have shared their experiences with us. Carol Tracy Executive Director Terry Fromson Managing Attorney Dabney Miller Associate Director Women’s Law Project April 2003 Summary of Contents Preface ..............................................................................................................................i Acknowledgments............................................................................................................i List of Court Observation Tables ................................................................................ix List of Court Data Tables .............................................................................................xi Executive Summary........................................................................................................1 I. Introduction .........................................................................................................10 II. Summary of Methodologies for Research and Documentation of Consumer Experience ..................................................13 III. Standards and Findings ......................................................................................17 Area 1: Access to Justice....................................................................................18 1.1 Public Proceedings .......................................................................................18 1.2 Safety, Accessibility, and Convenience .......................................................23 1.3 Effective Participation ..................................................................................26 1.4 Courtesy, Responsiveness, and Respect.......................................................38 1.5 Affordable Costs of Access ..........................................................................44 Area 2: Expedition and Timeliness ...................................................................50 2.1 Case Processing ............................................................................................50 Area 3: Equality, Fairness, and Integrity.........................................................55 3.1 Fair and Reliable Judicial Process................................................................55 3.3 Court Decisions and Actions ........................................................................72 3.4 Clarity...........................................................................................................77 3.5 Responsibility for Enforcement....................................................................78 Area 4: Independence and Accountability.......................................................79 4.2 Accountability for Public Resources ............................................................79 4.4 Public Education...........................................................................................90 Area 5: Public Trust and Confidence ...............................................................91 5.1 Accessibility.................................................................................................91 5.2 Expeditious, Fair, and Reliable Court Functions..........................................91 IV. Report Conclusions .............................................................................................93 V. Report Recommendations...................................................................................96 Appendices ....................................................................................................................99 Justice in the Domestic Relations Division ii Table of Contents Preface ..............................................................................................................................i Acknowledgments............................................................................................................i List of Court Observation Tables ................................................................................ix List of Court Data Tables .............................................................................................xi Executive Summary........................................................................................................1 Findings ...................................................................................................................4 Recommendations ...................................................................................................7 I. Introduction .........................................................................................................10 II. Summary of Methodologies for Research and Documentation of Consumer Experience .........................................................................................13 COURT OBSERVATION TABLE 1: Gender of litigants: protection from abuse and custody cases................................................................................14 COURT OBSERVATION TABLE 2: Race of litigants (petitioners and respondents) as compared to Philadelphia population....................................15 III. Standards and Findings ......................................................................................17 Area 1: Access to Justice.............................................................................................18 1.1 Public Proceedings...............................................................................................18 A. Background and Research .....................................................................................18 1. Access Allowed ...............................................................................................20 2. Access Denied .................................................................................................21 B. Information and Data Collected ............................................................................22 1. Narratives by WLP Telephone Counselors and Court Observers ...................22 2. Survey of WLP Telephone
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