July 22, 2020 - Bulletin No. 13
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Prosecutors' offices and court systems across the nation are being impacted by COVID-19. Their daily work to maintain constitutional justice is being uprooted, altered, and halted. CNA and NDAA have partnered to actively develop and disseminate useful COVID-19 response resources to prosecutors and courts to support them during this trying time. This weekly bulletin shares helpful information and resources, as well as upcoming virtual networking events.
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Registration Now Available
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Criminal Jury Trials During COVID-19: Prosecution Leadership for a New Era
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Please join us for a webinar, in partnership with AEquitas, on
Wednesday, August 19, 2020 from 2:00-3:30 PM EDT on:
- Strategies for triaging delayed cases
- Considerations of constitutional rights, including the sixth amendment rights to a speedy, public trial and to confrontation, and the first amendment freedom of the press
- The use of juror questionnaires as a way to minimize potential exposure to COVID-19 during jury selection
- Methods for adapting prosecution strategies to virtual platforms
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“Criminal justice in a Time of Pandemic” By David W. Austin and Mark E. Wojcik
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Criminal justice practitioners aim to understand the effects that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on various aspects of the criminal justice system. This chapter in the recently released annual publication
The State of Criminal Justice
, from the American Bar Association's Criminal Justice Section provides information and background on crime rates, constitutional issues, incarceration, and more.
Access the document
here
.
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David W. Austin is a professor at California Western School of Law in San Diego. Mark E. Wojcik is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) John Marshall Law School and has served as editor of
The State of Criminal Justice
each year since.
Published June 2020 in
The State of Criminal Justice 2020
. © 2020 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. Visit
www.ambar.org/cjsbooks
for more information.
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First, Do No Harm - Trauma-Informed Interviewing During the COVID-19 Pandemic
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On T
uesday, June 30, 2020, we hosted a webinar featuring featuring Patti Powers and Jon Kurland, AEquitas Attorney Advisors.
The panelists discussed:
- Limitations of a traditional fact-gathering approach
- Alternative techniques to minimize victim re-traumatization
- Re-creating the reality of the crime at trial
- Strategies for integrating a trauma-informed response throughout an entire case
Access the webinar recording
here
.
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Court News & Innovative Responses
Knox County, Tennessee
Knox County Criminal Court will hold their first jury trial since the Tennessee Supreme Court lifted its COVID-19 related suspension of the proceedings, despite objections from the Public Defenders Office. For m
ore information, click
here
.
San Mateo County, California
Just five weeks after resuming jury trials, the Presiding Superior Court Judge ordered jury trials suspended until August 17th after an employee tested positive for COVID-19 during jury selection. For more information, click
here
.
Omaha, Nebraska
A Douglas County District Judge declared a mistrial and re-scheduled a double murder trial after the suspect’s sister, who was in attendance, tested positive for COVID-19. For more information,
click
here
.
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Help Us Help You
Please take a moment to take this quick survey, so we can be sure that we continue to address the topics that matter to you.
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What is your current top concern regarding COVID-19 and the court system?
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Recruitment and Retention
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If you have a concern not addressed above or would like to expand upon your response, please use this
link
to do so.
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We want to hear from you! If you would like to submit questions or have other concerns, please email us at
covid19_courts@cna.org
.
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COVID-19-related news articles and resources, and past bulletins will be posted on the
NDAA website
. Continue to check the website for updated information.
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