Category Archives: Research and Evalation

Dashboards and Transparency in Justice

Posted on August 15, 2011 by richardzorza

The IBM Center for Business in Government has issued a report on report on Dashboards in government: In its summary: One approach the Obama administration has latched onto to make sense out of the deluge of data is the use … Continue reading →

Posted in Research and Evalation, Technology, Transparency | 2 Comments

LSC Improves Data Gathering

Posted on August 12, 2011 by richardzorza

In a move that should enhance its ability to make the case for the effectiveness and impact of its funding, LSC has announced several changes to its grantee reporting.  The highlights: Grantees will be required to report total numbers of … Continue reading →

Posted in LSC, Pro Bono, Research and Evalation, Technology | Tagged | 2 Comments

Public Defender Versus Assigned Counsel, Implications for Mixed Model Advocacy

Posted on August 1, 2011 by richardzorza

Thomas Cohen, at the NIJ Bureau of Justice Statistics, has published an interesting study on who is most effective at criminal defense. Bottom line, from the abstract: Specifically, this paper examines whether there are differences between defense counsel type and … Continue reading →

Posted in Criminal Law, Metrics, Mixed Model, Research and Evalation, Systematic Change | 1 Comment

Foundations for Effectve Innovation in the Justice System

Posted on July 29, 2011 by richardzorza

All of us interested in innovation (and I hope that means all of us) should find this paper both interesting and a useful tool to challenge our institutions to lay the foundations for enhanced innovations. Maurits Barendrecht, at Tilburg University … Continue reading →

Posted in Research and Evalation, Systematic Change | Comments Off on Foundations for Effectve Innovation in the Justice System

Study of Broad Benefits of Health Insurance for Poor

Posted on July 9, 2011 by richardzorza

Thursday’s NYT has a very important article on the broad benefits of Medicaid for the poor. What happened was this.  Oregon had some spare Medicaid money, but it was only enough for 10,000 people.  So they allocated the slots at … Continue reading →

Posted in Medical System Comparision, Research and Evalation | Tagged , | Comments Off on Study of Broad Benefits of Health Insurance for Poor

Is Reason a Tool for Winning, Rather than for Truth?

Posted on June 14, 2011 by richardzorza

This NYT article should give us all some pause.  The core idea is that reasoning developed as a tool to win arguments, rather than to get at truth.  According to this theory, you can not cure people of bias, because … Continue reading →

Posted in Research and Evalation, Science | Tagged | 1 Comment

A Way to Move Forward on Language Access — Create a Laboratory Language Access Court

Posted on June 8, 2011 by richardzorza

For many, the language access/participation issue (see here for recent blog on terminology) seems overwhelming.  While agreeing strongly with the goals, folks are anxious over the required levels of expenditures, and nervous of possible diversion of money urgently needed for … Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, LEP, Research and Evalation, Systematic Change | Tagged | 2 Comments

California Judicial Council Approves Seven Shriver Pilot Project Grants: Court Involvement, Triage and Evaluation

Posted on May 13, 2011 by richardzorza

The California Judicial Council has approved seven Shriver “civil Gideon” pilot grants (with some for two projects within the same grant).  The overall project includes required court involvement, triage, and a broad evaluation.  Note that notwithstanding media description otherwise, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Counsel, Funding, Research and Evalation | Tagged | 1 Comment

Recidivism Versus Redemption: Risk of Re-Arrest Falls Over Time, To Less Than in Overall General Population

Posted on April 29, 2011 by richardzorza

Obviously, risk of rearrest is a huge issue in terms of the steps that are considered appropriate to keep those with criminal records integrated into society.  NTY has a piece on the relative lack of rationality of many of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Criminal Law, Research and Evalation, Self-Help Services | Tagged | Comments Off on Recidivism Versus Redemption: Risk of Re-Arrest Falls Over Time, To Less Than in Overall General Population

Wayne Moore Part Two: Roles of ATJ Commissions, Pro Bono, LSC etc., and A Ten Year Vision

Posted on April 28, 2011 by richardzorza

This is Part Two of our NewsMaker Interview with Wayne Moore, author of Delivering Legal Services to Low-Income People.  Part One, here, included discussion of what Wayne has learned about how a system should be built, what components it should … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Justice Boards, Access to Justice Generally, Forms, IOLTA, Legal Aid, LSC, Metrics, Newsmaker Interview, Pro Bono, Research and Evalation, Self-Help Services, Technology, Unbundling | 2 Comments

Data, Decision-Making, and Eficiency — the Payoff Is Begining to Show and We Are Way Behind

Posted on April 26, 2011 by richardzorza

An important article in Saturday’s NYT is on the payoff from data-driven decision-making.  This is an area that has not been much studied in the past, and must be distinguished from the the different question of efficiencies from automating or … Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, Research and Evalation, Technology | Tagged , | Comments Off on Data, Decision-Making, and Eficiency — the Payoff Is Begining to Show and We Are Way Behind

Disclosing Conflicts of Interest May Not Result in More Neutral Information, or Appropriate Assessement of its Neutrality

Posted on April 23, 2011 by richardzorza

Its a truism that disclosure of conflicts of interest makes information more reliable and lets people make better judgments of its neutrality.  As this article in the NYT discusses, that may not be as true as we would like. A … Continue reading →

Posted in Judicial Ethics, Research and Evalation | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Disclosing Conflicts of Interest May Not Result in More Neutral Information, or Appropriate Assessement of its Neutrality

Court Simplification — Steps to Reduce Costs and Intrustiveness of Family Investigators — An Interesting Pioneer Step By the Colorado Supreme Court

Posted on April 22, 2011 by richardzorza

As reported by the Colorado Bar’s Legal Connection Blog, the Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice has modified, effective April 2011, the Directive on Child and Family Investigations, Chief Justice Directive 04-08. As the blog summarizes the changes they will: “Establish … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Justice Generally, Domestic Violence, Research and Evalation, Systematic Change | Tagged , | Comments Off on Court Simplification — Steps to Reduce Costs and Intrustiveness of Family Investigators — An Interesting Pioneer Step By the Colorado Supreme Court

More Thoughts on The Study on Impact of Time After Meal/Break Upon Judicial Decision

Posted on April 16, 2011 by richardzorza

A few days ago I blogged on a scary study that suggested that the big variable in decisions where judges had a lot of discretion was how long after the meal/break the case was heard.  The study found a huge … Continue reading →

Posted in Judicial Ethics, Research and Evalation, Science | Tagged , | 2 Comments

On the Predictabilty of Judicial Discretion — Implications for Judicial Education

Posted on April 11, 2011 by richardzorza

The Guardian is running a potentially very disturbing study about judicial decisions at parole hearings in Israel.  The study finds strong correlations between when in a session (relative to food breaks) a case is heard and the outcome.  The paper … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Justice Generally, Judicial Ethics, Research and Evalation | Tagged | 3 Comments