Executive Sessions for State Court Leaders Project

The Edward Byrne Memorial Discretionary Grants Program, administered by the Office of Justice Programs' (OJP's) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), furthers the Department's mission by assisting state and local jurisdictions in improving the criminal justice system and assisting communities in preventing drug abuse and crime. In fiscal year 2007, the Edward Byrne Memorial Discretionary Grants Program will focus on funding local, regional, and national efforts within six major categories: 1) targeting violent crime; 2) preventing crime and drug abuse; 3) enhancing local law enforcement; 4) enhancing local courts; 5) enhancing local corrections and offender reentry; and 6) facilitating justice information sharing. All categories combat, address, or otherwise respond to precipitous or extraordinary increases in crime, or in a type or types of crime.

The National Center for State Courts (NCSC), in conjunction with Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government (KSG), the Conference of Chief Justices, and the Conference of State Court Administrators will construct a forum where a select group of emerging and influential state judicial leaders will engage with pre-eminent academics and practitioners to think expansively about the role of state courts in the 21st Century and develop a framework for setting priorities. NCSC will convene executive sessions of state court leaders, lawyers, prosecutors, local and state policy makers, practitioners and academics to search together for plausibly effective answers to the questions that will face the state courts in the foreseeable future. They will embark upon an intensive and provocative exploration of the challenges facing America's state courts and how they can be addressed. They will support the planning, execution, and follow-up activities for six executive sessions, which will be conducted two or three times a year at KSG in Boston, Massachusetts. The Executive Session model provides practitioners and academics with an opportunity to consider problems and to identify a national agenda for courts.

CA/NCF