Improvements Through Citizen Committees and Lawyer-Lay Organizations (From Improvements of the Administration of Justice, P 333-341, 1981, Fannie J Klein, ed. - See NCJ-93134)

• NCJ Number: 93149
• Author(s): F Schair
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 9 pages
• Sale Source: American Bar Association
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Citizen committees which have both lawyers and laypersons in their membership can perform many functions to promote the improvement of the justice system.

Abstract

The main benefit of such committees is their ability to combine the perspectives of the provider and the consumer to work in a cooperative manner on a variety of tasks. The committees combine these perspectives to increase accurate and objective perception of problems, to plan and conduct useful studies and to accomplish the fundraising and public relations efforts which are often associated with successful campaigns to bring about reform. Committee projects which are growing in popularity are court monitoring efforts; the provision of information services to those who come into courthouses; surveys of physical facilities; dispute settlement projects involving mediation; arbitration, and other forms of conflict resolution; and the provision of advisory committees. To be effective, these committees usually require some staff support as well as dedicated volunteers. The most important factor, however, is the cooperative participation of both lawyers and laypersons. An annotated bibliography lists 11 references.