User-Friendly Justice: Making Courts More Accessible, Easier to Understand, and Simpler to Use

• NCJ Number: 182354
• Author(s): Jona Goldschmidt; Ira Pilchen
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 72 pages
• Corporate Author: American Judicature Soc
• Sale Source: American Judicature Soc
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Report (Technical Assistance)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This report presents suggestions for improving general service delivery in courthouses at minimal cost and with limited effort, based on citizens’ reports on improving the courts and suggestions from judges, attorneys, court personnel, and court users.

Abstract

The report is grouped by type of users, based on the principle that providing good service requires recognition that the public consists of individuals with different needs. The manual lists and explains suggestions for signs, an information desk, name tags, a well-publicized mission statement, an annual report, a telephone book listing, courthouse maps, calendars, parking, a flyer describing parking and public transportation, and a photocopy service. Other suggestions include allowing fine payment by credit card, separate service windows for special services, security audits, posting of procedures for handling medical emergencies, and adequate courtroom acoustics. Further sections include suggestions to improve service to litigants; victims, witnesses, and children; and jurors. Further sections focus on the management of user-friendly courts and issues for judges to consider. Photographs, illustrations, resources lists, and contact information