New Paradigm for Fairness: The First National Conference on Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts

• NCJ Number: 173762
• Author(s): H C Grandy
• Editor(s): D Spinozza, C Campbell
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 171 pages
• Grant Number(s): SJI-93-12A-C-B-198-P94-(1-3)
• Sponsoring Agency: State Justice Institute
• Sale Source: National Ctr for State Courts
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The first national conference on eliminating racial and ethnic bias in the courts, held in March 1995, was attended by Federal, State, and tribal court judges and by academicians, judicial educators, and citizens.

Abstract

The conference was a project of the National Center for State Courts and was funded by a grant from the State Justice Institute. Conference objectives were to change the attitudes of judicial leaders toward the existence of bias in the judicial system; to present an analytical framework for understanding how personal, institutional, and systemic racial and ethnic biases operate in the judicial environment; to assess policy and management implications of the existence and the elimination of bias; to identify successful measures taken to eliminate bias from courts; and to encourage judicial officials to prevent racial and ethnic bias in their systems. Major conference themes concerned the responsibility of courts and judicial system personnel to be fair and the need for courts to take affirmative steps to eliminate racial and ethnic bias. Other significant conference themes focused on the role of the community in addressing court access and fairness issues, research, the presence of people of color on the bench and in the judicial work force, training, court interpretation, the criminal justice process, women of color, tribal courts, jury administration, juveniles, implementation, and access. Biographic sketches of conference participants and a participant list are appended. References