Equity in courts improved, but more left to do, NYCBA says
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The NYCBA released a report last week on the status of the court system’s efforts to reduce instances of racial and other bias in courthouses throughout the state. File photo by Upstatenyer/Wikimedia Commons
By Ryan Schwach
The New York City Bar Association released a report last week assessing the court’s efforts in its Equal Justice Initiatives, detailing recommendations for the state courts to continue working to eliminate racial bias.
The report is the product of the NYCBA’s working group, made of jurists and attorneys, and suggests that although strides have been made, the New York courts have more work to do in ensuring equality and improving litigants’ experiences in the court system.
“This year marks three years since COVID-19 first darkened our doors; three years since the murder of George Floyd and widespread protests demanding racial justice and an end to police violence against people of color; three years since the release of a seminal report commissioned by former Chief Judge Janet DiFiore…and three years since a presidential election that brought unprecedented threats to the rule of law and electoral safeguards, culminating in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol,” NYCBA President Susan J. Kohlman wrote in the report’s introduction.
That “seminal report,” the Jeh Johnson report which laid out shortcomings in the court’s approach to equity, has served as the court system’s north star when it comes to addressing equity issues over the past several years. The court system has already made efforts to improve the situation by institution bias training, increased community outreach and education, as well as better coordination of their efforts state wide.
“I feel delighted, thrilled, I am over the top pleased with the work that we are doing,” Judge Edwina Richardson-Mendelson, the deputy chief administrative judge for Social Justice Initiatives who oversees that work, told the Eagle in April. “When we think of where we started in 2020, when we first received Secretary Johnson's report, to where we are today, through the pandemic, and difficult times and seasons of transition in our courts.”
NYCBA’s report both recognizes those efforts, and suggests ways that the court’s could improve further.
“While acknowledging where progress has been made, including, for example, court-wide anti-bias training for all personnel and a new juror video addressing implicit bias, the report details areas where further progress, collaboration and transparency would be beneficial,” wrote Kohlman.
NYCBA says the main work could be done in relation to transparency and communication from the courts.
Their two main ways of improving those aspects are creating a survey for litigants on their court experience, and establishing an independent monitor over the work, as well as increased resources.
An independent monitor was something originally suggested in Johnson’s report, and a recommendation the court took up – currently, Retired New York Court of Appeals Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick holds the position.
However, NYCBA questions that appointment, and suggests the independent monitor be even more independent.
“At this juncture, it is not entirely clear to whom — if anyone — the Independent Monitor reports, or if the Independent Monitor must be responsive to the legislature, the Chief Judge, the Williams Commission, or a third party outside of the court system,” the report read. “The Working Group notes that vesting the role of an Independent Monitor in a former member of the Court of Appeals arguably creates the appearance of a lack of independence and bias favoring the court system. We therefore suggest that the Independent Monitor be someone with no ties to the court system.”
The report also makes the suggestion that although strides have been made, there is no way of knowing if that work has made its way into the experience of litigants who enter the court.
“We have not seen the experience of litigants change in a measurable way in the courts,” said Ronald Richter, a former Queens Family Court judge and member of the working group. “This report confirms that.”
Judge Edwina Richardson-Mendelson, the deputy chief administrative judge for Social Justice Initiatives, oversees the state’s racial justice work. Photo via NYS Courts
Richter and the report recommend the establishment of a survey for litigants who enter the state courts.
“Unless you're aggressively collecting the information, and sharing it so that others can also respond, then you're kind of working in a vacuum,” he told the Eagle.
“There's a question about the degree to which [litigants] have been treated unfairly and whether it's similar to other litigants,” he added. “If you were actively collecting feedback, you would know that part X in this courthouse persistently has complaints.”
“In other words, is the court system customer friendly? And do people feel welcome there? Or are they just really afraid when they go into the court systems,” Richter added.
The Working Group suggests that a litigant survey be conducted on at least an yearly basis, with feedback analyzed by a third party and anonymous results broken down by borough, court type and case type, and made public.
“I and other court leaders who are working to promote equal justice for our courts and community have met with the drafters of the City bar report on several occasions,” Judge Edwina G. Richardson-Mendelson, who oversees the court’s equal justice work, said in response to the report.
“We very much look forward to working together with them going forward to meet our shared goals,” she added. “Please know that we are quite heartened that the report acknowledges the many successful endeavors we have engaged in to promote equal justice for all.”
