About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

10 Third Branch 1 (1978)

handle is hein.journals/thirdbran10 and id is 1 raw text is: Do|ley Madison House, 1520 H Street, N.W., Washington, D C 20005 letin of the Federal Courts VOL. 10 No. 1 Published by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts and the Federal Judlcial Center JANUARY, 1978 NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE PROPOSALS ANALYZED Recent months have seen renewed interest In creation of a federal agency called a National Institute of Justice. Proposals for an NIJ, although they use the same title, vary greatly among themselves as to the organization and functions of such an Institute. What follows is a summary of the major proposals. Although none of them seems to contemplate replacing the Federal Judicial Center or the Administrative Office, an NIJ might well affect the administration of justice in the federal courts. Some of the major questions to be resolved are: (1) Should an NIJ be a component of an existing agency or be autonomous? (2) Should it consolidate some or all existing justice agencies? (The President's Reorganization Project has identified 16 justice research centers within the Executive Branch.) (3) Should it award action funds to state and local agencies? Conduct research? Gather and maintain justice statistics? 4) Should its research be civil and criminal? Should research be on the basic causes of behavior and/or applied research on the efficacy of proposed soilutions? Iow independent should be the administration of the research program? The discussion below does not review all NIJ proposals, The President's Reorganiza- tion Project may recommend some form of NJJ. The Reorganization Project has written to all federal judges soliciting their views on Federal justice system improvement activities. PROBATION OFFICERS TO STUDY BRITISH METHODS Nine probation officers from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wili spend 30 days each in London observing the activities of their British counterparts. The program was arranged by the District of Columbia Probation Office with the Inner London Probation and Aftercare Service. The first three probation officers will leave on February 20 and remain in London for a month. While there, they will be attached to a particular region within London and the regional officer on the London staff will be responsible for the general oversight of their activities. Each officer will maintain a log of his activities so that a report can be prepared for the use of the Probation Divison of (See PROBATION page 4) REPORT OF FALL MEETiNG OF JUDICIAL CONFERENCE ISSUED The Report of the Proceedings of the Judicial Conference of the U.S. which were held in mid-September, 1977 was recently published. Here are some of the more significant actions of the Judicial Conference. [A complete report is available from the Federal Judicial Center information Service.] The Report of the Director of the Administrative Office of U.S, Courts revealed that during the past year, filings rose in the courts of appeals. In the year ending June30 new case filings rose over the prior year by 3.9 percent. The new filings were 63.9 percent greater than in 1970. In the district courts new case filings in civil litigation remained relatively stationary. There were fewer prisoner suits, a substantial decrease in petitions for black lung benefits, land condemnation and ICC regulation cases while increases were noted in civil rights filings, copyright, patent and trademark suits and in the foreclosure of federally mortgaged property. The number of felony and misdemeanor cases in the district courts dropped by more than eight percent during 1977. There was a marked decrease in the number of robbery and (See CONFERENCE, page 6) (See NIJ, page 2)

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most