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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)

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