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State of the Judiciary: Much Patience Needed in 2011 - Features/Substantive Law - The H... Page 3 of 5 16 session and did a great job in ensuring the hearing ran smoothly. Sebastian interpreted for about 15 minutes. We not only used the interpreter in an efficient matter [by using the interpreter after he finished his morning work in Hennepin], we saved about $50 in the process and avoided travel time and cost for the interpreter. Divisions and Expanding Specialty Courts Last year, Criminal Division Presiding Judge Mark Wernick explained our efforts to eliminate the criminal master calendar in favor of totally blocked criminal assignments. Ridgedale was the first court out of the gate and former Assistant Chief Judge Denise Reilly has been our lead pilot judge. She reports that more than 15,000 cases are filed in the Ridgedale court each year. These cases originate from 24 municipalities and the Lake Minnetonka Conservation District. Prior to January 2010, the Ridgedale courthouse was staffed by one -and -a -half judges each week. Starting in January 2010, that compliment was reduced to one judge per week, with the pilot staffed by four civil judges who each spend one week out of every four at Ridgedale. All new cases are blocked to one of these four judges at the arraignment stage. All stakeholders have noticed a reduction in the number of court appearances, continuances, and trial settings. This initiative has generated measurable savings for most cities, including a reduction in overtime payment for police officers who must be on call for trials. Our public defender partners have realized savings as well because they need to prepare for and try far fewer cases. Last year I alerted you to our plans for a new pilot project providing services to low-income, unmarried parents appearing on the county paternity calendar. With federal, state, and foundation funding in place to serve 300 parents per year for three years, Co -Parent Court is now operating Thursday afternoons in Judge Bruce Peterson's courtroom. The court arranges basic social services and attendance at co -parent education classes, plus provides assistance completing a tailor-made parenting plan along with the traditional functions of establishing paternity and setting child support. The project seeks to learn whether child well-being can be improved by helping unmarried parents work together and plan for the future. The University of Minnesota is conducting an evaluation using a control group to provide meaningful data on the effectiveness of this expanded approach to paternity adjudication. Because we lacked expertise and resources to implement this kind of direct service totally on our own, Co -Parent Court was developed using extensive collaboration of experienced government and community agencies --Hennepin County Child Support, the University of Minnesota Extension Service, Northpoint Health and Wellness Center, the FATHER Project, the Legal Rights Center, and the Domestic Abuse Project and other domestic violence advocates. Co -Parent Court is unique nationally, and we look forward to refining this approach and better serving these parents as evaluation results become available. Our Drug and DWI Courts are now being presided over by one judge, John Holahan. This resource consolidation has resulted in more effective case management and a better utilization of our problem -solving court resources. Judge Holahan conducts participant reviews five days a week. There are currently 130 drug court participants and 100 DWI court participants in these courts. Since January 2007, 250 people had entered the DWI Court, and 100 have graduated. Only a handful of graduates have reoffended. By any measure the program has been an outstanding success in preventing repeat drunk drivers from reoffending. We hope to include felony DWI offenders in this program in the near future. During the last year, four more police departments voluntarily joined with our first three justice partners, Minneapolis, Bloomington, and the Hennepin County Sheriff, all of whom perform unannounced home visits of their residents participating in DWI Court. We welcome the Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Plymouth, and Golden Valley police departments as our new justice partners and members of the DWI court team. During the coming years we plan to invite more police departments to join the program. On July 12, 2010, the Hennepin County Veterans Court began as another pilot project. This is an historic collaboration of our local criminal justice partners with the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The project is intended to identify criminal defendants who served in the armed forces and need medical, chemical health, and mental health services, and then connect them with needed services provided by the VA. In exchange for using these services and submitting to intensive supervision, each participant receives a more favorable disposition of the criminal case than would normally be imposed. This project is intended to stop veterans with untreated psychological war injuries from cycling through the criminal justice system. http://llcnnepin.timberlakepublishing.com/article.asp?article-1495&paper=l&cat=147 2/16/2011