Philadelphia Municipal Court's Treatment Court has been selected by the National Drug Court Institute in conjunction with the Bureau of Justice as one of ten national mentor courts to serve as models for other jurisdictions.

There is agreement among Governor Rendell, Mayor Nutter, Chief Justice Castille, the leaders of the Philadelphia Courts, the private bar and advocacy groups that Philadelphia needs a new, unified Family Court building to replace the two old, outdated facilities that have too long been used for very important legal proceedings involving families and children.

Philadelphia’s Veterans Court, established in March of this year, is up and running every Wednesday at the Criminal Justice Center. Similar to other diversionary and specialty courts, such as drug abuse or mental health court, the program is designed to accelerate the legal process, provide necessary assistance to offenders, and avoid jail time.

Tomorrow Philadelphia celebrates its 11th annual Juror Appreciation Day at the Criminal Justice Center. The program was coordinated by a partnership between the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas and Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts to recognize the importance of jury service and to honor the citizens who serve.

Last week Senator Stewart J. Greenleaf, along with eight other senators, proposed a resolution that would create an advisory panel to investigate Philadelphia’s criminal courts and put forth recommendations for improvement.

Chief Justice Ronald Castille has issued the fifth State of the Commonwealth's Courts report.  The press release announcing the report is available here, and the report itself is

This pro merit selection editorial from the Herald-Standard was brought to our attention by Representative Matt Smith, D-Mt. Lebanon.

The hearing was in part a response to the recent Philadelphia Inquirer series that decried, among other issues, the system’s low conviction rates and problems with witness intimidation. While not everyone agreed with all of the Inquirer’s conclusions, there has been a collaborative movement to re-examine the court system in hopes of improving it.
 

This morning at 9:30 PMC Executive Director Lynn Marks will appear on WITF’s Smart Talk (89.5 and 93.33 FM Harrisburg) to discuss Merit Selection and the Governor’s call for the legislature to move the legislation.

Yesterday’s call by Governor Rendell for the legislature to pass the pending Merit Selection bills has got Pennsylvania talking.  An editorial in the Philadelphia Daily News shares the Governor’s sense of urgency to pass the legislation and argues: “Imagine if judge