DOJ awards NCSC over $5.2 million to assist states with treatment courts, domestic violence protection
October 11, 2023 -- Over the next three years, NCSC will assist states with developing adult treatment courts and improving processes for domestic violence and protection order cases with more than $5.2 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and Office on Violence Against Women (OVW).
“This important funding from the Department of Justice will allow NCSC to build statewide treatment court capacity in order to help more Americans find the treatment options they need,” said NCSC President Mary McQueen. “The awards also support NCSC’s work in assisting courts with domestic violence and protection order cases as they work toward data standardization, improved case management, and the integration of virtual processes.”
Treatment Courts
BJA has awarded $3.4 million to NCSC to establish performance standards for statewide treatment courts, implement fidelity assessment processes, develop statewide training programs for treatment court teams, engage in statewide strategic planning, implement evidence-based practices, support statewide data collection and evaluation efforts, and build statewide treatment court capacity. Work under the BJA grant began Oct. 1 and will run through Sept. 30, 2025.
Domestic Violence and Protection Order Cases
A $1.4 million award from OVW will allow NCSC to provide technical assistance to implement the Ensuring Safety and Access in Virtual Civil Protection Order Processes Project. The goal of the project is to improve survivors’ safety and access in virtual civil protection order processes by establishing a learning collaborative of experts, mentor courts, and learner courts while also sharing lessons learned with the national court community. The project will identify and pilot best practices in virtual civil protection order processes and disseminate lessons learned to national court and related stakeholders. Work under this grant began Oct. 1 and will run through Sept. 30, 2025.
A second award from OVW provides funding to evaluate data capacity and quality of court case management in domestic violence and protection order cases. NCSC will conduct data assessments, site visits, stakeholder interviews, and consultations with a survivor advisory board to develop improved data structure, evaluate current case management practices, and identify and pilot key case management processes that improve the handling of domestic violence cases. Work under this $449,880 grant award will begin Nov. 1 and run through Sept. 26, 2026.
New NCSC resource tracks courts on social media
NCSC's directory of state court social media accounts has been transformed into an easy-to-understand data visualization that currently tracks 47 states. Users can see which state courts are on social media while also filtering linked results by platform (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and others). If your court's social media presence is missing or needs updating, contact us at socialmedia@ncsc.org.