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Church Women United

In Rochester & Vicinity, Inc.

"Celebrating 88 years of Ecumenical Prayer and Service"

Come Help Us Write the Next Chapter...


Task Force on Courts

Join us for a Meeting
Meets on the 2nd Thursday of the month from 1-2:30 at Third Presbyterian Church on the corner of East and Meigs St.

Mission
TFOC was formed by Church Women United in 1970 to provide a court observer program of citizen presence in the courts. Objectives, then as now, include the following:

    Courts
  1. To provide a presence in the courtroom;
  2. To evaluate the judicial process;
  3. To conduct research;
  4. To press for reform;
  5. To raise the conscience of the community.

Click here for a longer history of Task Force on Courts.


Current Activities Observers are trained to monitor all the New York State courts in Monroe County using two-page forms that we developed for the Rochester City Court, Monroe County Court and Family Courts and the twenty-two courts in the towns and villages.

The observations from these completed forms are combined into a newsletter, which is sent about 5 times a year to all judges, and some court personnel, as well as town supervisors and other city, county and state officials and the media, about 450 mailings in all.

Members observe according to their own availability. We meet monthly as a group to discuss issues related to the courts. Occasionally we have speakers from the court system or related organizations.


Accomplishments Over the years, we have helped make many changes in Monroe County Courts, including opening up Family Court, facility changes in central and local courts and changes in procedures in the courts. We can’t, ourselves, make the changes, but we provide a mirror from which court personnel-including the Judiciary, District Attorneys, Public Defenders, Court Security and others-may examine themselves and address and resolve raised issues.

Some of the changes include:

  1. the hiring of part-time justices to help one town court catch up on their huge backlog of trials;
  2. the installation of better sound systems;
  3. the upgrade of a noisy air conditioning system;
  4. the elimination of plea downs to littering from speeding in one town court;
  5. many reports in cooperation with the Fund for Modern Courts, with recommendations for improvements in personnel, physical facilities and general court proceedings.
For the protection of the public, it is important for the courts to have a group outside of the system report on what is going on in the courts. One official made the statement several years ago, "I think Monroe County Courts are as good as they are because you have been nagging us for thirty years."

To keep up with this nagging, we need your help to go into the courts to observe procedings.
Church Women United is a racially, culturally, theologically inclusive Christian Women’s Movement, celebrating unity in diversity and working for a world of peace and justice.

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