Domestic Violence: This continuing project on domestic violence issues is sponsored by the Committee Against Domestic Violence with funding from the Nevada Attorney General’s Office. The focus of this project is on the problem of serving TROs (Temporary Restraining Orders), only half of which are properly served in the state of Nevada. We are attempting to find out why this is the case, and what can be done about it. This project supports one RA at the Center. The project may be expanded into other areas of concern with domestic violence, and is leading to development of at least one other grant proposal to be submitted early this year.

K-12 Educational Outcomes: Another project within the State Department of Education supports two RAs, and focuses on issues related to retention of students, particularly minority ones. We are assisting in evaluating some of the testing used in the No Child Left Behind Federal Act, to see what impacts these test have on various populations. This project will continue through the next year at least.

NCJFCJ Study of Washington, D.C. Family Courts: One project that was completed in Fall, 2003, with the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges Permanency Planning Division involved coding and data entry for a study of the Washington. D.C. family court system.

Jury Reform in Colorado: The Center has a large data set relevant to jury reform in Colorado. It is anticipated that this data set will result in some publications and also possible future grant funding to do follow-up research on jury reform issues.

Technologies of Evidence Presentation: One Center RA, Roni Dahir, has a NSF dissertation grant which supports a study of the effects on juror decision making of modern means of evidence presentation, such as video taping and simulations. This work is nearing completion, and another grant to NSF has been submitted to continue this line of research

Science Education in Law Schools: A proposal was recently submitted to the Law School Council to fund research on the knowledge of science gained by law school students in America’s law schools. The research focuses not on students but on law school faculty and materials used in law-related courses.

Science in Courts: Some years ago the Center and the Judicial Studies program collaborated on research to study trial judge knowledge of science and evidence law dealing with scientific and other expert testimony. The study was funded by the State Justice Institute, with additional support by the Federal Judicial Center, and the National Judicial College and the NCJFCJ. An important result from this study was a ”benchbook” that is being used by judges around the world and in judicial education courses. It is available electronically from the URL: www.unr.edu/bench. We are continuing to work with this data set for further publications, and are also developing other grant proposals to continue our work in the area of science in the courts.

Judicial Performance: The Center has been working with the Judicial Studies program on a project for the American Bar Association and the National Judicial College on assessing judicial performance. The Judicial Studies program was asked by the ABA to comment on the set of guidelines published in 1985 by the ABA for assessments of judicial performance. These guidelines were prepared initially to guide assessment efforts that were being done often for political reasons. Preliminary results were presented on Feb. 7 to an ABA committee at a meeting in San Antonio

Problem-Solving Courts: This joint project with the NCJFCJ deals with assessing so-called “problem-solving” family courts in Utah. The issue is whether these courts, which are sometimes called “therapeutic courts,” function as well or better than traditional courts that operate more of an adversarial model. The Utah project is exploratory in nature, and it is anticipated that further related research will result from it.

Minority Religions and Governmental Regulation: The Center Director continues to be engaged in research on treatment of minority religions around the world, and has just published a large edited volume: Regulating Religion: Case Studies from Around the Globe (Kluwer/Plenum, 2004).