Court Monitoring Makes a Difference

Since 1993, WATCH has trained 760 volunteers who have donated

32,000 hours and monitored over 61,000 hearings.

 

WATCH’s mission is to make the justice system more effective and responsive in handling cases of violence against women and children, and to create a more informed and involved public.

Every day trained WATCH volunteers observe court and report on what they see. WATCH follows up with court staff and committees to recommend improvements. Our experience shows that when the public is present in court, everyone does a better job.

• WATCH was founded in 1992 in Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Trained WATCH volunteers monitor over 5,000 hearings each year in several Hennepin County courts
• Court personnel and advocates for women agree that public scrutiny of the courts leads to improvements
• WATCH trains court monitoring groups cross the U. S. with manuals, site visits, and web-based training

WATCH is committed to ending racial, cultural, and gender bias in the courts and to reflecting that commitment at all levels of our organization.

 

 

Click on link below to join our July 20th webinar:

Monitoring Sexual Assault Cases

July 20th from 11:30-12:30pm (CST)

System Accountability for Sexual Assault Cases

Special Guest:
Attorney Laura Jones, CourtWatch Manager
King County Sexual Assault Resource Center in Seattle, WA

 

Through monitoring, research, and feedback, court watch programs promote system accountability by examining and reporting on court procedures, policies, and practices. But with so few cases of sexual violence getting reported to the police and even fewer going to trial, how can court monitoring help? This one-hour presentation will provide an overview of court monitoring and address ways sexual assault programs and advocates can highlight flaws in the system and advocate for change. Special guest Laura Jones will discuss her programs project using court monitors to examine their Sexual Assault Protection Order process.