Award Abstract #2028981
RAPID: Procedural Changes in State Courts During COVID-19

NSF Org:	SES Divn Of Social and Economic Sciences
Initial Amendment Date:	April 21, 2020
Latest Amendment Date:	April 21, 2020
Award Number:	2028981
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Mark Hurwitz SES Divn Of Social and Economic Sciences SBE Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie
Start Date:	April 15, 2020
End Date:	March 31, 2021 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$34,712.00
Investigator(s):	Alyx Mark amark@wesleyan.edu (Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	Wesleyan University 237 HIGH ST Middletown, CT 06459-3208 (860)685-3683
NSF Program(s):	Law & Science
Program Reference Code(s):	096Z, 7914, 9178
Program Element Code(s):	128Y

ABSTRACT

State courts are rapidly changing their operating procedures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As courthouses close their doors to the public, judges, administrators, and staff are developing and implementing policies that are responsive to the needs of people who otherwise would rely on in-person court processes for remedies to their civil legal problems. The COVID-19 pandemic provides a unique opportunity to study the generation and consequences of massive change and innovation to court policies and procedures across the United States. This RAPID project will investigate the processes underlying the development of these major institutional changes as state courts respond to the challenges of remote operations during COVID-19, how the various changes are implemented, and the effect of these changes on access to justice for state court consumer populations.

By taking advantage of the unique circumstance of forced innovation during COVID-19, the project will examine the procedural changes state courts craft in their move to remote operations. Employing a mixed-method approach, the research will catalogue the rapidly evolving COVID-19 responses in the states. The project will include surveys and interviews of court administrators, judges, and staff about their involvement in the changes and their attitudes about institutional design and implementation. Further, the project will analyze how these changes influence outcomes and processes on state court staff and consumers. By testing theories of institutional arrangements and design, findings from the project will provide an understanding of the external and internal forces that drive institutional change, how policies disperse and replicate across states, and the consequences of institutional design and changes thereto for access to justice during COVID-19.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

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