The Improvement of the Administration of Justice, Eighth Edition is divided into six sections: The Judicial System, Judicial Officers, Court Operations, Case Presentation, Specialized Courts, and Serving the Community. While these topics could be seen as being broad, with each of section being  a volume of its own, the new edition brings the focus back to the administration of justice and how it can be improved.

The first section of the book gives an overview of the system focusing on the importance of judicial independence; exploring how the courts can and should improve their governance; and the roles of courts, judges, and bar leaders in the improvement of the administration of justice. It closes with a look at the funding sources for courts and how they can be sustained. The second section looks at judges, focusing on their ethical responsibility and how they are evaluated, educated, and selected. It also takes a look at magistrates and other types of appointed officers and their unique role. The third section is truly the meat of the book and attempts to cover every aspect of the operational side of courts. The fourth section focuses on what goes on in the courtroom and addresses issues such as the growth in self-represented litigants, e-discovery, the judge’s role in the admission of scientific evidence, jury trials, sentencing, and the importance of civility. Section five gives an overview of a number of different types of court. Every court does something unique and may provide insight on new ways of handling cases that can be borrowed by other courts. The final section is on serving the community—how we reach out and communicate and how we deal with the people we are serving through community correction and evaluations and treatment.

The court system is going through a time of immense change. It has only recently emerged from a period of devastating budget cuts and underfunding brought on by the Great Recession. It is almost axiomatic that when court funding is being cut, there is so much turmoil within society that the workload of the courts increases. This is what most courts experienced. It creates more pressure on the courts to operate as efficiently and as effectively as possible, even when their staff is cut and their doors are even shuttered. Many of those lessons are incorporated in this volume.

The hope is that this book will continue to be a resource for judges, court administrators, lawyers, and others interested in the improvement of our justice system.