AWARE Courts: A Plan for Analysis, Warning, Action, Recovery, and Engagement
The AWARE Courts Project
The AWARE Courts Project was designed to support juvenile and family court systems around the country prevent, anticipate, respond to, and mitigate against violence in their courthouses. The NCJFCJ can help court leadership teams develop collaborative plans so that courthouse violence (and threats) are met by trained, communicative, prepared court teams.
AWARE Courts can help you to build the capacity of your court to:
- Understand elements of effective planning for and response to dangerous incidents in your court;
- Analyze your readiness and capacity to respond to domestic violence related dangerous incidents; and
- Consistently apply policies, practices and procedures aimed at improving court/system readiness and response to threats.
Currently, the NCJFCJ offers AWARE Courts training in two ways:
AWARE Courts: A Plan for Analysis, Warning, Action, Recovery, and Engagement Multidisciplinary Training
TBD (February 2027)
Reno, NV
View Course Catalog
Reno, NV
AWARE Courts: A Plan for Analysis, Warning, Action, Recovery, and Engagement
Tailored, Court-Specific Training and Planning
For more information, contact Eryn Branch at ebranch@ncjfcj.org
Contact Eryn
For more information, contact Eryn Branch at ebranch@ncjfcj.org
Project Goal
As a result of the AWARE Courts Project, juvenile and family court systems around the country will anticipate dangerous incidents in their courts and respond in a manner that mitigates these tragedies.
Court staff will have the knowledge, skills, and resources to anticipate and prevent many domestic violence-related threats in their courts, respond quickly and safely to these emergencies when they take place, and recover from violence in their courts with trauma-informed healing strategies for the court and the community.
AWARE Court Guiding Principles
Juvenile and family court-centered collaboratives will effectively address security risks and harm posed to courts and communities by violent litigants when they:
- Proactively collaborate with key stakeholders, including representatives of those who have direct contact with litigants at the courthouse and in the course of their family law cases, as well as those who are responsible for safety of the court and its people, to coordinate safety protocols and prioritize safe access to justice.
- When crafting strategies, practices, and policies to ensure safe access to justice, consider the history of litigants’ and the public’s experiences with and trust in the justice system, including intersectional oppression and the availability of full, safe access for those who have been traditionally underserved or harmed by the courts.
- Think systemically and operationalize safety protocols, including stakeholder education, risk assessment, risk reduction, and communication.
- Introduce and practice safety protocols consistently, beginning before a security incident occurs and continuing in the aftermath, revising and refining protocols according to lessons from any such incidents.
- Promote gathering of data on safety threats and the cases in which they arise to inform development and refinement of protocols for risk assessment, risk reduction, safety, and response.
- Approach systems improvement informed by the impact of trauma on families and the impact of trauma on court staff, taking appropriate steps to avoid or mitigate retraumatization and linking to helpful resources.
- Respect the expertise, limitations, and opportunities inherent to the role of various stakeholders and seek to support their leadership and identify who holds decision-making authority.
AWARE Courts evolved from an earlier project, generously funded by the State Justice Institute, called DV AWARE, which focused on the threats posed by individuals who also used violence in their families. To learn more about DV AWARE, and to see the tools and resources developed under that project, you can click below.
Learn more about DV AWARE