New Hampshire Superior Court Chief Justice Tina Nadeau has been selected to sit on a national panel to determine how COVID-19 is affecting the criminal justice system.
The Council on Criminal Justice on Tuesday launched the national commission to assess the impacts of COVID-19 on the criminal justice system, develop strategies to limit outbreaks, and produce a priority agenda of systemic policy changes to better balance public health and public safety.
“The coronavirus pandemic presents an unprecedented challenge to the nation’s criminal justice system,” said Nadeau. “I’m pleased to represent New Hampshire in the ongoing national effort to create evidence-based responses that will help ensure we provide fair, equitable, and safe access to the legal system during this crisis.”
The Sun asked Nadeau a series of questions in an email and she responded on Tuesday.
“Perhaps the greatest challenge is to ensure timely access to the justice system while protecting the health and safety of parties to cases, court staff, and the public,” Nadeau said.
“We have had to develop remote protocols with little notice and ambiguous timelines and be ready to adapt and change those as the pandemic unfolds. We’ve also needed to engage stakeholders in the legal community as well as public health experts to help to mitigate health risks and ensure all aspects of this complex process meet statutory requirements. Finally, we’re working very carefully to ensure jurors can serve confidently as the grand and petit trials resume in August.”
Asked what have been the most important practices that the New Hampshire courts have implemented, Nadeau said: “Remote technology, such as telephonic and Webex video conferencing, has been widely adopted for many kinds of court proceedings and has allowed us to move many cases forward.
“Since the Superior Courts are fully electronic, we continue to accept pleadings electronically, send out notices and move cases to resolution. That being said, every court has staff and judges to handle emergency hearings in-person and some case specific non-emergency hearings that require live testimony daily.”
She said the commission’s first meeting, held virtually, was Tuesday from noon to 4 p.m. She expects that the commission will meet five or six times before it makes recommendations.
A press release Tuesday from the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice said the commission welcomes and will seek input from a wide variety of outside experts and stakeholders.
To submit written testimony, go to tinyurl.com/covidtestimony. “Opportunities to give oral testimony will be provided at a later date,” the release said.
Nadeau has been New Hampshire Superior Court’s chief justice since 2011. She was first appointed as an associate justice in 1996.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Hampshire in 1985, and she received her law degree from the University of New Hampshire School of Law in 1989. Prior to being appointed to the bench, Nadeau served as legal counsel to former governor Steve Merrill from 1992-96.
The commission is co-chaired by former U.S. attorneys general Loretta Lynch and Alberto Gonzales. The commission will also include: Charlie Beck, former chief, Los Angeles Police Department; Carmen Best, chief, Seattle Police Department; Ed Gonzalez, sheriff, Harris County (Houston); Dr. Tom Inglesby, director, Center for Health Security, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health; Eric Johnson, mayor of Dallas; Melissa Nelson, state attorney, Florida’s 4th Judicial District (Jacksonville); Pastor Michael McBride, director, Live Free; Desmond Meade, president and executive director, Florida Rights Restoration Coalition; Colette Peters, director, Oregon Department of Corrections; Steven Raphael, professor of Public Policy, UC Berkeley; and Jo-Ann Wallace, president and CEO, National Legal Aid and Defender Association.
At its opening meeting Tuesday, the commission was presented with the first in a series of reports presenting new research on COVID-19 and criminal justice. The study, by Richard Rosenfeld and Ernesto Lopez of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, examined crime trends from 27 cities leading up to the pandemic and through June. It found that:
■Property and drug crime rates fell significantly, coinciding with stay-at-home mandates and business closings. Residential burglary dropped by 20% between February and June 2020. Larceny and drug offenses decreased by 17% and 57%, respectively, between March and June 2020. These declines reflect quarantines (residential burglary), business closings (larceny), and reduced police and street activity (drug offenses).
■One exception to the drop in property crime was commercial burglary, which spiked by 200% for a single week beginning in late May before receding just as abruptly. The spike is likely associated with the property damage and looting at the start of nationwide protests following the killing of George Floyd.
■Rates of violent crime showed little change early in the pandemic but began to increase significantly in late May. Homicides (37%) and aggravated assaults (35%) rose significantly in late May and June. The increases could be tied to diminished police legitimacy in the wake of protests after Floyd’s killing.
■Robbery rose significantly – by 27% – between March and June 2020.
■Domestic violence also rose, but the increase was not significantly greater than in previous years. In addition, the finding was based on data from only 13 of the cities studied, and thus requires further examination.
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