2019 State of the Court

MOCK TRIALS Since 1982, SBSC has partnered with the District Attorney’s Office and the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools to jointly host the annual Mock Trial competition for high school teams throughout San Bernardino County. In 2019, 429 students from 34 high school teams participated in the 37 th Annual Mock Trial Competition along with 120 volunteers from the legal community and judicial officers. STAND DOWN On September 27, SBSC resolved 29 misdemeanor cases at the 5 th Annual Homeless and At-Risk Veterans Stand Down event held at the March Air Force Base. The Stand Down event is a single location that homeless veterans across San Bernardino and Riverside Counties can access numerous community resources and supplies needed to begin rebuilding their lives.

Over 1,100 students, from 26 schools across the county, visited five San Bernardino court locations to engage in discussions, mock trials, courthouse tours, in addition to viewing real court proceedings. Native American students also had the opportunity to visit the San Manuel Tribal Court and compare tribal versus state court proceedings. Grade school students also participated in poster and essay contests demonstrating their understanding of the 2019 theme. SBSC is the first court in the State of California to be honored with the Best Student Program by the American Bar Association. Law Day programs have been developed and maintained by judicial fellows who are selected by the Center for California Studies at Sacramento State University and placed in court administration to gain first-hand experience in the governance and leadership of the most diverse, complex court system in the nation. COURT CLERGY Court Clergy Conferences bring together religious leaders and judicial officers for a day-long event with structured dialogue on the judicial system and available programs. Religious leaders benefit from learning more about the judicial system, specifically about criminal, juvenile, mental health and family law matters, which enables them to provide better pastoral counseling services to their congregations. On September 18, over 120 local clergy, court staff, mental health and law enforcement professional gathered for SBSC’s sixth Court Clergy Conference at the Diocesan Conference Center in San Bernardino. This conference addressed the multi-faceted nature of mental health, mental illness and included a panel discussion with clergy representatives from across San Bernardino County. Presentations were also provided from San Bernardino’s Department of Behavioral Health, Sheriff’s Department and Probation Department.

MENTAL HEALTH SYMPOSIUM

On April 16, the Inaugural Law and Justice Behavioral Health Symposium, a multi-agency collaborative event, was held to provide an opportunity to share information and address the multi-faceted nature of mental health in San Bernardino County. This educational forum was developed to foster dialogue, promote awareness of current trends and provide education on mental health, and improve access to treatment and mental health care through the dissemination of information and resources amongst agencies. Presentations included an overview from the San Bernardino Crisis and Intervention Team on mental health and co-occurring disorders, psychiatric and medications, an interactive activity on hearing voices, and a multi-agency panel discussion on conservatorship, criminal justice, and the collaborative court process.

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2019 STATE OF THE COURT