Public Notice Detail

ST. PAUL, MN (March 22, 2004) – The Minnesota State Judicial Branch has issued its annual report for 2003 on-line at www.courts.state.mn.us.  The report to the community highlights ways in which courts throughout the state have improved citizens’ access to justice while more efficiently and effectively resolving the disputes brought to its courthouses.

The report focuses primarily on accomplishments in four strategic areas: access to justice, better information systems to enhance effectiveness and accountability, children and families, and increased public trust and confidence in the judiciary.  It also focuses on ways in which the courts have become more effective by addressing the problems that lead people to court.  Among the milestones are:

• Launching the Minnesota Court Information System (MNCIS) in three counties and preparing to implement the system statewide.  MNCIS will link court records across the state, improving information sharing among courts and law enforcement agencies.
• Seeing concrete results from the work of the Children’s Justice Initiative, the country’s first statewide reform of the child protection system.
• Continuing the transformation of the Judicial Branch with the transfer of the Second (Ramsey County) and Fourth (Hennepin County) judicial districts from county to state funding.
• Studying ways in which the judiciary can continue to erase racial disparities in the court system.

“We do not intend to rest on these accomplishments,” said Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Kathleen A. Blatz.  “The Judicial Branch continues to search for new opportunities to better serve the public, more effectively target the problems that bring people into court in the first place, and use our budget as efficiently as ever.  We will continue to strive for a justice system that meets the highest standards of fairness and accountability, and that provides access to justice for all Minnesotans.”

About the Minnesota Judiciary

The Minnesota State Judicial Branch is made up of the Supreme Court, which oversees the administration of the courts, the Court of Appeals and District Courts, which are organized within 10 state judicial districts.  Along with court personnel, the state’s 274 district court judges, 16 Court of Appeals judges, and seven Supreme Court justices handle nearly 2 million case filings per year.