A 310-page manual, Security for Court Interpreters (2006), addresses a wide range of dangers, from assaults to natural disasters. It is aimed at interpreters (it was presented at the conference of the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators in May), but the explanations of security measures are equally applicable to most people who work in courthouses.
Local note: under the heading "Earthquake Risks Are Real" there are two pictures from the King County Courthouse following the Nisqually Earthquake of 2001 (pp. 261-62). Now I remember why the courthouse needed extensive renovations and seismic retrofitting...
A couple of interesting pieces from the manual's bibliography:
- Anthony J. Sebok, Does a State Have a Duty to Protect a Woman from an Ex-Husband with a Violent History, When They Meet in Court?, Findlaw, June 3, 2002 (discussing a California Supreme Court case that answered "no," under landlord liability theories, and proposing that states take responsibility for courthouse safety, perhaps via a new statute).
- Stephen Kelson, An Increasingly Violent Profession, Utah St. B.J., March 2001. The author surveyed lawyers in Davis County, Utah, to find out the prevalence of threats, assaults, etc. He also presents data about the number of weapons court security collects at entrances.
No comments:
Post a Comment