Supreme Court Addresses Equality and Diversity
Issues in West Virginia’s Courts

       Charleston, W. Va. - The West Virginia Supreme Court is working to address issues of equality and diversity in West Virginia’s courts through the work of three committees.

      The Supreme Court recently created an in-house Diversity Committee to promote understanding of diversity issues among the approximately 1,200 employees of the West Virginia court system.

      Designating June as Diversity Month, the Supreme Court sponsored a luncheon on June 27 featuring foods from employees’ different cultures. About 80 Supreme Court and Kanawha County Court employees attended.

      Citizens who are concerned about over-represented racial minorities in the juvenile justice system are invited to a series of town meetings sponsored by the Supreme Court’s Task Force to Study Perceived Racial Disparity in the Juvenile Justice System.

      The town meetings will be held in various locations throughout West Virginia this fall. The next two town meetings are on September 15 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. at the Ohio County Courthouse in Wheeling and on September 16 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. at the Marion County Courthouse in Fairmont.

      The Task Force will use comments from the town meetings, along with statistics and other information, to report to the state Supreme Court. The Task Force’s goal is to encourage community discussion and create a plan to combat racial and minority disparity.

      The Committee on Equality in the West Virginia Judiciary, formerly the Gender Fairness Task Force, will meet on September 26 at the West Virginia University College of Law. At the meeting, WVU law professor Marjorie McDiarmid will present her data on the economic impact of changes in the state’s child support formula.

      For more information about these committees, please contact Supreme Court Special Projects Counsel Julie Palas at (304) 558-0145 or at juliepalas@courtswv.org.

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