CourtWatch, a court monitoring program with the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center (KCSARC), is looking for students to volunteer/intern
About KCSARC: Founded in 1976, KCSARC has grown to be the largest sexual assault victim’s service organization in the Pacific Northwest. Our purpose is to alleviate, as much as possible, the trauma of sexual assault for victims and their families. In addition to our CourtWatch program, we offer comprehensive services to meet our clients’ needs including: legal advocacy, therapy, a 24-hour resource line, and parent education.
What is Court monitoring? Court monitoring is the process of gathering information about the courts through observation and research. CourtWatch monitors will observe primarily sexual offense cases filed in King County Superior Court and complete targeted questionnaires so that the information can be used to track individual cases and patterns of behavior. Based on monitors’ observations, KCSARC will follow up with justice system personnel to reinforce positive trends, and to recommend improvements that will make the justice system more responsive to victims of sexual violence.
Location: Volunteers/interns will observe court proceedings at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent and/or the King County Courthouse in Seattle, and will be required to provide their own transportation to and from court. Applicants can indicate a location preference on their applications.
Time Commitment: One monitoring shift lasts approximately 3.5 hours. Volunteers are expected to make a minimum six-month commitment to volunteer for one shift per month. Volunteers may commit to monitor for less than six months (e.g. semester or quarter) if they will be receiving academic credit; however, those volunteers will be expected to volunteer for at least one shift per week.
Applicants who are selected are also expected to attend the all-day CourtWatch orientation.
Who should apply? This is a great opportunity for students interested in criminal law, sociology, political science, human rights, sexual violence issues, or for those who want increased exposure to the courts.
Application process: Visit http://www.kcsarc.org/courtwatch to obtain more information. You may contact courtwatch@kcsarc.org to request an application.
