New Hampshire’s Judicial Branch is trying to learn more about people’s experiences with the court system through a series of public listening sessions around the state.
Judicial officials announced that initiative last year, the goal of which is to make sure they’re living up to their obligation to treat everyone equally under the law and make the state’s courts more inclusive.
Judge David Ruoff, who helps lead the court system's diversity and inclusion efforts, said judges want to know if members of the public feel they’re being treated fairly, especially people of color and other historically marginalized groups. That way, judges can learn from it and improve.
“In New Hampshire, it's not a very diverse community,” Ruoff said. “It's not a very diverse bench. It's easy for us to just kind of think back and say, ‘Oh, we must be fair because I feel like we're being fair.’ But, we don't know if that's true.”
Ruoff said working on this initiative has already shaped his own thinking on topics like race and gender.
“I've always considered myself – they say the old word was ‘colorblind’ – but I realize now that that's just shorthand for saying, ‘I don't want to talk about it,’ ” Ruoff said.
The next listening session is 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Nashua Public Library, following similar events in Manchester and Berlin. People can request interpreters or Americans With Disabilities Act accommodations by emailing DiversityInfo@courts.state.nh.us.
