Courthouse facility dog

Courthouse facility dogs are professionally trained facility dogs that are graduates from an accredited assistance dog organization that is a member of Assistance Dogs International. They assist crime victims, witnesses and others during the investigation and prosecution of crimes as well as other legal proceedings. Courthouse facility dogs also provide assistance to Drug Court and Mental Health Court participants during their recovery from drugs, alcohol, mental illness and post-traumatic stress disorder.

In addition to the courthouse, these dogs work in child advocacy centers, district attorney offices, and law enforcement settings. The handlers of these dogs are professionals working in the legal system such as district attorneys, law enforcement officers, forensic interviewers, psychologists, social workers and victim advocates. Nonprofessional handlers are not utilized with courthouse facility dogs due to the confidential nature of some proceedings, and because the presence of lay people during the investigation of a crime and in the courtroom may create legal issues.

Typical work done by a courthouse facility and therapy dogs

• Greeting children and parents who have come into a child advocacy center to initiate investigation of child sexual abuse
• Accompanying a child (age 4 – 17) during a forensic interview, where the child explains to a trained interviewer the details of an incident of sexual abuse or a crime of violence
• Accompanying a child during the various phases of the investigation and prosecution of crime, including a defense interview, a competency hearing, and a courtroom trial
• Greeting members of the public throughout the courthouse
• Attending drug court, mental health court, and other restorative justice proceedings to provide an element of calm to people with disabilities and individuals in drug withdrawal.
• Accompanying vulnerable adult crime victims, including rape victims, developmentally delayed adults, and the elderly during court proceedings
• Providing emotional comfort to family members of homicide victims during the trial and sentencing of the offender.^[1]
• Providing a sense of normalcy during juvenile and family court proceedings.^[2]

How are courthouse facility dogs trained?

Courthouse facility dogs are usually bred, raised and trained by service dog organizations that are members of Assistance Dogs International,^[3] such as Canine Companions for Independence, Assistance Dogs of the West,^[4] and Support Dogs, Inc..

Facility dogs are not service dogs because they do not assist a person with a disability. Assistance Dogs International defines a facility dog and describes their training standards that must be maintained by their handlers who work as professionals in a specific setting.^[5]

Most of these dogs are either golden or Labrador retrievers or a combination of the two breeds. These dogs have typically spent eighteen months being raised by a volunteer puppy raiser with weekly obedience classes and had six months or more of work with a professional dog trainer. During this time the organization’s trainers carefully assess which facility assistance dogs have the best temperament to work in a courthouse environment.^[6] A successful courthouse dog will have a quiet, calm demeanor and be self-confident. The dog will also need to be adaptable, highly social and work independently with many individuals throughout a typical day and have multiple handlers. In addition to the dog’s basic training, that should involve passing a public access test, the dog should be able to tolerate people wearing a variety of clothing from all walks of life, angry people, drug abusers, children who invade boundaries, erratic behavior, and emotionally charged situations. Most importantly, the dog should know when to engage with people in public and when to become almost invisible for extended periods of time during child forensic interviews and courtroom proceedings.^[7] The courthouse dog’s handler receives intensive training before graduating from the service dog organization with their dog. In order to protect the jurisdiction and handler of the dog should a lawsuit be filed, these dogs often carry a minimum of one million dollars in liability insurance. Many qualified dogs carry such policies as a part of the certification process, such as the courthouse facility dogs provided by Canine Companions for Independence.^[8]

When courthouse facility dogs are off duty, they are beloved pets that live with their primary handlers.

Are courthouse facility and therapy dogs legally neutral?

Although prosecuting attorneys (who commissioned a task force which recommended pet therapy dogs ^[9]) , law enforcement officers and victim advocates support the use of courthouse facility and therapy dogs assisting crime victims and witnesses while they testify in court, some defense attorneys object to their use out of concern that it is prejudicial to their clients.^[10] The objection is usually based on the argument that the presence of the dog may make the prosecution witness more appealing to the jury. However, courthouse facility dogs are for everyone. If this type of dog is available and the witnesses can demonstrate to the judge that the presence of a courthouse dog would facilitate their ability to testify in court, then the dog should be made available to everyone including defendants.^[11]

The National Crime Victim Law Institute suggests that this jury instruction regarding the presence of the dog in the courtroom be provided to the jurors before deliberations to overcome unfair prejudice to either the defense or prosecution.

“Testifying in court is an unfamiliar and stressful event for most people; these dogs are used in a courthouse setting to help reduce witness anxiety and are available to any witness who requests one.”^[12]

In the 2013 Washington state Supreme Court case State v Dye, the court found that it was not unduly prejudicial for facility dog Ellie who was trained by, and lives with, the prosecutor at Dye's trial - See more at: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/wa-supreme-court/1645704.html#footnote_4 to assist a developmentally delayed man because of the judge’s limiting instruction:

“Furthermore, whatever subconscious bias may have befallen the jury was cured by the trial court's limiting instruction, which cautioned the jury not to "make any assumptions or draw any conclusions based on the presence of this service. Juries are presumed to follow instructions absent evidence to the contrary. State v. Kirkman, 159 Wn.2d 918, 928, 155 P.3d 125 (2007). No such evidence appears on the record here. The constitutional role of the jury prevents us from presuming-on the force of a bare allegation-that the jury "[made] a decision based on the dog's reaction and demeanor, not the witness's .... " Br. of Amicus Curiae Wash. Defender Ass'n & The Defender Ass'n at 14. And our own precedent compels us to respect the trial court's decision: whether or not we might have conducted the trial differently, we cannot say the trial court acted in a manifestly unreasonable manner."^[13]

A 2015 habeas petition by Spence failed in the federal district court for the Southern District of California, Spence v. Beard, No. 14cv1624-BAS, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56280 (SD Cal. 2015). Spence claimed he had been denied due process when the trial court allowed the child to have both a therapy dog and a support advocate accompany her to the witness stand during her trial testimony. The federal district court found this argument without merit, noting that it appeared from the record that the dog sat at the child’s feet and “was unobtrusive.” There was no showing that the presence of the therapy dog adversely influenced the jury, and there was no evidence that use of the dog “so fundamentally infected the trial process as to violate the petitioner’s due process right

A Florida statute dating from 2012, provides that that a court can allow a child to testify in a proceeding involving a sexual offense in the presence of “a service or therapy animal that has been evaluated and registered according to national standards.”

An Oklahoma statute enacted in 2014 (12-2611) requires that dogs used in such proceedings should be certified therapeutic dogs, which are defined as having “received the requisite training or certification from the American Kennel Club, Therapy Dogs Incorporated, or an equivalent organization.

A commenter in a Houston Law Review Symposium (Holder,) argues that an “appropriate canine should be one specifically trained for the legal world by an organization that specializes in training court facility dogs.” It is the author’s opinion that no specific organization should be designated with authority to train or test dogs for work at trials. The prosecution should have the burden of establishing the dog was adequately trained or has evidenced the ability to function appropriately in a courtroom before. The standards provided by Assistance Dogs International for facility dogs are well drafted, but substantially similar to obedience and behavioral requirements for therapy dogs licensed by national therapy dog organizations. There is no need to create such a monopoly for a single or limited number of service or therapy dog organizations or trainers, or to turn the qualification of a handler for such a dog into a guild controlled by a small group of organizations. As will be discussed in the decisions that have dealt with facility dogs, courts have generally asked for a showing that the dog used would behave in the courtroom while performing its function. There is no need to disturb this case-by-case approach.

History of courthouse facility and therapy dogs

Firsts in using trained dogs to assist victims and witnesses in the criminal-justice system:

• 1989: A retired Seeing-Eye dog Sheba assisted child sexual-abuse victims in the Special Victims Bureau of the Queens, NY, District Attorney’s Office.^[14]
• 1990: Andrew Vachss traveled to Jackson, promising a therapy dog and the support needed to get the newly formed center off the ground. Vachss, a German shepherd, made a courtroom appearance at the feet of a 5-year-old girl in a preliminary hearing in Rankin County, MS.^[15]
• 2003: Jeeter, a golden Labrador retriever volunteer service dog, accompanied twin sisters into King County Superior Court during competency hearings and trial testimony.^[16]
• 2004: Canine Companions for Independence became the first assistance dog organization to place a facility dog (Ellie, a Labrador retriever mix) to work in a prosecutor’s office, in Seattle.^[17]

Notable events in the establishment of organizations and legislature centered around the use of courthouse facility dogs:

• 2012: The Courthouse Dogs Foundation was founded, which is a nonprofit organization advocating for and educating about the use of courthouse facility dogs.
• April, 2015: Arkansas became the first state to pass a bill allowing child witnesses to testify with certified facility dogs in court.^[18]
• July, 2015: Illinois became the second state to pass a measure allowing facility dogs to accompany child witnesses and developmentally challenged adults during testimony in court.^[19]

Since 2003, the use of courthouse facility dogs has spread throughout the United States and internationally.^[20]

Notable courthouse facility dogs

• Ellie from Canine Companions for Independence (placed 2004) - Primary handler King County Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Page Ulrey - Office of the King County Prosecuting Attorney, Seattle, WA.^[21]
• Stilson from Canine Companions for Independence (placed 2005) - Primary handler victim advocate Heidi Potter - In 2013 Stilson retired from the Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office, Everett, WA.^[22]
• Simon from Support Dogs Inc., St. Louis Missouri (placed 2009) - Primary handler- Diane Silman executive director of the Ozark Foothills Child Advocacy Center^[23]
• Kerris from Canine Companions for Independence (placed 2009) - Kevin Kelly, Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Office of the Kitsap County, WA.^[24]
• Peseta from Bocalan Confiar^[25] (placed 2009) - Policía de Investigaciones de Chile (PDI) and Servicio Nacional de Menores (SENAME) of the Ministry of Justice, child–sexual abuse treatment organization.^[26]
• Cooper from Assistance Dogs of the West^[4] (placed 2010) - Primary handler - Hope Henessey, Court Appointed Special Advocates of Lea County, Hobbs, NM.^[27]
• Pono from Assistance Dogs of Hawaii (placed 2010) - Handler Dennis Dunn Director, Victim Witness Kokua Services at Prosecuting Attorney, City and County of Honolulu, HI.^[28]
• Emma from Assistance Dogs of the West^[4] (placed 2010) - Primary handler Natasha Sing, Court Appointed Special Advocates of Chaves County, Roswell, NM.^[29]
• Russell from Assistance Dogs of the West ^[4] (Placed 2012) - Primary Handler: Kathy Rau, Executive Director of the Southern Arizona Child Advocacy Center, Tucson, AZ.
• Blake from Assistance Dogs of the West ^[4] (Placed 2013) - Primary Handler: Colleen Phelan, Victim Advocate, Pima County Attorney's Office, Tucson, AZ.
• Tibet, from Canine Companions for Independence (placed 2014) - Primary Handler Brenda Kocher, Guardian ad Litem Program of Hillsborough County, FL.^[30]
• Lincoln from Saint Francis Service Dogs (placed 2015) - Primary Handler: Victim Advocate Lori Jones, Faquier County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, VA.^[31]

References

1. "Stilson Comforts at Sentencing". Thebark.com. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
2. Grey, Jamie. "Courthouse dog helps child victims". KTVB. kvtb.com. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
3. "assistancedogsinternational.org". assistancedogsinternational.org. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
4. "assistancedogsofthewest.org". assistancedogsofthewest.org. 2011-05-19. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
5. "Assistance Dogs International Standards for dog training". assistancedogsinternational.org. Retrieved 2015-07-23.
6. Ban, Charlie. "Dog Puts Victims at Ease in the Courtroom in Maricopa County". NACO County News. National Association of Counties Newsletter. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
7. Gray, Kathleen (2010-02-23). "Dogs help provide cupport in courtrooms". USA Today (USA Today). Retrieved 21 September 2011.
8. Henry, Chris. "Newest Hand in Kitsap Prosecutor's Office Gives a Yip About Crime Victims". Kitsap Sun. Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
9. "RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE NATIONAL DISTRICT ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATION TASK FORCE ON THE USE OF THERAPY ANIMALS IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS:" (PDF).
10. Wiessner, Dan (2011-09-12). "U.S. courtroom dogs spark legal debate". Reuters (Reuters). Retrieved 21 September 2011.
11. Glaberson, William (2011-08-08). "By Helping a Girl Testify at a Rape Trial, a Dog Ignites a Legal Debate". New York Times (New York Times). Retrieved 21 September 2011.
12. "Terry Campos, J.D. Practical Tips and Legal Strategies for Protecting Child-Victims While Testifying (NCVLI News 10th Edition), 2008 p. 12-15.". Retrieved 2012-04-21.
13. "Washington Supreme Court case State v Dye" (PDF). 2015-09-26. Retrieved 2015-07-23.
14. "Dogs of the Zero - Sheba". Vachss.com. 1989-11-12. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
15. "Dogs of the Zero - Vachess". Vachss.com. 1994-11-04. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
16. Clarridge, Christine (2005-05-14). "Bark Magazine - Dogs lend comfort to kids in court". Community.seattletimes.nwsource.com. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
17. Wallick, Rebecca. "Dogs in the Courtroom". Thebark.com. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
18. Hauser, Jessica (2015-04-03). "Arkansas adopts 'courthouse dogs' for child witnesses". thecabin.net. Retrieved 2015-07-21.
19. Lundy, Steve (2015-07-21). "Courtroom dogs now the law in Illinois". Retrieved 2015-07-24.
20. O'Neill-Stephens, Ellen (2010-07-01). "Courthouse Dogs Go South" (PDF). The Bark. Retrieved 2015-07-21.
21. Casey Mcnerthne (2007-09-02). "Dogs Give Prosecutors a Hand in Difficult Cases". Seattlepi.com. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
22. Hefley, Diana (2013-07-03). "After years of quietly supporting victims, Stilson the dog is retiring". Retrieved 2015-07-24.
23. "History Continues to be Made in Assistance Dog Program". Retrieved 2012-04-21.
24. "Newest hand in Kitsap prosecutor’s office gives a yip about crime". M.kitsapsun.com. 2010-04-29. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
25. "bocalanconfiar.cl". bocalanconfiar.cl. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
26. Wallick, Rebecca. "Courthouse Dogs Go South". Thebark.com. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
27. Mcmillan, Kelley (2010-09-28). "Court Program Uses Service Dogs". Newschief.com. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
28. Nasako, Dan (2010-11-10). "'Courthouse dog' to help ease victims". Retrieved 2015-07-24.
29. Burkhart, Gabrielle (2012-04-12). "Service dog helps abused children". krqe.com. Retrieved 2013-07-28.
30. Morelli, Keith (2014-02-14). "Court dog's job: Unconditional love for traumatized children". Retrieved 2015-07-24.
31. "Victims of crime get four-legged ally". 2015-02-25. Retrieved 2015-07-24.

External links

• Courthouse Dogs Foundation Website
• Going to the Dogs - In a good way
• Using Dogs for Emotional Support of Testifying Victims of Crime
• Dogs in the Courtroom