The Court Listening Project is a research study and archive of courthouses and the people who engage with them in the Bay Area, California.
Hall of Justice, San Jose, CA. Summer 2021.
The Court Listening Project (CLiP) seeks to understand the role of courts in their communities. CLiP researchers are gathering and analyzing interviews, ethnographic observations, photographs, and administrative data on the Bay Area courts—and the communities that engage with them. The project centers the perspectives of court-impacted people and their visions for change. In 2024, CLiP researchers are leading a “Systems Navigator” pilot program in the Santa Clara County public defender’s office.
The Archive
De-identified excerpts from the data we collect will be made publicly available. These data include interview recordings and transcriptions, ethnographic fieldnotes, and photographs. We currently provide excerpts from interviews and fieldnotes on our “stories” page.
Note: Some research participants asked us to use their real names, whereas most participants asked us to use pseudonyms
The Sites
Each quarter, researchers gather data at one or more courthouses in the Bay Area. To date, the CLiP has gathered more than 450 hours of ethnographic observations and more than 120 interviews in, or about, three courthouses and their neighborhoods.
CLiP research assistants and PI Matthew Clair in front of the Palo Alto Courthouse. Photograph taken in June 2023.
Summer 2021 Site: Hall of Justice (San Jose)
Autumn 2021 Sites: Hall of Justice (San Jose) and Downtown Superior Court (San Jose)
Winter 2022 Sites: Hall of Justice (San Jose) and Downtown Superior Court (San Jose)
Spring 2022 Sites: Hall of Justice (San Jose), Downtown Superior Court (San Jose), and Palo Alto Courthouse (Palo Alto)
Summer 2022 Site: Palo Alto Courthouse (Palo Alto)
Autumn 2022 Sites: Palo Alto Courthouse (Palo Alto), Hall of Justice (San Jose), and Downtown Superior Court (San Jose)
Winter 2023 Sites: Palo Alto Courthouse (Palo Alto), Hall of Justice (San Jose), and Downtown Superior Court (San Jose)
Spring 2023 Sites: Palo Alto Courthouse (Palo Alto) and Downtown Superior Court (San Jose)
Summer 2023 Sites: Hall of Justice (San Jose) and Palo Alto Courthouse (Palo Alto)
Autumn 2023 Site: Downtown Superior Court (San Jose)
Winter 2024 Site: Hall of Justice (San Jose)
Spring 2024 Site: Hall of Justice (San Jose)
Summer 2024 Sites: Hall of Justice (San Jose), Family Justice Center (San Jose)
Autumn 2024 Site: Hall of Justice (San Jose)
The Researchers
The primary investigator of CLiP is Matthew Clair, an assistant professor of sociology at Stanford University. He works alongside a team of research assistants.
2021-2022 CLiP research assistants. Photograph taken in May 2022 on Stanford’s campus.
Summer 2021 RAs: Michael Cerda-Jara, Cat Sanchez, Iris Zhang
Autumn 2021 RAs: Anthony Duarte, Nya Hardaway, Sumayo Hassan, Claudia Nmai, Cat Sanchez, Iris Zhang
Winter 2022 RAs: Casey Christmas, Anthony Duarte, Juan Flores, Nya Hardaway, Sophia Hunt, Taylor Lawrence, Kiran Misra, Claudia Nmai, Gerald Richardson, Alisha Zhao
Spring 2022 RAs: Casey Christmas, Antonio Cruz Preciado, Anthony Duarte, Juan Flores, Nya Hardaway, Sophia Hunt, Taylor Lawrence, Jane Lord-Krause, Kiran Misra, Claudia Nmai, Patrick Perez, Gerald Richardson, Alisha Zhao
Summer 2022 RAs: Zackery Bangs, Josie Barton, Micayla Bozeman, Antonio Cruz Preciado, Nya Hardaway, Sophia Hunt, Kiran Misra, Claudia Nmai, Jesus Orozco, Gerald Richardson, Anastasia Sotiropoulos, Joseph Wager, Aaliyah Webster, Marisol Zarate
Autumn 2022 RAs: Josie Barton, Micayla Bozeman, Michael Cerda-Jara, Nya Hardaway, Holst Katsma, Kiran Misra, Claudia Nmai, Patrick Perez, Joseph Wager
Winter 2023 RAs: Josie Barton, Micayla Bozeman, Juan Flores, Nya Hardaway, Holst Katsma, Kiran Misra, Claudia Nmai, Jesus Orozco, Gerald Richardson, Angelina Rivas, Joseph Warton, Iris Zhang
Spring 2023 RAs: Nya Hardaway, Kiran Misra, Claudia Nmai, Antonio Cruz Preciado, Joseph Warton
Summer 2023 RAs: Nya Hardaway, Michael O’Key, Chaelyn Rigmaiden-Anderson, Bakr Shehadeh, Joseph Warton
Autumn 2023 RAs: Nya Hardaway, Chaelyn Rigmaiden-Anderson
Winter 2024 RAs: Michael Cerda-Jara, Ethan McAvoy, Patrick Perez
Spring 2024 RAs: Josie Barton, Feona Dong, Alexandrea Henry, Christine Kang, Jacqueline Rodriguez, Joseph Warton
Summer 2024 RAs: Sebastián Cantu, Feona Dong, Alexandrea Henry, Alex Huynh, Christine Kang, Quinn Martin, Ava Mendoza, Jacqueline Rodriguez, Joseph Warton, Valencia Xu
Autumn 2024 RAs: Feona Dong, Nya Hardaway, Alexandrea Henry, Christine Kang, Caelan Koch, Ava Mendoza, Cesar Rodriguez Ibarra
Funding
The CLiP has been supported by funding from the following sources:
Cultivating Humanities Grant (Stanford H&S)
UPS Endowment Fund (Stanford University)
Research on Racial Equity and Justice Seed Grant (Stanford University)
The 2024 “Systems Navigator” pilot program was supported by funding from the following sources:
Racial Democracy Criminal Justice Network (RDCJN)/Arnold Foundation Improving Fairness and Justice in Community Supervision Small Grants Program (University of Maryland)
UPS Endowment Fund (Stanford University)