Law Commons^™

Expanding Drug Courts And Alternative Justice Courts In West Virginia: Implementing Innovative And Restorative Justice Practices, Emily Ogden

West Virginia Law Review

The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. Alarmingly, West Virginia’s incarceration rate is even higher. West Virginia’s staggering incarceration rate can largely be attributed to the increased criminalization and prosecution of individuals experiencing addiction. This Note considers what actions can be taken to limit incarceration and recidivism in West Virginia. The solutions proposed by this Note also aim to limit the collateral consequences of incarceration in West Virginia because many of West Virginia’s current issues are only exacerbated by incarceration. This Note reviews alternative justice methods and notable alternative justice courts across the …

Specialty Courts: Time For A Thorough Assessment, Emily F. Wood, Monica K. Miller, Tatyana Kaplan

Mississippi College Law Review

Broadly, the purpose of specialty courts is to address the needs of the individuals in the criminal justice system to reduce recidivism. Most specialty courts adopt the philosophy that the criminal justice system can do more than just impose sanctions; it can address underlying social and health problems that contribute to criminal behavior. The purpose of this article is to discuss the general advantages and disadvantages of specialty courts and to highlight the importance of using research evaluations to determine if the benefits of specialty courts outweigh the costs. This will help determine if courts have achieved their goal of …

Social Ecology, Preventive Intervention, And The Administrative Transformation Of The Criminal Legal System, Mark R. Fondacaro

Georgia State University Law Review

This Article outlines an administrative model of criminal justice that provides a conceptual framework and empirical justification for transforming our criminal legal system from a backward-looking, adjudicative model grounded in principles of retribution toward a forward-looking model grounded in consequentialist principles of justice aimed at crime prevention and recidivism reduction. The Article reviews the historical roots and justifications for our current system, along with recent advances in the behavioral, social, and biological sciences that inform why and how the system fuels injustice. The concept of social ecology is introduced as an organizing framework for: (1) understanding why individuals do or …

A Critical Assessment Of The First Step Act’S Recidivism-Reduction Measures, Raquel Wilson

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The First Step Act of 2018 (“FSA”) is the most impactful federal sentencing reform of the past 40 years. While the Act represents a partial resurgence of the rehabilitative model of imprisonment, which had fallen out of favor decades before, it also represents a missed opportunity to fully integrate evidence-based rehabilitation programs for those offenders who pose the greatest risks to public safety.

The public has a strong interest in reducing recidivism, particularly among violent offenders, most of whom will be released from federal prison eventually. The FSA incentivizes participation in evidence-based, recidivism-reducing programs offered by the Bureau of Prisons …

Taking Care Of Our Future: Considering Gender In Juvenile Reentry Reform, Delaney J. Dibble

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.