Law Commons^™

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 …

Problem-Solving Courts And The Outcome Oversight Gap, Erin R. Collins

UMKC Law Review

The creation of a specialized, “problem-solving” court is a ubiquitous response to the issues that plague our criminal legal system. The courts promise to address the factors believed to lead to repeated interactions with the system, such as addiction or mental illness, thereby reducing recidivism and saving money. And they do so effectively – at least according to their many proponents, who celebrate them as an example of a successful “evidence-based,” data-driven reform. But the actual data on their efficacy is underwhelming, inconclusive, or altogether lacking. So why do they persist?

This Article seeks to answer that question by scrutinizing …

Drug Courts: The Risk Of An Increased Number Of Drug-Related Arrests And Long Jail Sentences, Wayne A. Comstock

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

In June 1971, President Richard Nixon declared a War on Drugs. As the War on Drugs continued throughout the 1980s, drug-related convictions increased, leading to overcrowding in prisons across the United States. Drug courts operate as an alternative to incarceration in which criminal defendants enter court mandated drug treatment programs. Judges monitor the progress of drug court participants through scheduled status hearings. However, contrary to their purpose, drug courts may contribute to incarceration by presenting the risk of an increased number of drug-related arrests in those jurisdictions that have implemented drug courts and long jail sentences imposed as sanctions for …

The Problem Of Problem-Solving Courts, Erin Collins

Law Faculty Publications

The creation of a specialized, “problem-solving” court is a ubiquitous response to the issues that plague our criminal legal system. The courts promise to address the factors believed to lead to repeated interactions with the system, such as addiction or mental illness, thereby reducing recidivism and saving money. And they do so effectively — at least according to their many proponents, who celebrate them as an example of a successful “evidence-based,” data-driven reform. But the actual data on their efficacy is underwhelming, inconclusive, or altogether lacking. So why do they persist?

This Article seeks to answer that question by scrutinizing …

A Guiding Hand Or A Slap On The Wrist: Can Drug Courts Be The Solution To Maternal Opioid Use?, Cara O'Connor

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

As the opioid epidemic has expanded its reach, the number of pregnant women addicted to opioids has increased exponentially in recent years. The increase in the number of opioid-addicted pregnant women has resulted in a drastic expansion in the number of newborns who experience Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS). Newborns affected with NAS experience painful withdrawal and cost more to care for due to their increased health needs. In an effort to address the growing number of pregnant women using opioids and babies born with NAS, some states have turned to the criminal justice system. Three states–Tennessee, South Carolina, and Alabama–have …

Innovative Justice: Federal Reentry Drug Courts – How Should We Measure Success?, Timothy D. Degiusti

Duke Law Master of Judicial Studies Theses

In response to the drug abuse and addiction epidemic in the United States, innovative ways of dealing with non-violent drug offenders within the criminal justice system began to emerge in the late 1980s. Special court dockets – commonly referred to as drug courts – were developed featuring an interdisciplinary team of criminal justice and mental health professionals, led by a presiding judge. Drug courts and other problem-solving courts have proliferated within the state court system, numbering 3,057 by the end of 2014. The use of such courts is expanding among the states, but the federal courts have been slow to …

The Practitioner’S Guide To Due Process Issues In Veteranstreatment Courts, Evan C. Tsai

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Minnesota Stand Down Model: Bringing Stand Down Courtsto Rural Communities, Sara Sommarstrom

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Correlational Analysis Of Secondary Data For Factors Influencing Graduation From Adult Drug Court, David N. Masri

Theses and Dissertations

The proliferation of drug courts throughout the world over the last two decades presents an opportunity and a challenge. The drug court approach involves a combination of treatment and judicial supervision which is a diversion from incarceration and/or ‘traditional’ criminal justice supervision. Despite widespread study of drug courts, there is much that researchers still do not know and there is still controversy as to how and why drug courts work. This research study is an examination of secondary data from an urban, mid-Atlantic drug court to attempt to correlate factors that contribute to success (as defined by graduation) in drug …

The Drug Court Paradigm, Jessica M. Eaglin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Drug courts are specialized, problem-oriented diversion programs. Qualifying offenders receive treatment and intense court-supervision from these specialized criminal courts, rather than standard incarceration. Although a body of scholarship critiques drug courts and recent sentencing reforms, few scholars explore the drug court movement’s influence on recent sentencing policies outside the context of specialized courts.

This Article explores the broader effects of the drug court movement, arguing that it created a particular paradigm that states have adopted to manage overflowing prison populations. This drug court paradigm has proved attractive to politicians and reformers alike because it facilitates sentencing reforms for low-level, nonviolent …

Problem-Solving Courts: From Innovation To Institutionalization, Michael C. Dorf, Jeffrey A. Fagan

Michael C. Dorf

No abstract provided.

Assessing Soldiers' Mental Health: Meeting The Needs Of Veterans With Ptsd, Tbi, And Cte—Pre-Deployment, At Home, And In Court, Robert H. Ambrose

William Mitchell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Street Diversion And Decarceration, Mary Fan

Articles

States seeking more cost-effective approaches than imprisoning drug offenders have explored innovations such as drug courts and deferred prosecution. These treatment-based programs generally involve giving diversion discretion to prosecutors and judges, actors further down the criminal processing chain than police. The important vantage of police at the gateway of entry into the criminal system has been underutilized. [para] The article explores developing the capacity of police to take a public health approach to drug offending by engaging in street diversion to treatment rather than criminal processing. This approach entails giving police therapeutic discretion—the power to sort who gets treatment rather …

The Future Of Problem-Solving Courts: Inside The Courts And Beyond, Stacy Lee Burns

Stacy Lee Burns

No abstract provided.

A Good Score?: Examining 20 Years Of Drug Courts In The United States And Abroad, Kimberly Y.W. Holst

Kimberly Y.W. Holst

In 2009, we saw the passing of the twentieth anniversary of drug courts in the United States, this timing presents an opportune moment to review the state of drug courts in the United States and the development of drug courts internationally. While the United States has served as a model and a leader in the creation and development of drug courts, countries all over the world have tweaked the United States’ model and have altered the landscape in the structure and development of drug courts. Section II of this article briefly discusses the development and current status of drug courts …

Sex, Drug Courts, And Recidivism, Doria Nour Dandan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Research studies have identified gender differences in the drug abusing patterns and treatment needs of men and women. Even so, studies on the drug court model have not assessed drug court effectiveness across sex. Using secondary data collected from the Ada County Drug Court, the recidivism rates of drug court participants (n=259) and probationers (n=235) were analyzed. Drug court participants were found to be less likely to recidivate compared to probationers, which supports previous research on drug court effectiveness. Regression analyses failed to find an interaction between group membership and sex, thereby indicating that the effect of the drug court …

Harm Reduction And The American Difference: Drug Treatment And Problem-Solving Courts In Comparative Perspective, James L. Noland Jr.

Journal of Health Care Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

The Future Of Problem-Solving Courts: Inside The Courts And Beyond, Stacy Lee Burns

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Net-Widening On Minority And Indigent Drug Offenders: A Critique Of Drug Courts, Joel Gross

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

Midwestern Juvenile Drug Courts: Analysis & Recommendations, Nicole A. Kozdron

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Romancing The Court, Jane M. Spinak

Faculty Scholarship

Problem-solving courts, created at the end of the 20th century, make court-based solutions central to addressing significant societal problems, such as substance abuse and its impact on criminal activity and family functioning. Yet, lessons gleaned from over 100 years of family court history suggest that court-based solutions to intractable social problems have rarely been effective. This article asks three questions of the problem-solving court movement: What problem are we trying to solve? Is the court the best place to solve the problem? What are the consequences of giving authority to a court for solving the problem? Answering those questions through …

Mentally Ill Prisoners In The California Department Of Corrections And Rehabilitation: Strategies For Improving Treatment And Reducing Recidivism

W. David Ball

California prisons and jails treat more people with mental illness than hospitals and residential treatment centers combined. Mentally ill prisoners receive inadequate medical and psychiatric care, serve longer terms than the average inmate, and are released without adequate preparation and support for their return to society. As a result, these offenders are much more likely to violate parole and return to prison, cycling ever-downward. With the California prison healthcare system currently in receivership, and the state poised to spend more money on prisons than on colleges in the coming fiscal year, this paper addresses a topic that is both underreported …

Texas Needs More Drug Courts., Bryan S. Oathout

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Drug courts are the nation’s newest legal development in the war on drugs. These courts attempt to stop drug abuse through a treatment-based alternative court which focuses on an offender’s addiction and decluttering the courts. The main goal of drug courts is rehabilitation, not punishment. Drug courts help diminish the cost of putting drug-abusing offenders into our criminal justice system which causes prison and jail overcrowding. Fighting drug abuse also drains our economic resources. Since the implementation of drug courts in 1989, over seventy percent of drug-abusing offenders have either successfully completed the drug court program or are still participating …

Endorsing Religion: Drug Courts And The 12-Step Recovery Support Program, Emily M. Gallas

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Problem-Solving Courts: From Innovation To Institutionalization, Michael C. Dorf, Jeffrey A. Fagan

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Problem-Solving Courts: From Innovation To Institutionalization, Michael C. Dorf, Jeffrey A. Fagan

Faculty Scholarship

The phenomenal growth of drug courts and other forms of "problem-solving" courts has followed a pattern that is characteristic of many successful innovations: An individual or small group has or stumbles upon a new idea; the idea is put into practice and appears to work; a small number of other actors adopt the innovation and have similar experiences; if there is great demand for the innovation – for example, because it responds to a widely-perceived crisis or satisfies an institutional need and resolves tensions within organizations that adopt it – the innovation rapidly diffuses through the networks in which the …

Just The (Unweildy, Hard To Gether, But Nonetheless Essential) Facts, Ma'am: What We Know And Don't Know About Problem-Solving Courts, Greg Berman, Anne Gulick

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article asses what is known and what remains to be understood about problem-solving courts. Specifically, the article asserts that drug courts serve a needy population, court mandated treatment programs have higher retention rates, those who participate longer have better outcomes, those in drug courts had lower rates of recidivism, drug use, and that graduated sanctions have statistically significant impact on offenders behavior, sanctions are crucial to the model's effectiveness, post-program studies are sparse, drug courts are less costly than traditional adjudication, but cost savings for jail and prison beds are less clear. The article also addresses questions that remain …

Just The (Unweildy, Hard To Gether, But Nonetheless Essential) Facts, Ma'am: What We Know And Don't Know About Problem-Solving Courts, Greg Berman, Anne Gulick

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article asses what is known and what remains to be understood about problem-solving courts. Specifically, the article asserts that drug courts serve a needy population, court mandated treatment programs have higher retention rates, those who participate longer have better outcomes, those in drug courts had lower rates of recidivism, drug use, and that graduated sanctions have statistically significant impact on offenders behavior, sanctions are crucial to the model's effectiveness, post-program studies are sparse, drug courts are less costly than traditional adjudication, but cost savings for jail and prison beds are less clear. The article also addresses questions that remain …

The Duckwater Shoshone Drug Court, 1997-2000: Melding Traditional Dispute Resolution With Due Process, Ronald Eagleye Johnny

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Changing Face Of Justice In Maine’S Drug Courts, Jon D. Levy

Maine Policy Review

No abstract provided.