““Strategies to Address Strategies to Address the Challenges”the Challenges”

Hon. Peggy Fulton HoraSuperior Court of California (Ret.)Madison, WI Oct. 2, 2007

Why Problem-Solving Courts? Large numbers of people incarcerated &

jail overcrowding Courts becoming plea-bargain mills Recycle of people with addictions,

mental illness, & status offenders driven by the intersection of social, human, & legal problems

What’s a judge to do?

Jail and prison population is 2.2 million as of 1/11/07

5% of the world’s population; 25% prisoners

Cannot incarcerate our way out of these problems

They walk out exactly the way they were on the day they walked in

“Life After Prison Can Be Deadly, a StudyFinds,” The New York Times, Jan. 11, 2007 p. A23

Co-Occurring Disorders Center

A New Perspective

The court system as an interdisciplinary problem-solving community institution

Dr. Alvan Barach, quoted by Bill Moyers in Healing and the Mind, 1993

The smart question

Can we enhance the likelihood of desired outcomes & compliance with judicial orders by applying what we know about behavior to the way we do business in court?

Can we reduce the anti-therapeutic consequences

Enhance the therapeutic ones

Without subordinating due process and other justice values?

Slobogin, Christopher, “Therapeutic Jurisprudence: Five Dilemmas to Ponder,” 1 Psychology Public Policy and the Law 193 (1995)

Problem-Solving Courts

…focus on the underlying chronic behaviors of criminal defendants and other court users

…recognize the public is looking to the courts to address complex social issues

“Effective Judging for Busy Judges”

Nat’l Judicial College and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (2006)

www.judges.org

Incentives and Sanctions

Timely Consistent Certain Appropriate to hold litigant accountable,

move litigant toward desired outcome, protect public

P-S Principles and Methods

1. Reduce recidivism in criminal cases

2. Save incarceration and other costs of social services, e.g., foster care

3. Have great public support

4. High participant satisfaction

5. High judicial satisfaction

Collaborative Judges

Judges believe they can and should play a role in the problem-solving process

Outcomes matter--court is not just based on a process and precedent

Adapted from Judge Judith S. Kaye, Chief Judge, New York

Types of Problem-Solving Courts

Homeless

Child Child DependencyDependency

Drug Community

Mental Health

Re-Entry

DV

Unified Family

ProblemSolving Courts

Problem Solving Courts in Wisconsin 11 adult drug courts 2 alcohol/OWI courts 1 juvenile court More than 23 teen and peer courts 1 domestic violence court

Collaborative Courts

Recognize the therapeutic potential of the court’s coercive powers

Finds “Judicial Leverage” is an appropriate tool

Collaborative Courts

Address complex social issues Understand that collaboration assists with

continuum of care

Drug Treatment Courts

DTCs emphasize alcohol and drug treatment services. The two goals of these programs are to reduce recidivism of drug-related offenses and to create options within the criminal justice system that tailor effective and appropriate responses for offenders with drug problems.

One size does not fit all

Key Components – DTCs, Int’l, MH Local needs, community response, legal

culture Structure may differ Criteria may differ Funding structures

Adult DTCs

First drug court in Miami in 1989 Oakland first drug court in CA in 1991 Structure, accountability, responsibility,

treatment and recovery http://www.nadcp.org

Retention rates

80-90% of conventional drug tx clients drop out before 12 months of tx

DTCs exert legal pressure to remain in tx long enough to realize benefits

>66% tx clients who initiate through DTC stay a year or more, 6 xs the rate for programs outside justice system

Drug Courts: The Second Decade NIJ Special Report NIJ, OJP, USDOJ (June 2006)

Family Treatment Court

May refer to unified family courts that consolidate all related family cases

May include dependency, custody and visitation

Dependency Drug Court

Focus on parents who lose custody due to alcohol and other drugs

Higher reunification Reduced stays in foster care Less recidivism

Impaired Driving Courts (OWI) Screening and assessment of offenders to

determine level of intervention or treatment Close supervision by the court May include other initiatives like Ignition

Interlock, ankle bracelet monitoring, etc. Frequent testing License restrictions

Re-Entry Drug Court

Facilitates the reintegration of drug-involved offenders into communities upon their release from custody.

The offender is involved in regular judicial monitoring, intensive treatment, community supervision, and drug testing.

Reentry drug court participants are provided with specialized ancillary services needed for success.

Tauber, J., & Huddleston, C.W., “Reentry Drug Courts: Closing the Gap,” Monograph series 3. Alexandria, VA: National Drug Court Institute, (1999)

 

National OverviewDecember 2005

2,500+ problem solving courts in the US 985 adult drug courts 386 juvenile drug courts 196 family drug courts 74 DUI courts 44 re-entry drug courts 65 Tribal Healing-to-Wellness courts 4 Federal District drug courts

National Overview, cont.

16 other re-entry courts 23 community courts 111 mental health courts 393 teen courts 141 domestic violence courts 2 campus drug courts 937 other problem-solving courts 1 Urban Native American drug courtHuddleston, C. West III, Hon. Karen Freeman-Wilson, (Ret.) and Donna L. Boone, Ph.D., “PAINTING THE CURRENT PICTURE: A National Report Card on Drug Courts and Other Problem-Solving Court Programs in the United States, “ NDCI (May 2004)

International Overview

Canada Jamaica Barbados Macedonia Tobago Chile Scotland Australia New Zealand Ireland England Bermuda Brazil Norway Italy Pakistan Israel Cayman Islands

Collaborative Change

CourtsCourts

Probation, CPS, &

Corrections

Probation, CPS, &

Corrections

Treatment&

Intervention

Treatment&

Intervention

New Role for Judges

Problem-solving courts are those in which judges participate in resolving the underlying problems that led defendants to appear in court

Judges are more proactive

Judicial Issues

Increased time in the docket? Selling the idea to the administration Lack of training about AOD, DV and mental

health treatment of all players Legal and ethical concerns

Judicial Issues

Remaining objective & impartial Ensuring confidentiality, privacy, & dignity Crafting appropriate rewards and sanctions

“Trumping”

Legal rights such as due process and equal protection are never “trumped” by therapeutic concerns even though the court’s action may be anti-therapeutic

“I am not a social worker”

Jane Addams, founder of Hull House, the consummate “social worker.”

Arguments Against

“[Working therapeutically] cheapens the judicial office, placing the judge at the level of a ringmaster in a judicial circus.”

Bean, Philip, “Drug Courts, the Judge, and the Rehabilitative Ideal,” DRUG COURTS in Theory and in Practice, James L. Nolan, Jr., Ed., Aldine de Gruyter (2002)

CCJ/COSCA

50:0 Chief Justices voted to support “Problem-Solving Courts”

Will develop Best Practices Recognizes collaboration

and interdisciplinary training

Resolution 22, adopted 8-3-2000

Reaffirmed, July 29, 2004

Support for MH Courts, Feb. 21, 2006

Judges' Criminal Justice/Mental Health Leadership Initiative JLI is coordinated by the Council of State

Governments (CSG) Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project and the GAINS/TAPA Center for Jail Diversion

CCJ committed to join

Jan. 18, 2006. 50:0

CCJ Resolution

Urged state supreme court chief justices to "take a leadership role to address the impact of mental illness on the court system through a collaborative effort involving stakeholders from all three branches of government.”

JLI is coordinated by the Council of State Governments (CSG) Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project and the GAINS/TAPA Center for Jail Diversion.

Lord Coke, Chief Justice King’s Bench, England, 1600s

“A court must never engage in a vain act, lest the courts become laughingstocks.”

Win:Win

Supported by both sides of the aisle Federal and International support Saves money Reduces recidivism Improves life of the individual, the family and

the community AND IT WORKS!