NCJ Number
230324
Date Published
March 2008
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Results are presented from a federally sponsored focus group of judges and court administrators on how problem-solving courts have affected the court system from the point of view of overall court operations.
Abstract
Focus group members agreed and believed in the widespread applicability of lessons learned from problem-solving courts to general court and case management. Courts must be willing to adapt some problem-solving lessons learned into mainstream administration. Many problem-solving strategies have been shown to be an efficient and effective use of court resources, resulting in increased positive outcomes. However, courts must exercise caution and seek to balance traditional versus problem solving-type roles. Over recent years, a tremendous growth in problem-solving courts (also known as specialty courts or therapeutic justice courts) has emerged. Some research has been performed to examine how the expansion of problem-solving courts into other areas of traditional court can be accomplished. This work has been accomplished primarily through focus groups with those directly involved with problem-solving courts. Relatively minimal work has been done examining how these specialty courts have affected the court system, focusing on the overall court operations. In 2006, the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the State Justice Institute (SJI) sponsored a 2-day focus group of judges and court administrators, not directly involved with problem-solving court programs, but who had extensive experience with court management issues in jurisdictions where problem-solving courts operated. This focus group discussed the challenges experienced by those incorporating a problem-solving court in their system and the solutions they recommended to these challenges. The results of the focus group are presented in this paper. References