Good Courts: The Case For Problem-solving Justice

(Hardback)

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HOW INNOVATIVE JUDGES AND ATTORNEYS ARE TRANSFORMING AMERICAN COURTS Public confidence in American criminal courts is at an all-time low. Victims, communities, and even offenders view courts as unable to respond adequately to complex social and legal problems including drugs, prostitution, domestic violence, and quality-of-life crime. Even many judges and attorneys think that the courts produce assembly-line justice. Increasingly embraced by even the most hard-on-crimes jurists, problem-solving courts offer an effective alternative. As documented by Greg Berman and John Feinblatt - both of whom were instrumental in setting up New York's Midtown Community Court and Red Hook Community Justice Center, two of the nation's premier models for problem-solving justice - these alternative courts re-engineer the way everyday crime is addressed by focusing on the underlying problems that being people into the criminal justice system to being with. The first book to describe this cutting-edge movement in detail, Good Courts features, in addition to the Midtown and Red Hook models, an in-depth look at Oregon's Portland Community Court and reviews the growing body of evidence that the problem-solving approach to justice is indeed producing positive results around the country. Drug-addicted offenders who successfully complete treatment in problem-solving courts are 71 per cent less likely to be rearrested in New York State alone, it is estimated that problem-solving drug courts have saved more than USD254 million in incarceration costs

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We must never forget that the only real source of power that we as judges can tap is the respect of the people.

Author Bio

Greg Berman is the director of the Center for Court Innovation, a think tank that works to improve the performance of state courts and criminal justice agencies. John Feinblatt is the Criminal Justice Coordinator of the City of New York.