Presentation Transcript

1. Effective judging

   Hon. Peggy Fulton Hora Judge of the Superior Court (Ret.) National Judicial College of Australia 12 May 2011
2. Judicial Toolkit
3. Why Were Drug Courts Created? Murder on the streets over crack cocaine Overwhelming court dockets Courts as plea-bargaining mills High recidivism rates Judges frustrated
4. Loss of trust and confidence in the criminal justice system Prison overcrowding High recidivism rates There weren’t any better off after incarceration and were often worse We’d tried everything else
5. TOUGH ON CRIME IN U.S. 1 in 100 U.S. citizens behind bars 2.3 million people in jail and prison in the U.S. Disproportionate burden on those most disenfranchised (1:4 African American young men incarcerated or under supervision)
6. RACK ‘EM, PACK ‘EM AND STACK ‘EM Los Angeles County Jail Earley, Pete, Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness (Putnam, 2006)
7. Comprehensive Law Movement Seeks to maximize emotional, psychological and relational wellbeing of those involved with legal matters Focuses beyond strict legal rights, responsibilities, duties, obligations and entitlements . Daicoff, Susan, “Law as a Healing Profession: The ‘Comprehensive Law Movement’,” 6 Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal 1 (2006)
8. Therapeutic Jurisprudence (TJ) “…[T]he most prolific vector [of the Comprehensive Law Movement], at least in academic and judicial circles. “It has rapidly spread to all areas of the law and has been enthusiastically adopted by American judges in the form of ‘problem-solving courts’.” Id.
9. Therapeutic Jurisprudence… “proposes the exploration of ways in which, consistent with principles of justice, the knowledge, theories, and insights of the mental health and related disciplines can help shape the law.” Source: Wexler, DB and BJ Winick, eds. Law in a Therapeutic Key, Durham, NC; Carolina Academic Press, 1996 www.therapeuticjurisprudence.org www.allrise.org
10. 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
11. TJ’s Question:: Can we enhance the likelihood of desired outcomes and compliance with judicial orders by applying what we know about behavior to the way we do business in court?
12. 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)
13. 3 Areas that especially lend themselves to problem-solving, collaborative approaches:
14. What’s in a name? Drug Court Drug Treatment Court Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court (NZ) Sobriety Court DWI Court Healing-to-Wellness Court (American Indian Tribal Ct) Family Drug Treatment Court United Family Wellness Court (SA) Collaborative Court (CA)
15. Conference of Chief Justices andConference of State Court Administrators 50:0 Chief Justices voted to support “Problem-Solving Courts” Will develop Best Practices Recognizes as appropriate collaboration and interdisciplinary training Resolution22, adopted Aug. 3, 2000 Reaffirmed, July 29, 2004 Support for MH Courts, Feb. 21, 2006
16. “Problem-Solving Courts” Conference of Chief Justices …focus on the underlying medical/social issues and chronic behaviors of court users who have recurring contacts with the justice system …apply promising practices and evidence-based interventions from the behavioral sciences to effectuate change …seek innovative solutions to complex social issues, e.g., (substance abuse, homelessness, mental health, violence)
17. U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance definition Focus on Outcomes. Problem-solving courts are designed to provide positive case outcomes for victims, society and the offender (e.g., reducing recidivism or creating safer communities). System Change. Problem-solving courts promote reform in how the government responds to problems such as drug addiction and mental illness. “What Are Problem-Solving Courts?” Center for Program Evaluation and Performance Measurement, Bureau of Justice Assistance http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/evaluation/psi_courts/
18. Judicial Involvement. Judges take a more hands-on approach to addressing problems and changing behaviors of defendants. Collaboration. Problem-solving courts work with external parties to achieve certain goals
19. Non-traditional Roles. These courts and their personnel take on roles or processes not common in traditional courts. For example, some problem-solving courts are less adversarial than traditional criminal justice processing.
20. Screening and Assessment. Use of screening and assessment tools to identify appropriate individuals for the court is common. Early identification of potential candidates. Use of screening and assessment tools to determine a defendant's eligibility for the problem-solving court usually occurs early in a defendant's involvement with criminal justice processing.
21. What does an effective judge know? What separates drug court judges from traditional judges is training in addiction, understanding how to motivate behavior change, and simple empathy.  William G. Meyer & A. William Ritter, Drug Courts Work, 14 Fed. Sent’g Rep. 179, 183-184 (2002) .
22. DWI COURT GUIDING PRINCIPLE #6 The judge's role is paramount to the success of the DWI Court program. The judge must be committed to the sobriety of program participants, possess exceptional knowledge and skill in behavioral science, own recognizable leadership skill have the capability to motivate team members elicit buy-in from various stakeholders
23. EFFECTIVE JUDGING FOR BUSY JUDGES (not in specialist ct.) Establish an outcome focus Direct conversation with defendant/court user Seek professional assistance Create a “road map” for disposition with careful monitoring NAT‘L JUDICIAL COLL., EFFECTIVE JUDGING FOR BUSY JUDGES (2006), available at http://www.judges.org/pdf/effectivejudging_book.pdf
24. BEST JUDICIAL PRACTICES Best judicial practices are: informed by extensive research, behavioral change literature, evaluations, and evidence-based procedures and practices rely on evidence-based procedures and practices from related fields.
25. QUESTIONS: Is “business as usual” the best way to do the business of the court? Are you satisfied with current rates of compliance with court orders? Can we help reduce recidivism rates? What does the research say? Who do we see in court? What’s the most effective way to deal with them? What’s in it for the judge?