Abstract
Drug courts-and the litany of other problem-solving courts that soon followed in their wake-began as a series of small-scale judicial experiments in criminal punishment reform. They were earnest efforts by criminal court judges to redress an issue that they were well-equipped to see: many people were returning to their courtrooms time and again, often for low-level drug charges, and at a time when court dockets were ballooning because of tough-on-crime arrest and prosecution policies. Early drug court judges combined their power to punish with their authority to control their dockets to create specialized court calendars aimed at providing substance abuse treatment instead of incarceration for people charged with certain drug offenses. ...
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2024
Recommended Citation
Erin R. Collins, Problem-Solving Courts and the Outcome Oversight Gap, 92 UMKC L. Rev. 533 (2024).
