Many defendants in the criminal justice system have mental illness diagnoses, developmental disabilities, or a history of serious traumatic brain injuries (TBI), and many of them also have a co- occurring substance use disorder. For many of them, specific treatment to address those issues can prevent them from committing new criminal offenses and reduce the amount of emergency psychiatric or hospital services they use in the future. The criminal justice system can be part of this solution. In Hennepin County, Minnesota, we have established a criminal mental health court that brings together criminal justice, social service, and psychiatric professionals to create and monitor individual treatment plans for qualified defendants. The mental health court works with hundreds of people each year and has seen dramatic positive changes in these defendants’ behavior.
The first drug court began in Miami-Dade, Florida in 1989. It was the era of “The War on Drugs,” and the penalties for all drug crimes had increased. Criminal justice professionals saw that sending addicts to prison was not decreasing the volume of drugs in their community or drug crimes charged in their courthouse. They decided to take an innovative approach to criminal justice for people suffering from addiction—chemically dependent defendants would receive immediate, extended treatment and regularly report to their judge and probation officer, instead of remaining in custody. That approach worked to stem the tide of defendants coming into the court on drug possession crimes. The success was noted and replicated in many jurisdictions. Now twenty- five years later, the drug court concept has spread to over 2900 problem-solving courts across the country. Drug courts are also in place in at least fourteen countries.
The problem-solving court model of supervision is what most lay people probably expect when they think of what it means to be on probation: probation officers supervising a small enough number of defendants that they have time to regularly meet with them in person and make sure that they follow court orders; treatment programs long enough to usher in change; treatment providers in close contact with probation officers and the judge; defendants facing a judge frequently to provide progress reports; and judges reinforcing positive changes and making swift responses to violations.