JPO Director Kim Ball
looks back at one of the most influential experiences of her career, her first job out of law school working as a special assistant prosecuting attorney in a problem-solving court run by
Judge Mary Spencer McGowan
that saw mental health and substance misuse clients who were a danger to themselves.
Visit our blog to read what she learned about the power of understanding in mental health court, the perfect recipe for treatment courts to be successful, and how we can all come together this month to cure the stigma surrounding mental illness.
"As we observe Mental Health Awareness month, it’s important to recognize that jails have become our largest mental health facilities in the US, due in part to case law that deinstitutionalized state-run mental health institutions. What many people don’t know is that case law also required the establishment of community mental health centers, a process that has fallen short, leading to jail as a substitute. There are many of us working hard to change this, and this month let’s celebrate this work and all the progress we’ve made in effectively treating mental health issues outside the court system."
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Celebrating #DrugCourtMonth
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Learn more about drug courts and how our NDCRC and JDTC TTA teams train and advise drug courts and juvenile drug courts on best practices by visiting the
NDCRC website
and following NDCRC on Twitter
@TheNDCRC
and the
JDTC TTA website
and following JDTC TTA on Twitter
@JuvDTC
.
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To kick off National Drug Court Month, JPO's Senior Associate Director
Preeti Menon
was interviewed by the Forensic Technology Center of Excellence's Just Science podcast on the critical importance of drug courts.
The topics they discussed ranged from the different kinds of treatment courts, research showing the effectiveness of drug courts at reducing recidivism, and how the model is transforming and reacting in light of the opioid crisis.
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Visit our blog throughout the month of May for a weekly drug court related blog post, and don't miss guests posts later this month from:
- Jeffrey N. Kushner, MPHA, Statewide Drug Court Administrator, State of Montana
- Lauren van Schilfgaarde, Tribal Law Specialist, Tribal Law and Policy Institute
- Angela Plunkett, Treatment Court Unit Supervisor, Court Business Services Division, Office of State Courts Administrator
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NDCRC Webinar on Law Enforcement and Treatment Courts
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Law enforcement is often the first point of contact Americans have with the justice system. For those at risk of substance dependence, this can be a key interaction affecting future treatment. Approximately 1.5 million individuals arrested each year are at such a risk, and our
National Drug Resource Center
is hosting a webinar
Wednesday, June 13, 2018,
from
2:00 to 3:00 PM
to examine how law enforcement can be an integral tool in treatment courts' efforts.
"To Serve, Protect, and Treat: Law Enforcement and Treatment Courts"
brings together practitioners and experts who will discuss ways to partner with local law enforcement and engage them in the treatment court process. This means not only educating them about how treatment courts operate but giving them the tools to advocate for these programs every day in the field to those who need them.
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Our
JDTC TTA
team spoke at several statewide conferences for treatment court professionals last month to showcase the full range of our training and technical assistance program available to juvenile drug treatment courts (JDTC).
JPO Senior Policy Counsel and JDTC TTA Project Director
Zoë Root
, pictured above, presented at the 2018 Colorado Convening on Children, Youth and Families. She led sessions combining strategic planning and group discussion on how to plan and implement strategies to improve outcomes for young people in JDTCs and programs that target similar populations within the juvenile justice system. She focused on specific techniques to better address the presence of substance use and youth behavior within JDTC programs in a manner that is informed by understanding of adolescent development and is tailored to the needs and motivations of youth and families.
Zoë was joined by
National Association of Drug Court Professionals
Chief Operating Officer
Terrence Walton
for a session outlining the research on adolescent brain development and how such information should be applied and utilized in a juvenile justice program. She also presented with
Dr. Bridgett Ortega
, Assistant Dean of Experiential Learning at
Atlanta's John Marshall Law School
, on how standard JDTC requirements and phase structure should be determined and communicated to youth and families, including through policy and procedure manuals and participant handbooks.
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Webinars Featuring The Justice in Government Project
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This webinar explores how civil legal interventions can reduce the number of obstacles to employment facing job seekers who have criminal records by helping them expunge or seal old records, reinstate driver’s licenses, modify child support orders, and secure certificates of rehabilitation. Participants also learned about the 2016 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act rule language describing legal aid as a necessary supportive service, as well as tips for incorporating legal services into the comprehensive services already offered through American Job Centers.
A recording of the webinar and downloadable PDF of the presentation are now available on the National Reentry Resource Center's website.
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Karen also participated in a webinar about innovative collaborations that provide legal help to low-income parents in the child support system using Title IV-D child support federal funds.
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Altering Justice for the Better
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“When public defenders have so many cases that they are forced to choose between the depth of the representation they can provide and the number of clients that are able to see the judge in a given arraignment shift, justice is not served.”
NACM members can read this and more in "Altering Justice: How Court Managers and Administrators Ensure the Right to Counsel and the Fair Administration of Justice" (login required).
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