| Drug courts seek to halt the revolving door of addiction and arrest by linking addicted offenders to drug treatment and rigorous judicial monitoring. They bring together judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, treatment providers and court staff in a collaborative effort to enforce compliance with court orders. Drug courts also use a system of graduated rewards and sanctions to help substance abusers attain—and maintain—a drug-free life. Today, thanks to growing evidence that drug courts have reduced substance abuse and recidivism, there are over 1,160 drug courts in all 50 states. |
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John Rowley, Judge, Family and County Court, Tompkins County, New York
Judge Rowley has been instrumental in shaping the family treatment court model in New York State, having founded the Tompkins County Family Treatment Court in 2001. In 2007, he was elected president of the New York Association of Drug Treatment Court Professionals.
Q: As the new New York President of the New York Association of Drug Treatment Court Professionals, what are your plans?
At our next conference in March 2008, we’re planning to highlight our partnerships. I’m very encouraged by the statement from a number of the new commissioners from our partners at the Office of Children and Family Services. I know Judge Judy Harris Kluger’s office has been working for a number of years now to try to make better connections at the top level, and we’ve all made the connections at our local level, but there’s been a disconnect in between. So we’re really trying to start by recognizing how important the partnerships are and then pushing those partnerships to deliver more for each other.
One example is this: for personality disorders there is an effective treatment dialectical behavioral therapy that has been proven effective, but it’s kind of sporadically used in limited fashion around the state. I’ve talked to Office of Children and Family Services about trying to introduce this therapy into the state inpatient system, so that we can start with an intervention in the community and then pick it right up there. Then when someone gets discharged they can be discharged right back into that system again. So I think there’s all sorts of potential for us, recognizing that we’re working with clients facing the same challenges and that we can kind of learn from each other about how to be more effective. But it really takes some close coordination and real commitment and money to be able to say, “Yes, this is going to be a priority, we’re going to do a better job with this particular population that is driving you crazy and that we’re just kicking out because we can’t deal with them.” It’s easy to do lip service, but I’m looking to making the partnerships actually bear fruit. We’ve got to have results from working together.
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Center Honored for Taking Drug Courts to Scale
Greg Berman, Director of the Center for Court Innovation (second from left) with
Hon. John C. Rowley, Hon. Robert T. Russell and Hon. Thomas P. Amodeo of the
New York Drug Treatment Court Professionals Association
In June 2007, the National Association of Drug Court Professionals honored the Center for Court Innovation with its National Leadership Award. The Award, which recognized the Center’s efforts to “go to scale” with drug courts in New York state, was presented at the national drug court conference in front of an audience of more than 3,000.
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FEATURED PUBLICATION
Action Research: Using Information to Improve Your Drug Court
By Michael Rempel
A practical guide for drug court administrators and staff reporting how they can use data productively to monitor their operations, measure key performance indicators, identify areas of success, and bring to light problem areas or ways to improve.
download PDF version | | | |
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