The Center for Court Innovation helped to plan and implement New York City’s first drug court, the Brooklyn Treatment Court, and regularly provides information and technical assistance to drug court programs across the state. For example, the Center developed a customized computer application that has been adopted for statewide use, and regularly conducts training events for adult, family, and juvenile drug courts in New York. The Center has also been providing assistance, both to New York and states around the country, on how to institutionalize the principles and practices of drug courts.

The Center develops publications and internet materials of special interest to a drug court audience, disseminates materials on drug court computer applications, and is able to provide hands-on consulting to practitioners across the country and internationally.

The Center’s services include:

• Site visits
• Hands-on assistance
• Trainings
• Research and writing

Site Visits

Site visits are one of the best vehicles for introducing planners to the concepts and practice of drug courts. Over the years, the Center has developed structured tours for visitors to its demonstration projects, including the Brooklyn Treatment Court, which links nonviolent, substance-abusing defendants to drug treatment as an alternative to incarceration—and provides a real-world example of how courts are seeking to craft a meaningful response to the problems posed by substance-abusing defendants.

On a typical site visit, visitors will:

• see the courtroom in action and meet the judge;
• meet project staff, who will be available to answer questions;
• obtain sample documents; and
• brainstorm new approaches to problems back home.

Hands-on assistance

The Center for Court Innovation provides intensive one-on-one assistance in the planning, implementation, and enhancement of drug courts.

Assistance is available in four main areas:

1. DEVELOPMENT

The Center can work with clients to develop individual adult, family, and juvenile drug courts.

2. INSTITUTIONALIZATION

Center experts can work with policymakers to institutionalize the drug court model on a statewide basis.

3. EVALUATION

The Center can help planners evaluate the project by establishing performance measures and assessing its actual impact on the court system and offenders.

4. TROUBLESHOOTING

Finally, the Center can assist with troubleshooting, helping program managers analyze operations and make mid-course adjustments.

Workshops/Training Sessions

In New York, the Center works in close partnership with the Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for Court Operations and Planning to train drug court staff and identify and disseminate best practices. From August 2001 through April 2006, the Center's drug court team conducted 49 trainings for adult and family drug treatment courts in New York State, reaching over 2,000 people. The Center also delivers drug court-related trainings to a non-drug-court audience, including non-drug court judges and treatment providers.

The Center’s drug court experts are available to provide customized workshops, panels, and trainings to practitioners around the world who are interested in the principles of drug courts and the work being done in New York, which by April 2006 had 194 drug courts operational or in planning.

Research and writing

Center for Court Innovation researchers are available to conduct original research, including both impact and process evaluations, and to produce publications.

The Center has produced a number of publications on drug courts; click here to read the Center’s drug court-related publications, or visit the Research page to learn more about the Center’s research team and its projects.

REQUEST ASSISTANCE FORM

Please use this form for any of your expert assistance needs, whether you'd like to arrange a visit to one of our demonstration projects in New York, request hands-on assistance, schedule a training, engage our researchers, or just request more information in general. We look forward to hearing from you.