Collaborative  Courts:

  • Use a combination of treatment and accountability to compel and support drug-using offenders to change their lives.
  • Are widely applied to adult criminal cases, juvenile delinquency and truancy cases and family court cases involving parents at risk of losing custody of their children due to substance abuse.
  • Significantly reduce drug abuse and crime and do so at far less expense than any other justice strategy.
  • Improve communities by successfully getting offenders (parents, juveniles, adults, veterans, homeless people, and mentally ill individuals) clean and sober and stopping drug-related crime.
  • Are effective because of a multi-phase treatment program combined with frequent court appearances and expectations for completion.

Collaborative justice courts-also known as problem-solving courts-promote accountability by combining judicial supervision with rehabilitation services that are rigorously monitored and focused on recovery. These courts are distinguished by the following elements: a problem-solving focus, a team approach to decision making, integration of social and treatment services, judicial supervision of the treatment process, community outreach, direct interaction between defendants and judge, and a proactive role for the judge inside and outside the courtroom.

As stated by Chief Justice Ronald M. George, “The rapid expansion of drug courts can be traced to one basic factor: they work. Their value can be measured in the lives of kids and families who have been helped to escape the cycle of drugs and failure, and whose lives might otherwise have ended in disease, incarceration, broken families, or even death.”

In January 2000, Chief Justice Ronald M. George appointed the Collaborative Justice Courts Advisory Committee to explore the effectiveness of such courts and advise the Judicial Council about the role of these courts in addressing complex social issues and problems that make their way to the trial courts. Formation of the committee expanded the scope of the Oversight Committee for the California Drug Court Project, which was appointed by Chief Justice George as of July 1, 1996, and continued until December 31, 1999. On August 3, 2000, the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators passed a resolution to support collaborative justice courts.

California Collaborative Justice Courts:  Building a Problem-Solving Judiciary

INNOVATION IN CALIFORNIA
Judiciaries around the country are embracing a new way of business, one that emphasizes partnerships with stakeholders in and outside the courts, improved community access to the justice system, greater accountability for offenders and better community outcomes, such as increased safety and improved public confidence. This new way of doing business goes by various names. In many jurisdictions, it’s called “problem solving.” In California it goes by the name “collaborative justice.” Problem-solving courts (or collaborative justice courts) include
specialized drug courts, domestic violence courts, community courts, family treatment courts, DUI courts, mental health courts, peer/youth
courts and homeless courts.

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California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs Drug Court FACT SHEET

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(There are approximately 551 total active Collaborative Courts in California at this time ; numbers vary depending on grant awards and other considerations):

Adult Drug Courts 98
Community Courts 4
Domestic Violence Courts 33
Elder Abuse Courts 2
Family Dependency Drug Courts 51
Homeless Courts 21
Juvenile Drug Courts 48
Mental Health Courts 47
Peer Courts 70
Prop 36 Courts 94 (currently unfunded)
Re-Entry Courts 6
Veterans Courts 7