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Linking Criminal Courts with Treatment and Support
Applying a therapeutic justice approach, mainstream criminal courts can explore, and respond to, the causes of crime.
One common cause of offending is substance abuse and addiction. In specialist drug courts there is a clear link between the criminal justice process and treatment. In mainstream courts there are many points in the system that can be an opportunity to link the person with treatment and support:
- pre-charge (police referral to treatment)
- pre-sentence (through supportive bail programs)
- during the sentencing process (judicial monitoring with treatment)
- as part of the sentence itself (a sentence that allows for community based treatment).
Such interventions may not always be appropriate if other considerations come into play such as community protection but for the majority of people in the criminal justice system risks can be managed in community based treatment.
To minimise harm to the community and the person concerned, intervention early in the process is key however intervention can be available at various points.
In this post we have talked about substance abuse but these principles apply to other underlying causes of offending such as mental ill health or financial problems.
Posted in Court Support Tagged Addiction Treatment, court support, Criminal Justice, mainstream, therapeutic jurisprudence Leave a comment
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