CRM 342: Specialized Courts

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was a steady influx of people entering state prisons for drug sales and possession. Contemporary thinking suggested that many of these new inmates were in fact drug addicts, dealing in narcotics and other substances as an element of their untreated substance abuse problem. The idea of a drug court setting that sent people to treatment instead of prison captured the American imagination. Shortly after, a number of other types of courts -- aimed at the problem that resulted in the criminal behavior-- took shape. This is an in-depth examination of those courts, their supporters and critics.