NCJ Number
243541
Journal
Law & Policy Volume: 34 Issue: 4 Dated: October 2012 Pages: 402-427
Date Published
October 2012
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This study examined problem solving (PS) courts (e.g., drug, family, gang, prostitution, reentry).
Abstract
Problem solving (PS) courts (e.g., drug, family, gang, prostitution, reentry) are becoming more commonplace. Today, PS courts exist or are planned in nearly all of the 94 U.S. Federal districts. These courts focus on integrating therapeutic jurisprudence into the courtroom environment while emphasizing group decisionmaking processes among courtroom workgroup members. In this legal setting, courtroom workgroup teams, regularly consisting of judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, probation officers (POs), and treatment providers engage a collective, case management approach to decisionmaking with shared power among team members. However, despite the court's therapeutic and collaborative design, the authors found that POs wield powerful influence in decisionmaking. Informed by 16 months of qualitative fieldwork, including semistructured interviews, observation of courtroom workgroup meetings, and court observations in 5 Federal PS courts in 3 Federal districts, the authors found that POs exert undetected informational, technical, and relational power within the PS courtroom workgroup. This role and its accompanying power transforms POs into key decisionmakers, regardless of PS court type, workgroup dynamics, and decisionmaking style. The POs' role makes them critical contributors to the outcomes in Federal PS courts with important implications for punishment decisions in the Federal justice system. With an increasing number of PS courts currently in the planning stages at the Federal level, this study has implications for the structure and decision outcomes in these growing courtroom workgroups. Abstract published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons.