Specialty Courts: Current Issues and Future Prospects

• NCJ Number: 214797
• Author(s): Jason Payne
• Date Published: June 2006
• Length: 6 pages
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Publication Format: Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, No. 317, June 2006; downloaded July 10, 2006.

Annotation

This paper examines the history and development of the specialty court concept in Australia, which pertains to the trend in creating courts whose policies and procedures are designed to address only specific types of crimes or offenders and associated issues.

Abstract

The first specialty court program in Australia was the South Australian Family Violence Court, which began operating in 1997. After describing procedures used in the various types of Australian specialty courts, this paper reports that evaluations of these courts to date have found that the subpopulations of offenders for whom these courts are intended are not likely to come before these courts, or to remain in compliance with the many requirements of a specialty court once they become involved. If this pattern is to change in the future, policymakers must assess the appropriateness of current eligibility criteria; develop responses that improve the participation of targeted offender groups; and develop risk-assessment tools that can identify those offenders who are most likely to benefit from the specialty court programs. The paper distinguishes specialty courts from other types of courts in their incorporation of new and innovative court practices that typically involve some level of judicial monitoring and multiagency cooperation in providing treatment/rehabilitative services. A December 2004 Australian national audit identified 19 specialty courts operating across Australia as of December 31, 2004. Nine were created to deal with drug-dependent offenders; six provide alternative sentencing programs for Indigenous offenders; three deal only with family and domestic-violence cases; and one handles cases that involve mentally impaired offenders. A major achievement of specialty courts has been the development of networks of cooperation between criminal justice and community agencies in a coordinated effort to manage offenders with certain types of problem behaviors and/or needs. 18 references