This week saw a flurry of interest in problem-solving courts as we launched our latest report Problem-Solving Courts: A Delivery Plan, which sets out a practical, affordable strategy for delivering a suite of new problem-solving pilots.
The launch of the report on Wednesday, was accompanied by a letter in the times, where more than thirty leading justice system experts and practitioners urged the new Lord Chancellor to pilot and support new specialist “problem-solving” courts.
The report was also covered by the Guardian which drew attention to worries that the government’s proposed pilots of problem-solving courts have lost momentum, and the Law Society Gazette which highlighted and ambition of our proposed plan.
On the same day, we held a launch event in London where the Centre’s Director, Phil Bowen and head of Better Courts, Stephen Whitehead presented the plan to a packed room of practitioners, experts and policy makers. They were joined by Judge Jonathan Carroll who explained his work at St Alban’s Choices and Consequences (C2) programme. C2 works with some of Hertfordshire’s most prolific and persistent offenders, offering them supervision and support from dedicated police officers, and holding them accountable through regular judicial reviews. Attendees at the event discussed the relationship between problem-solving courts and mental health, the role of the third sector and the how we can go from pilots to a consistent national approach.
With the report now in the public domain, we will be engaging with judges, ministers and officials to ensure that our message that problem solving courts are affordable, practical and effective is heard and understood.