Statewide Coordination of Problem-Solving Courts

I was in DC today for a roundtable that we put together with the Bureau of Justice Assistance. We convened a group to discuss an emerging phenomenon: the statewide coordination of problem-solving courts. Included at the table were state leaders from Utah, New York, Vermont, California, Maryland, Idaho and Indiana, along with representatives from some of the major national groups in the field, including the Council of State Governments, the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, the National Center for State Courts and others. To my knowledge, it was the first-ever gathering of its kind. I'm still processing the experience and am finding it difficult to distill into bite-size, blog-worthy nuggets. What I can say with a fair degree of confidence is that the roundtable underlined that there is a great hunger in the field for more thinking about what the goals of statewide coordination should be and how they might be achieved. We've got some work to do before we come up with the answers to these questions. Anyway, kudos to Julius, Brett, Alan and Val for their roles today.