The National Center for State Courts is in preparations to begin the first-ever NCSC Problem-Solving Court Census, a database of contact information for all justice-system programs that focus on the underlying chronic behaviors of those who appear before the court. Officials are asking for the court community’s help to ensure that all such courts are represented.
In the interest of obtaining an accurate count of the number of courts in operation, the NCSC is interested in hearing from any court that “offer(s) components or elements of problem-solving courts, not just those with certification or those that fit into pre-existing designations.” The type of courts could include, but is not limited to: drug courts, mental health and veterans courts, and courts serving the homeless and teens.
The census is scheduled to begin January 30, 2013, and will include questions about the social issues being addressed by the court, the population being served, and the court’s funding sources. The data collected in the census will be used to address such issues as funding, the establishment of baseline data of problem-solving courts, and better coordination in the evaluation of courts.
If your court has not already heard from the NCSC regarding the census, census project staff can be contacted via email at CensusPSC@ncsc.org. Census staff requests that emails include (a) the name of the problem-solving court and (b) the name and email address of a contact person for the court.
You can read the NCSC press release on census for more information.
