Good Courts

<div><p>Public confidence in American criminal courts is at an all-time low. Victims communities and even offenders view courts as unable to respond adequately to complex social and legal problems including drugs prostitution domestic violence and quality-of-life crime. Even many judges and attorneys think that the courts produce assembly-line justice.</p><p>Increasingly embraced by even the most hard-on-crime jurists problem-solving courts offer an effective alternative. As documented by Greg Berman and John Feinblatt-both of whom were instrumental in setting up New York's Midtown Community Court and Red Hook Community Justice Center two of the nation's premier models for problem-solving justice-these alternative courts reengineer the way everyday crime is addressed by focusing on the underlying problems that bring people into the criminal justice system to begin with.</p><p>The first book to describe this cutting-edge movement in detail <I>Good Courts</I> features in addition to the Midtown and Red Hook models an in-depth look at Oregon's Portland Community Court and reviews the growing body of evidence that the problem-solving approach to justice is indeed producing positive results around the country.</p><BR></div>