Following a number of site visits around the country and in collaboration with experts in the field, the Justice Programs Office(JPO)team in the School of Public Affairs at American University launched a Racial and Ethnic Disparities(RED)Program Assessment Tool to help treatment court professionals identify and examine areas where racial and ethnic disparities may exist in their court programs.

Although research has shown that treatment courts are an effective solution to helping justice-involved individuals, trends show disparities may exist in some treatment court programs when it comes to who has access to the programs (participation), completion rates (graduation), and recidivism outcomes.

The JPO team developed the RED Program Assessment Tool for treatment courts and are inviting those teams to participate in the assessment to identify and mitigate gaps in their programs. 

Three things to know about the RED Program Assessment Tool:

• It’s FREE, user-friendly, and uses a secure web-based platform
• It’s a comprehensive assessment for treatment court programs
• It provides recommendations to treatment court teams

To learn more and participate to take the RED Program Assessment, contact NDCRC at (202)885-2875 ndcrc@american.edu

Take the Assessment

Despite our best intentions and efforts to be procedurally fair and humane, court proceedings are often traumatic events for victims and human trafficking survivors, especially for those survivors who are arrested and charged with criminal offenses. By learning more about the genesis and manifestations of trauma and adopting changes to court practice, justice professionals can reduce the harm inflicted on survivors and increase trust. Join our upcoming MOSAICS webinar to explore how you can incorporate trauma responsive practices into your courtroom. Tuesday August 13, 2019 2:00 p.m. EDT
Register here

Our Justice Programs Office team recently refreshed the National Drug Court Resource, Policy, and Evidence-Based Practice Center’s (NDCRC) website. Our team hosts and manages the NDCRC website to equip the drug court field with a wide variety of resources, research, and tools. These resources support treatment court professionals in effectively running their courts. 

The refresh brings the NDCRC website up-to-date with best practices and modern website design elements. The cleaner look and feel and improved navigation means treatment court practitioners around the country can more easily find the relevant resources and tools they need.

Visit ndcrc.org and click on the homepage banner to watch our drug court explainer video to learn about treatment courts. Also check out our podcasts, Drug Court Review Journal, Drug Court Database and Map, and more!

NDCRC is funded in part by a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, US Department of Justice.

The big idea behind The Justice in Government Project is to embed civil legal aid into state and local governments’ existing priorities, programs, and appropriations to increase effectiveness, efficiency, and fairness for low-and moderate-income people and communities. The Justice in Government Project’s Toolkit was developed to do just that. The Toolkit provides research on how legal aid can help states further their policy and programmatic goals, information about funding legal aid, and examples of successful partnerships and programs. 

This Toolkit helps government policymakers, practitioners, grant administrators, legal profession leaders, social service providers, and legal aid or other advocates:  

• Learn about the evidence base for using legal aid to further government policy and program goals;
• Identify sources of executive branch funding for legal aid; and
• Find examples of states that currently advance their policy priorities with already appropriated federal block and other public funds that allow spending on legal aid.

This Toolkit will continue to grow. To hear about updates and new tools or to provide feedback, send an email to jgp@american.edu 
JGP Toolkit

This fall on JPO's "On the Docket with NDCRC" podcast, we're exploring the opioid epidemic. Listen now to hear how one Montana drug treatment court is battling a flood of opioids in its community.

Listen to the Podcast

Issues within the justice system tend to disproportionally effect the least fortunate members of society. Similarly, the overuse of resources by business entities create environmental impacts that tend to disproportionally effect those same members of society. Therefore, the Justice Programs Office is committed to environmental stability. By participating in American University’s Green Office Program, we have a concrete set of goals to reduce our carbon footprint, reduce our use of resources, and increase our recycling efforts. This is accomplished by working directly with American University’s Office of Sustainability and informing staff and students on sustainable office practices.  

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