"QUESTIONING" in a COMPLEX SOCIETY

Battle of the psychiatric experts has been a tradition in American Criminal Justice at least since Ake v. Oklahoma (1986)

• ​the  US Supreme Court held that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment required the state to provide a psychiatric evaluation to be used on behalf of an indigent criminal defendant if he needed it.

• In 2021, I would say that most criminal defendants have some form of brain injury, substance use, developmental difference / disability, psychiatric disorder --- and many of them "intended" the crime.

• Problem-Solving Courts have emerged as a MIDDLE WAY to deal with some of these COMPLEX PROBLEMS.

• BUT for this to work, PROBLEM-SOLVING COURTS need access to the FULL RANGE of the CONTINUUM of CARE --- which Colorado and most states are struggling to provide.

The BOTTOM LINE:  The better the "TREATMENTS" --- the more "successful" this is going to be.  There's a BIG INCENTIVE to invest in TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH and MEDICINE.

IN THE MEANTIME:  Building on Strengths and Providing Work-Arounds for Executive Functioning Differences / Deficits is CRITICAL to enable a growing percentage of the population with NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL INFLAMMATION ---- TO THRIVE.

​Problem-Solving Courts

At least one paper has identified SUPPORTIVE HOUSING and SUPPORTIVE EMPLOYMENT as potential important tools of PROBLEM-SOLVING COURTS.

Mental Health Courts: Pro & Con

​Maternal acute and chronic inflammation in pregnancy is associated with common neurodevelopmental disorders: a systematic review

(Jan. 2021)

​Neuroendocrine and immune pathways from pre- and perinatal stress to substance abuse

(2018)