Author: Edie Okamoto

 Healing Criminal Justice is available for a free download in July 2019 on Amazon. The book Healing Criminal Justice: a journey to restore community in the courts.

Twenty-Five years ago, a small group of judges, DAs, PDs, treatment specialists and others banded together to form the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP). The pioneers of the drug court movement made sacrifices, overcame challenges and persevered to create one of the most important voices for criminal justice drug reform in the world.

Over 1.5 million persons have entered drug courts since NADCP’s formation 25 years ago. Some 250,000 persons have been trained at its programs. And over 3000 drug courts have been established during that time.

Healing Criminal Justice’s central theme is the rediscovery of the healing power of community. Judge Tauber also lays out his vision of a future, in which society, recoiling from its overindulgence in imprisonment, returns to its historic reliance on community as the controller of criminal behavior. Finally Healing Criminal Justice speaks to how leadership from within can change the trajectory of a major institution, even one as immutable as the criminal justice system.

In Healing Criminal Justice, Judge Tauber describes his experience as one of the nation’s first drug court judges in Oakland and how a nascent field with a few scattered programs was transformed into a nationwide movement. He recalls his worldwide travels as well as his experience as a struggling saxman playing in Oakland’s blues clubs, and how both contributed to his understanding of one of the most vital elements in the criminal justice system: community.

Healing Criminal Justice: A Journey to Restore Community in Our Courts arrives just in time to celebrates the 25th Anniversary of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP).

Book Excerpt

The year was 2010. Reentry Courts were a part of the larger Problem-Solving Court field; which were in turn, built upon the success of Drug Courts. Problem-Solving Courts had the potential to be a pathway forward for a nation overwhelmed by complex social justice problems, rooted in alcohol, drug, and mental health issues. Drug Courts were providing a template for a more humane and less punitive approach to treating the drug offender. To read the entire excerpt click here

About the Author Jeffrey Tauber

Judge Jeffrey Tauber ret., is a pioneer in the development of court-based rehabilitation systems, spearheading the development and growth of Drug Courts and other Problem-Solving courts across the United States. He was the founding President of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP,1994-2001) and Executive Director of the National Drug Court Institute (1997-2001).  In 2008 he was elected “president emeritus for life” of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. In June of 1999, the newly founded International Association of Drug Court Professionals (IADCP) elected him their first chairperson. In that capacity, he presented before the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the Caribbean Conference of Magistrates and other International organizations. As a judge in Oakland, California, Jeffrey Tauber initiated and presided over the design and implementation of the Oakland Drug Court Program, one of the first in the nation (1990) and was the first President of the California Association of Drug Court Professionals (CADCP).

He has written extensively on court-ordered rehabilitation systems and drug policy, including the first Drug Court Manual published, “Drug Courts: A Judicial Manual”, (California Center for Judicial Education and Research, 1994) and “Rational Drug Policy Reform: A Resource Guide.” (CSPC 2001). He has also written “A Proposal for a National Reentry Court Initiative: Four Policy Papers.” (Alexandria VA: National Association of Drug Court Professionals, 2009).

While on the bench, (1985-97) Oakland’s Drug Court received the Public Employees’ Roundtable Award for “Outstanding County-Run Public Service Program in the Nation” and the California Administration Office of the Courts’ “Ralph Kelps Award for Court Innovations”. Judge Tauber (ret.) was a member of the California Judiciary from 1985-1997. He is a graduate of the City University of New York and Boston University Law School.

Jeffrey Tauber is currently the Director/Editor of Reentry Court Solutions (RCS), an educational initiative that provides a national information website (reentrycourtsolutions.com), as well as technical assistance, training, and advisory services to the field. He has consulted and been an advisor to over a dozen nations.

More Details: To learn more about visit these links Healing Criminal Justice, to learn more about the NADCP to learn more about how you may wish to get engaged visit www.reentrycourtsolutions.com/

For more information about the book and Jeffrey Tauber please contact him at(510) 847-2374; jtauber@reentrycourtsolutions.com

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