2021 Judicial Conference Program

may benefit from a change. They also give courts the ability to examine the effects of newly implemented policies to determine if they are functioning as intended or if further revision is needed. The final Mental Health Court Performance Measures report presented the performance measures and associated benchmarks as endorsed by the Specialty Courts and Dockets Committee in 2019. The final and essential component to the performance management system is training on how to use this framework to assess performance and make any necessary modifications. To accomplish this training objective, NCSC, with input from the Judiciary, designed a course based on realistic scenarios that represent performance issues and challenges frequently encountered by mental health courts. These scenarios demonstrate how performance measures can be used to address an issue. This two-day training for all mental health court teams was scheduled in April 2020 and was postponed due to COVID-19. In-person and virtual options are being considered for spring 2021. Problem-Solving Court Subcommittee The Problem-Solving Courts Subcommittee assists courts and provide a comprehensive and collaborative approach to dealing with the issues that arise for the participants in these courts. This subcommittee assists each program in employing best practices, including providing evidence- based training, direct assistance, research, and identifying funding to support their courts. Problem-solving courts continue to play a vital role in providing an effective means of addressing addiction and mental health issues that arise in cases adjudicated in our courts. The Problem- Solving Court Subcommittee continues to diligently address the strategic goals as follows: • Maryland has sixty operational problem-solving courts as of September 30, 2020: • 25 Adult Drug Courts (District and Circuit)

• 2 Juvenile Drug Courts • 5 Family Recovery Courts • 3 DUI Courts • 7 Mental Health Courts • 2 Re-Entry Courts • 7 Veterans Courts • 8 Truancy Reduction Courts • 1 Back-On-Track

Outreach/Collaboration • The subcommittee continues to coordinate with state and local agencies to improve the functioning of our problem-solving courts. The OPSC Staff had 324 face-to-face or virtual contacts in Fiscal Year 2020 with problem-solving court teams ranging from attending events such as graduations, completing programmatic site visits, attending program staffing and court hearings, and completing financial (grant) visits. • Maryland’s problem-solving court judges and magistrates met with participants 26,395 times in court hearings during Fiscal Year 2020. • SMART, the problem-solving court’s web-based data management system, was expanded to provide enhanced Problem-Solving Courts tracking and report capacity to drug, re-entry, mental health, veterans, and truancy court programs. More advanced expansion for mental health courts and truancy courts were started this year and expected to continue into the next year. • In addition to funding from OPSC, funding was also obtained through Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Governor’s Office on Crime Control and Prevention (GOCCP), and the Maryland Highway Safety Office to enable the State’s problem-solving court programs to maximize access to additional resources.

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