Media Clips

ODU study touts success of Norfolk's mental health courts

9/2/02 HamptonRoads.com—"The exchanges between the judge and the defendants in Circuit Courtroom Number 8 on Tuesday afternoons are a little unconventional. But then, so is this court. There's chatter about grandchildren, back pain, blood pressure problems and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. "What are you doing about finding a job?" Judge Charles E. Poston asks one man. "...You know you don't have to do much to make us happy." "You finish the anger management classes?" he asks another. "Is it a waste of your time?" The defendant says that it's not and adds, "I get a better way of looking at things." After hearing how another woman hasn't contacted her case workers in a week, the judge admonishes, "I'm disappointed in you." It might be unconventional, but it's working. This is one of the state's few mental health courts. A recent study shows that it's successfully keeping many offenders out of jail, stabilized in treatment programs and sober."

Available online

http://hamptonroads.com/

Author(s)

Debbie Messina

Date

September 02, 2002

State

Virginia

Source

HamptonRoads.com

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