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Specialty Courts, also known as problem-solving courts, are "...sessions that provide court-supervised probation and required treatment. These courts focus on substance use disorders (drug courts), mental health issues (mental health courts) and veterans' issues (veterans treatment courts). Judges in drug court sessions usually require a demanding treatment regimen and accountability" (Specialty Courts, n.d.). These specialty courts are put in place to handle cases in a more uniform manner and affect their outcomes in hopes of reducing and preventing recidivism. "The purpose of these courts is to provide a less costly and more efficient way of dealing with offenders that bypasses the typical adversarial criminal court process of plea-bargaining, trials, and incarceration" (Welch & Fuller, 2013). The specific type of specialty court that I studied that I believe to have the most potential for long-term success is drug courts. Drug courts focus solely on long-term recovery. "...the Twelfth Judicial Circuit's drug court opened its doors with a simple premise: Rather than continue to allow individuals with long histories of addiction and crime to cycle through the justice system at great expense to the public, use the leverage of the court to keep them engaged in treatment long enough to be successful" (Drug Court Restores Lives, Saves Families, n.d.). Statistics show that there are 4,000 programs nationwide, and more than 150,000 people nationwide entered the criminal justice system due to addiction and have received treatment and the opportunity to repair their lives, to reconnect with their families, and discover life-long recovery (Drug Courts Restore Lives, Saves Families, n.d.). With the resources offered by the courts for the specialty drug courts, it allows individuals a chance to redeem themselves by focusing on their sobriety by utilizing group counseling and frequent drug tests. "...drug courts have significantly reduced crime, provide better treatment outcomes, and produce better cost benefits than other criminal justice strategies" (Drug Courts, n.d.). This has proved that the drug court participants have been less likely to relapse back into drug usage and there has been less family conflict.

The biggest hurdle I've found against these types of problem-solving courts is that funding problem-solving courts is costly as there are operating expenses that keep these types of courts up and running properly. Although these courts are costly, they save money by reducing incarceration costs and crime. They are typically federally funded and are partnered with research programs that obtain data collection that persuaded funders that problem-solving courts deliver positive outcomes and save money by reducing incarceration costs (Banks, 2021).

Some of the biggest advantages that exist for specialty courts is that they produce speed and efficiency with case decisions, and they maintain positive outcomes to reduce recidivism rates. Not only are recidivism rates decreasing, but it's also saving money and space for more heinous crimes in prison. "One study of such programs found that for every one dollar invested in a drug treatment court, there was an average cost savings, per defendant, of $2,615 to $12,218" (Salomone & Mack, 2015).

Specialty courts strongly decrease recidivism rates.

"Specialized courts effectively reduce recidivism and improve public safety by providing categories of offenders who are at risk of chronic reoffending or who could benefit from rehabilitation with the resources they need to address underlying issues that can lead to preventable deaths and injuries" (Specialized Court Programs, n.d.). Specialty courts are known to reduce recidivism rates, but I wouldn't say they strongly decrease them; in the end, people are going to make their own decisions and there are still a lot of individuals who do end up back in prisons as they don't want to utilize the resources to their full potential and help themselves. You cannot help someone who doesn't take their resources seriously and doesn't want to help themselves. However, drug courts are known to have the highest impact on reducing recidivism rates out of all other specialty courts; "A study funded by the Department of Justice examined rearrest rates for drug court graduates and found that nationally, 84 percent of drug court graduates have not been re-arrested and charged with a serious crime in the first year after graduation, and 72.5 percent have no arrests at the twoyear mark" (Drug Courts, n.d.).