Creative Governance through a Cheer-Leader Judge

A report in an Australian daily caught my eye as an example of Creative Governance at work in the courts.

The decade old Drug Court in the state of New South Wales has proven a great success thanks to the creativity and compassion of judge Roger Dive. He instituted a system whereby he leads a team of people responsible for the rehabilitation of the drug offender to an enthusiastic applause.

Judge Roger Dive sees about 40 drug offenders each day in his. These appearances, called report backs, are for Judge Dive to consider whether the offender is making progress in a court-determined program to cut drug use, build a normal life and avoid reoffending.

If the offender - pointedly called a participant - has moved forward, Judge Dive leads the applause, joined by his team of lawyers, health workers, corrections officers and counsellors, as well as by the other participants waiting in the back of the court.

The improvement may be going three days without using drugs; it may be finding a job or a training course; it may be graduating from the Drug Court after 12 months. When applauded, the participant leaves the court beaming, often shaking hands with other participants on the way out.

According to a four-year study by the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research published last year, graduates from the Drug Court are 58 per cent less likely to commit another drug offence than those who did not enter the program. This result, according to the bureau's director is unmatched in Australia.

All participants are convicted non-violent drug users who are eligible for Drug Court as an alternative to full-time imprisonment. Treating offenders outside jail is the court's underlying principle.

The success shows that there are always better alternatives than the traditional jail and punishment methods. It proves that applause may well work much better than incarceration and other forms of punishment because the desire to reform comes from the offender himself.

Talk on Creative Governance

Please email me at DrYKK@mindbloom.net if you want to invite me to present an illuminating one hour Talk on Creative Governance and thereafter to facilitate a session to help solve a prevailing public and social problem in the spirit of Creative Governance.

I would appreciate if you could share Creative Governance stories with me so that they could be featured here. Please forward your response and contributions to DrYKK@mindbloom.net