Problem-oriented courts such as drug courts, mental health courts, domestic violence courts and others represent move away from a focus on individuals and their criminal conduct to an examination of offenders' problems and their solutions. Problem-oriented courts are courts which attempt to use judicial authority to deal with an offenders' underlying problems in conjunction with governmental, social and community agencies. This article examines the philosophical underpinning of such courts and traces their growth and development in the United States and Australia. It assesses some of the criticisms directed at the courts, including the problem of defining the 'problem', whether services to problem populations should be concentrated or dispersed, resource diversion and possible distortions of judicial power and the judicial process and concludes that local experiments along these lines should continue but be subject to stringent evaluation.
 

Date: Monday, 13 May 2002

Time: 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Venue: 14/F, Senior Common Room, K.K. Leung Bldg., The University of Hong Kong.
 

Professor Arie Freiberg was appointed to the Foundation Chair of Criminology at the University of Melbourne in January 1991, Head of the Department of Criminology in January 1992, Associate Dean (Resources) of the Faculty of Arts in 1996 and Deputy Dean in 1999, all of which positions he currently holds.
He graduated from the University of Melbourne with an honours degree in Law and a Diploma in Criminology in 1972 and a Master of Laws degree from Monash University in 1984. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws by the University of Melbourne in 2001. Prior to taking up his appointment at the University of Melbourne he was a Reader in Law at Monash University.
He has also held positions with the Australian Institute of Criminology and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. Between 1996 and 1998 he was President of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology.
His particular areas of expertise are criminal sentencing and confiscation of the proceeds of crime and he has authored major works in both fields. He has served as a consultant to the Victorian, South Australian Western Australian and federal government on sentencing matters. In 2000 he served as a consultant to the South African Law Commission in its reference on sentencing and in 2002 he completed a major review of sentencing in Victoria.