Collaboration between the Judiciary and Treatment Programs

Collaboration between the judicial branch and both private and public rehabilitation institutions can help to maximize the benefits of sentencing, tracking and monitoring, and treatment of repeat offenders. A good example is New Hampshire’s Multiple DWI Offender Intervention Detention Center Program. The judiciary cooperates with treatment providers by imposing mandatory stays in the treatment program. One aspect of the program is all second offenders (for whom the program is mandatory) always enter jail on a Tuesday morning and are transported directly to the 7-day program on Friday morning. This allows jail time for these offenders but prevents overcrowding the jails with DWI offenders on weekends, when the facilities are most filled. The 3-day incarceration also serves as a social detox, since all offenders are required to be abstinent from all substances three days prior to entering the multiple DWI Offender residential program.