110 Iowa L. Rev. 463 (2024)
Abstract
Treatment courts are an alternative to incarceration that focus on the rehabilitation of defendants suffering from substance addiction by utilizing the concept of therapeutic jurisprudence. Treatment courts have been studied extensively and were found to reduce recidivism and produce net cost-savings when compared to traditional incarceration. Iowa’s treatment court system has developed through the grassroots efforts of individual judges and their teams utilizing federal grant money. However, the state has failed to provide adequate funding to allow treatment courts to evolve and come into compliance with evidence-based best practice standards. This Note argues that Iowa must adopt treatment court legislation that encourages the proliferation of treatment courts, creates a judicial branch committee to ensure that treatment courts are compliant with best practice standards, and funds treatment courts directly through the Judicial Branch, rather than through each district’s department of corrections. Funding for such a bill could be sourced from the $174 million settlement that will be paid to the state by opioid producers and distributors.