Case Management on Cindy Hart

¶ … manager (pretrial diversion worker) in this case may adopt best practices in court-based diversion, categorized into 1) specialty mental health, and 2) traditional court. The major portion of literature concerning court-based diversion concentrates exclusively on the former category, wherein attorneys and judges team up with other court officials, case managers, mental health personnel, psychotherapists, other services and the defendant for developing alternatives to treat offenders suffering from mental ailments. It must be borne in mind that there is heterogeneity in mental health courts, with considerable variability among different courts with regards to methods and systems employed in handling mentally-ill persons (Hartford et al., 2004). Numerous communities have insufficient capability of creating specialty courts having committed judges, counsel and staff members. Places wherein specialty courts that haven't been established, whether due to inability or any other cause, must still think about combining problem-solving practices with conventional courtroom practices. One can implement the system in various ways, on a narrower basis, like delaying sentencing until treatment referrals and administering other supports for imprisoned wrongdoers. The diversion initiative must feature cross-sector representatives, which include judges (guides/leaders of planning and administration), defense counsel, police, pretrial workers, court officers, corrections, substance use therapists, mental health therapists and advocates, providers of services like housing, victim services, family, and consumers. This diversity in the committee must essentially suggest intricacy of problems suffered by mentally-ill defendants (Livingston, 2008).

An analysis of best-practices literature concerning pre-trial diversion reveals the key components to develop an effective intervention, for a case manager in the given case, as: (a) creation of integrated units to plan the program and put it into practice, (b) instituting procedures for early recognition and formal case discovery, (c) guaranteeing extensive awareness and understanding of diversion options, and (d) implementation of well-defined, suitable criteria, rules, and practices for supporting pre-trial diversion intervention (Livingston, 2008).

Part 2

In this case, law and psychology are the two concerned disciplines.

CAP control theory of drug abuse

The CAP (cognitive-affective-pharmacogenic) drug misuse control theory focuses on interaction of a person's affective drug consumption and style with the pharmacogenic effect of the drug. These make the core constituents of the CAP model. The central factor contributing to a person's shift from experimentation with a drug to misuse is believed to be the drug-abuser's cognitive style (Rickwood et. al, 2005).

Rehabilitation

The definition of rehabilitation normally deals with the following three concepts: (1) an intentional or clearly accepted intervention, rather than an unplanned or involuntary occurrence; (2) intervention is targeted at altering some attribute/habit in the offender believed to be at the root of his/her criminal activity; for instance, offender's attitudes, mental health or temperament, cognitive processes, social relationships, employment, and vocational/educational competencies; (3) it aims at making offenders less prone to future violations of law. Empirical evidence reveals that rehabilitation is largely effectual in lowering recidivism rates (The Rynard Law Firm, n.d).

Mental health courts are different from customary mental health facilities in that the former represent specialized interventions which can only cater to a share of defendants suffering mental disorders; care must be taken while selecting target populations. Therefore, the concept of mental health courts is devised under an inclusive plan for delivering systems of law enforcement, corrections, and court with other alternatives (instead of merely arrest and imprisonment) to respond to individuals inflicted with mental health issues. These alternatives include pretrial services and professional police-centered responses (Thompson, Osher & Tomasini-Joshi, 2008).

Ethical obligations

1. Providing specialized service to parole officers, courts, and the general community

1. A dignified upholding of the law, with thorough understanding of the judiciary's status and prominence

Case management

Service plan

Information management forms the key for identification of treatment requirements, and may help deliver pretrial treatment and other relevant services more efficiently to the defendant in this case, Cindy Hart. Defendant pretrial information may be segregated into seven groups:

Criminal history

Pretrial assessment

Previous conformity to supervision

Substance misuse assessment data

Substance misuse treatment data

Pertinent medical information

Mental health therapy (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2005)

Coordination

The consensus board recommends that for effectiveness in delivering treatment for substance abuse, diversion initiatives require ample staff, coordination and training, together with program elements tailored to the context of criminal justice (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2005).

Monitoring

Additionally, the pretrial setting needs coordination for major clinical decision-making, including deciding treatment duration, intensity, setting and modality, as well as specific essential services. Counselors may join forces with court officials for creating consensus-building techniques for handling critical problems emerging during therapy, with an aim to develop systems for advising judges with regard to the best strategy for a person's treatment. Decisions pertaining to treatment diversion, which balance public safety considerations, are complicated when there are multiple cases filed against the offender in multiple courts, including those that are noncriminal in nature (e.g., cases in housing court, family court, and regarding child welfare) (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2005).