‘A Problem Shared...?’ Some Reflections on Problem Solving Courts and Court Innovation in Australia

Abstract

There has been growing interest in recent years in developing ‘non-adversarial’ forms of court based justice, and exploring the potential for courts to take a lead role in resolving the underlying issues that ensure repeated contact with the justice system for particular groups. Problem Oriented Courts, such as community courts, drug courts, family violence courts and the like, originated in the USA but have taken root in societies across the globe. This article emerges primarily out of research and policy development work intended to inform an initiative in Victoria Australia called the Next Generation Courts initiative, which sought mainstream the problem oriented approach by adopting the non-adversarial paradigm as the basis for all future court development in Victoria.