LINCOLN — Almost three years ago, Alex Strong began his journey with the Sarpy County adult drug court, battling addiction but trying an alternative to prosecution that offered him a new path.
“I wasn’t thinking about the future. I wasn’t thinking about purpose. I wasn’t thinking about trying to survive the consequences of my choices,” Strong said Monday during an event with the Nebraska Supreme Court. “Addiction had me stuck in a cycle I didn’t know how to break, and, if I’m being honest, I didn’t believe I could, either.”
For 12 years, Nebraska law has provided intensive programming for the participants of its “problem-solving courts” that combine behavioral health treatments and community-based supervision from a judge and a team of attorneys, probation officers, treatment providers, law enforcement and community members.
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Sarpy County District Judge Stefanie Martinez, who has presided over the adult drug court in her county for about eight years, said Strong was in “heavy crisis and deep addiction” when he entered the courts.
Strong lived in his mother’s small home with many of his children “whom he could not, frankly, care for at the time,” Martinez said. He was unable to secure a job, his own housing or a driver’s license.
“Like many who come before the court, he arrived overwhelmed, ashamed and unsure whether change was even possible,” Martinez said. “Standing before you … will be a very different man.”
Martinez said a “great deal” is asked of participants, including the need to appear regularly, submit to substance use testing, engage in treatment and be honest, “even when it’s uncomfortable.”
And through the program, Strong became a mentor in the program and graduated in mid-April.
Strong credited the courts for believing in him as part of his success and for seeing potential in people “when those people can’t see it themselves.”
“They don’t just focus on where someone has been. They focus on where they can go,” Strong said. “And for me, that made all the difference.”
He continued: “Today, I’m not just sober. I’m present. I’m a father. I’m a partner. I’m someone who shows up for my family and for my community. And I know without this program, I wouldn’t be here today.”
Cost savings to the state
Strong, Martinez, the legislative originators of problem-solving courts and other court officials joined Nebraska Supreme Court Chief Justice Jeffrey Funke and Justices Stephanie Stacy and Jason Bergevin on Monday to formally proclaim May as “Nebraska Problem-Solving Court Month.”
Roughly 43 judges statewide regularly contribute to problem-solving courts, Funke said. There are 35 specialized courts in all 12 of the state’s judicial districts.
Today, the types of problem-solving courts have expanded in Nebraska to include Adult Drug and DUI Courts, Veterans Treatment Courts, Reentry Courts, Juvenile Drug Courts, Young Adult Courts, Mental Health Courts and Family Treatment Courts.
Gene Cotter, state probation administrator, said that since the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020, problem-solving courts have seen a 41% growth, and 58% of participants graduated last year. One of the goals is to reduce the risk of graduates reoffending.
Of nearly 2,000 participants served last year, Cotter said that, without the option of problem-solving courts, many, if not all, would have been set for a jail or prison cell at a higher cost than the approximately $5,000 a year to supervise a participant. The problem-solving participant also pays a portion of the costs of supervision.
“That is pennies on the dollar when compared to the alternatives,” Cotter said. “But that in no way outweighs the pricelessness of those things that Mr. Strong talked about.”
Funke said families are brought back together who might have been estranged, all while protecting public safety, improving lives and strengthening communities.
“It’s really rewarding, and it’s a very positive use of taxpayer dollars,” Funke said.
A team effort
Presiding over a problem-solving court is extra work for judges, who volunteer — not for extra pay or benefits — but for believing in possible outcomes. Martinez described it as the “most rewarding part” of her appointed post. She is now in her 13th year as a trial judge.
She said the support team does its work “quietly, week after week, because they believe people can change when given the right tools and are held to consistent expectations.”
“I learn from our participants every single day,” Martinez said. “They teach me what it means to keep showing up, to accept defeat but not accept failure, and to hold on to things that can change even after years of struggle.”
Quoting Dr. Seuss, Cotter said, “To the world, you may be one person, but to one person, you may be the world.”
“When you think about that team game, somebody on those teams along the line made a difference,” Cotter said.
Martinez said she has been especially impacted after hearing from law enforcement officers who have had contact with participants for years but, by graduation, see someone different.
“Hearing that transformation described by those who knew them only through police reports underscores the power of these courts,” Martinez said.
It’s also “equally moving,” she said, to hear from family, some of whom have described “no longer living in constant fear of a late-night phone call telling them that their loved one is gone.”
‘Beyond our expectations’
Monday’s event also celebrated the creation of problem-solving courts in state law 12 years ago, led by then-State Sen. Ray Aguilar of Grand Island and legislative aide Margaret Buck, who now works for State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha. Buck is retiring at the end of the year after 25 years of legislative service.
Aguilar said it wasn’t easy legislation to pass, taking three years, but he said the law gives people a “second chance at life.”
Buck said the concept is now “much, much more than we ever envisioned.”
“This has worked beyond our expectations,” echoed Aguilar. “I became a legislator not for the recognition or rewards. I chose to do so to make life better for my constituents. This bill does just that more than any bill or any legislation I worked on in my 14 years in the body.”
Buck said the idea came from former longtime Hall County Sheriff Jerry Watson as local officials were starting a drug court. She said she’s always taken note of graduation stories or of possible impacts from legislation or the state budget.
Now, Buck said, Nebraska problem-solving courts serve as a model to the rest of the nation.
“I’m pleased the Supreme Court had the insight to grow this into a variety of courts, and I’m pleased that so many individuals have had a chance to benefit from the courts and to avoid incarceration,” Buck said.
‘I’m not the exception’
The path to supporting and funding problem-solving courts has not always come easily. Last year, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen’s attempted $12 million line-item veto from the Nebraska Judicial Branch budget could have caused the closure of four problem-solving courts in Lancaster, Sarpy and Platte Counties, court officials estimated at the time.
Pillen and lawmakers have also asked Funke’s branch to do more with less, including continued or expanded legislative initiatives that didn’t always come with funding.
In the face of those challenges, Martinez said the Supreme Court has worked “creatively” to support problem-solving courts and align them with national best practices, including internal standards that she said emphasize fairness, ethics, accountability and dignity for participants.
“I’m grateful to be part of a system that does not give up on people but instead offers a structured, demanding and hopeful path forward,” Martinez said.
Cotter and Funke encouraged Nebraskans to attend problem-solving court graduations, often where participants, such as Strong, speak on their experiences. Cotter and Funke said there is generally not a dry eye after, and Martinez said it was Strong’s “powerful and honest” speech in mid-April that encouraged her to invite him to Monday’s event.
Bellevue State Sens. Rick Holdcroft and Victor Rountree, both members of the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee, are frequent attendees of such graduations in Sarpy County, Martinez said. She said the senators’ showing up also sends a “clear message” that the work matters.
Strong said his story isn’t unique and is instead an example of what people statewide face in problem-solving courts as they rebuild their lives.
“Recovery is real. Recovery is possible. And programs like this make it happen every single day,” Strong said. “I’m not the exception. I’m what happens when the system works.”
This story is provided by States Newsroom, a nonprofit state news network and Blox Digital content partner.
