Miscellaneous

Robot Kittens!

By Anne Skove, Esq.

Wow, really? Robot kittens? Where can we get one? Must have one!!!

Waiiiit a minute -- like robot kittens, courts (and taxpayers) should check out new court-related programs before they bring one home. Who will feed it? What does it do? And does it work?

In these times of lean, mean budgets, you'd think this would go without saying. But it does not. We still have D.A.R.E., a federal program clinically proven to do nothing. And if we had a nickel for every touchy-feely policy article we read, we'd be retired in St. Augustine. Yes, the drug court graduation was touching. Yes, lives were turned around -- anecdotally. Enough already!

Don't think nobody wants to read this difficult data stuff -- that's an insult to us all. It's not hard to find credible studies. With a little elbow grease, they are not difficult to translate into readable, accessible stories. And if there is no data, that is notable in itself.

A few places to start with the research --

• The Government Accounting Office: Up there with raindrops on roses and whiskers on robot kittens, the GAO is one of our favorite things. Sad to say, it is also the only place in DC lacking a proper gift shop.


• National Center for State Courts: NCSC has an array of resources available on its website and in its library. What's not there is hidden in the hearts of its employees. Call them up. These are good people. Certain subgroups, such as the Court Statistics Project, are particularly helpful.


• Empirical Legal Studies: Based at Cornell, ELS now has its own blog! This is in addition to housing the journal and the gigantic brains.


• Bureau of Justice Statistics: BJS has more law and order than most TV channels.

Get your nerd on! We all -- taxpayers, government, court users, readers, students, researchers, citizens -- deserve it.

And for the record, drug courts are no mere robot kittens -- they do work. Just show us the research already.

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on September 07, 2010 (boomark / email).