The author of this blog post recently had another article of his appear in an international peer-reviewed journal entitled, Medicine, Law & Society. The journal is published by the University of Maribor in Maribor, Slovenia. The article discusses alternatives to jail that can still address the global issue of drug and alcohol addiction that leads to the commission of a variety of crimes, wasted lives, and unnecessary deaths. Although judicial systems in every country are positioned to encourage treatment of this disease, the focus is too often on very harsh punishments, such as mandatory jail time and high fines for those convicted of even a first offense DUI, much less more serious offenses such as vehicular assault, reckless endangerment, and vehicular homicide. One promising alternative is “Treatment Courts,” a relatively recent program in the United States.
Treatment Courts incentivize citizens accused of these crimes, and others, by providing rewards for successful completion of the respective program. Beyond other benefits, this alternative to confinement provides reduced punishment, and in some instances, even dismissal of the offense. The Medicine, Law and Society article, which may be downloaded at no cost, explores the concept of treatment courts and other emerging American alternatives to imprisonment.
About the Author: Steven Oberman has been licensed in Tennessee since 1980, and successfully defended over 2,500 DUI defendants. Steve was the first lawyer in Tennessee to be Board Certified as a DUI Defense Specialist by the National College for DUI Defense, Inc. (NCDD). Among the many honors bestowed upon him, Steve has served as Dean of the NCDD and currently serves as chair of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers DUI Committee.
He is the author of DUI: The Crime & Consequences in Tennessee, updated annually since 1991 (Thomson-West), and co-author with Lawrence Taylor (1942 – 2023) of the national treatise, Drunk Driving Defense, 9th edition (Wolters Kluwer/Aspen). Steve has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee Law School since 1993 and has received a number of prestigious awards for his faculty contributions. He is a popular international speaker, having spoken at legal seminars in 30 states, the District of Columbia and 10 foreign countries. After being named a Fulbright Scholar, Steve was honored to teach as a Visiting Professor at the University of Latvia Faculty of Law (Law School) in the capital city of Riga, Latvia for a semester during 2019. In 2023, Steve accepted an offer to teach for a semester as a Visiting Professor at Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Law in Budapest, Hungary. Steve was designated a Fulbright Scholar for a second time and taught American Criminal Law and American Trial Advocacy at The University of Ljubljana Faculty of Law in the capital city of Ljubljana, Slovenia for the 2024 spring semester. Since then, Steve taught American Trial Advocacy to Masters Students in Criminal and Criminal Procedure Law for the Winter Semester in 2025 at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid Faculty of Law in Madrid, Spain. If you would like to contact the author, please visit his website at www.tndui.com.
