Most people on the criminal docket got there because they are some toxic combination of undereducated and underemployed, have been underserved with respect to their mental health needs, and are under the influence of alcohol or drugs. As such, their best interest and the best interests of the community are best served most of the time by giving those people the opportunity to get the help they need - the help that if they had gotten it sooner may have kept them from getting into trouble in the first place. Institutionally, we call this opportunity “probation". As well-intended as it may be, the staggering lack of success of the traditional probation model is one of the many reasons Kentucky traditionally has among the highest per capita prison population in the country.
S.M.A.R.T. probation, created by Judge Chauvin in 2008, represented a dramatic shift in focus and in methodology. Rather than simply monitoring a person's behavior while they were on probation, S.M.A.R.T. applied tried and true best practices to help them modify their behavior. S.M.A.R.T. probationers were given a clear understanding of what was expected of them and what they could expect in return. Good choices are rewarded. Bad choices are dealt with swiftly, surely, and proportionally with the goal of increasing the likelihood of each probationer’s success through: Supervision, Motivation, Accountability, Responsibility, and Treatment - by being S.M.A.R.T. It worked. Not for everyone or always, but for anybody and everybody who wanted and was ready to make a change in their lives but needed help in making that change happen. Over the years, literally hundreds of people expressed the difference they were able to make in their lives through S.M.A.R.T. probation in the simple but profound sentiment: "If it wasn't for S.M.A.R.T. probation, I would be in prison or I would be dead". The benefits to the community included a decreased prison population along with a correspondingly increased productive citizen population. The benefits to the people on S.M.A.R.T. probation included a legitimate chance and a new and better life. To read more about S.M.A.R.T probation, go the View From the Bench page and read the "S.M.A.R.T. on Crime" essay by Judge Chauvin. |
While the people of this community have a right to expect that the judges they elect will be "tough" on crime, they should also expect that we will be smart on crime. Judge McKay Chauvin
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