The Court’s Expanding Role in Prevention: Integrating Behavioral Threat Assessment and Reentry Strategies

garzaj25
Dec 7, 2025
4 min read

Today, courts are being called to do more than adjudicate cases, they are becoming integral to prevention, early intervention, and successful reintegration. As communities face rising concerns about violence, complex behavioral health needs, and recidivism, the judicial system is uniquely positioned to bridge gaps between public safety and public health. By adopting behavioral threat assessment frameworks and strengthening reentry and reintegration strategies, courts can play a transformative role in reducing harm and promoting long-term stability.

1. Courts as Prevention Partners

Traditionally, prevention has been seen as the domain of schools, public health agencies, or community organizations. But in reality, courts interact with individuals at critical moments, often when warning signs or escalating behaviors are becoming visible.

Courts are uniquely positioned to:

Identify behavioral risk early through pretrial services, diversion screenings, and judicial observations.
Coordinate multi-disciplinary responses, involving probation, behavioral health, schools, and law enforcement.
Mandate services such as counseling, substance-use treatment, or structured monitoring when necessary.
Provide accountability paired with support, a combination proven to reduce future harm.

Prevention in a court context is not about predicting future violence, it’s about recognizing patterns of escalating behavior, addressing root causes, and removing barriers that fuel instability.

2. Applying Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management in the Judicial System

Behavioral threat assessment (BTAM) is an evidence-based process used to identify individuals who may be on a pathway toward violence and to intervene with appropriate support. While many associate BTAM with schools, and in some cases workplaces, courts can integrate it in powerful ways.

How Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management Benefits the Courts

Early Risk Identification: Judges, clerks, and court personnel often notice concerning behaviors such as grievances, fixation, stalking behaviors, or extreme triggers and stressors. A structured behavioral threat assessment model helps contextualize and evaluate these behaviors.
Consistent, Evidence-Based Decisions: BTAM reduces reliance on stereotypes or gut feelings. It focuses on observable behaviors, life stressors, personal risk factors and threat mitigators (protective factors).
Improved Safety for Staff and Visitors: Courts are public spaces with known risk factors, making a behavioral approach to violence prevention essential.
Integration with Pretrial and Probation: Behavioral threat assessment teams can support decision-making during bail hearings, probation supervision, and review hearings.

Putting BTAM Into Practice in Court Settings

Courts can build capacity by:

Establishing multi-disciplinary behavioral threat assessment teams that include court security, behavioral health, probation, and community partners.
Training court staff on warning behaviors, leakage, pathway indicators, and threat mitigation strategies.
Embedding BTAM into pretrial services, specialty courts, and probation reviews.
Strengthening information-sharing protocols across agencies while protecting privacy and due process.

When courts use behavioral threat assessment, the goal is not punishment, it’s behavioral stabilization, problem-solving, and prevention of escalation.

3. Courts as Catalysts for Successful Reentry & Reintegration

Reentry and reintegration (also referred to as tertiary prevention) are critical components of preventing recidivism and supporting long-term community safety. Courts interact with individuals before, during, and after periods of incarceration or supervision, making them essential drivers of reentry success.

Why Reentry Matters

There is a critical need for integrated reentry programs that address the structural and personal challenges faced by formerly incarcerated individuals. These programs are essential for improving public safety.

Roughly two-thirds of individuals released from jail or prison face significant barriers: housing, employment, transportation, mental health care, substance use recovery, and family stabilization.
Without coordinated support, risk of reoffending rises significantly, creating additional victims, higher court caseloads, and increased community costs.

How Courts Strengthen Reentry Outcomes

Courts can integrate reentry and reintegration strategies by:

Participating in reentry councils and collaborating with community organizations.
Implementing problem-solving courts (drug courts, mental health courts, veterans courts) that build structured pathways back into society.
Using graduated sanctions and incentives that shape compliance, support accountability, and improve outcomes, creating a clear and fair path for offenders to progress.
Providing continuity of care to healthcare and support services, housing programs, and workforce development agencies.
Monitoring progress through review hearings or specialized reentry dockets.

Tertiary Prevention Through the Courts

Reentry is a form of tertiary prevention, reducing the likelihood of future harm by addressing the root causes of past behavior. Effective reintegration strategies:

Reduce recidivism
Strengthen community safety
Support behavioral health stabilization
Promote family and economic stability
Improve trust in the justice system

When courts work hand-in-hand with probation, parole, corrections, and behavioral health providers, they become anchors of stability during one of the most vulnerable phases of a person’s life.

4. A Unified Framework: Prevention, Behavioral Threat Assessment, and Reentry

When combined, behavioral threat assessment and reentry strategies give courts a holistic framework for public safety:

Prevention addresses problems before they escalate.
Behavioral threat assessment identifies risk, builds support plans, and manages concerning behaviors.
Reentry and reintegration help individuals stabilize and succeed, reducing long-term risk.

Together, these functions allow the judicial system to evolve from reactive to proactive—strengthening both safety and human outcomes.

The Bottom Line

Courts can no longer be passive recipients of problems; they must be active partners in prevention and behavioral stabilization. By integrating behavioral threat assessment practices and strengthening reentry pathways, courts can reduce violence, promote rehabilitation, and build safer, healthier communities. If you are a court administrator or court employee and would like assistance incorporating any of these components into your training manual or education development plans, please feel free to contact me directly.