ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the ways in which the organization of treatment, social service, and criminal justice systems presents systemic contradictions that impose constraints upon the court's ability to function in a way that is consistent with its design and its purpose. Differences among these systems and their subsystems exist not only in the ways that they define their goals, but also in their ideologies and in the ways that they acquire and sustain financial support for their work. The chapter addresses the ways in which several key systems under the Northeastern Drug Court's "umbrella" function and operate as entities unto themselves as well as in relation to each other. Then it presents a view of system functioning and effects from the perspective of one drug court participant, il-lustrating how contradictions can affect program participants and have unintended consequences with respect to the court's ability to achieve its multiple goals.
