Six new graduates recognized Thursday as part of Problem-Solving Court

Published 4:38 pm Thursday, April 30, 2026

QUINCY —In a short speech to a crowd gathered at Quincy’s Kroc Center, Christiaan Lawary said when he became a father, he knew he had to change the path he was on.

During a small ceremony on Thursday, Lawary was helped on the next step of his new path as he graduated from the Adams County RISE program, one of three pieces that make up the county’s Problem-Solving court.

Lawary was sentenced to the RISE probation program in May 2024 as an alternative to jail or prison time he could have been sentenced to otherwise.

RISE stands for Reinforcing behavior, Individualized case plan, Skill building, and Engagement. it’s the newest addition in the arsenal of tools available to help rehabilitate rather than incarcerate those individuals that may have committed crimes but are deemed eligible for the intense probation efforts.

Along with the RISE portion, Problem-Solving Court also has Drug Court and Mental Health Court. Thursday’s graduation saw four participants graduated from the Mental Health Court portion as well as two RISE graduates.

Drug Court was the first of the three programs, starting in 2006. While all the Problem-Solving Court programs are an alternative to jail, participants and staff say they should not be considered something that lets a person off easy.

Participants have to be approved by program staff that includes the Adams County Probation Department, the State’s Attorney’s Office, the Public Defender’s Office, and the county’s judges, as well as input and services from mental health and drug treatment providers.

With Thursday’s graduation, Judge Scott Larson said more than 150 participants have completed the Mental Health and RISE programs. Larson oversees the cases, which continue in the court systems as probation sentences, subject to drug and alcohol screenings as appropriate, treatments, and meetings with probation and court officials.

In his speech to the crowd made up not only of friends and family, but also past graduates and current participants of the programs, Lawary said he had made a number of mistakes even while going through the RISE program. He said when he became a new father, that’s when he knew he had to make a serious change.

Thursday’s graduation marked a steppingstone in the path to that change, not only for Lawary, but for all the new graduates.