Very Tough Love

"Very Tough Love" is a radio documentary and an episode of the show This American Life (TAL), which originally aired on March 25, 2011. The segment described a drug court and program in Georgia that is conducted in a manner different from all other drug courts throughout the United States, and often contrary to drug court philosophy, according to standards set by the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. People with no criminal record or history of drug abuse or addiction, and charged with possession of small drug quantities would wind up under drug court control for five years or more. In most other jurisdictions, the same offenses would result in probation or a drug education class.

In the spring of 2010, TAL staff took on a different challenge: follow the methods used by Charles Salter in the 1970s when he wrote hundreds of "Georgia Rambler" columns for the Atlanta Journal. Nine diverse counties across Georgia were selected—none with a major city—and teams of reporters and producers fanned out to find an interesting story in each location. Stories from all but one county were broadcast in episode 413: "Georgia Rambler" on July 30, 2010. Two other stories took longer to prepare. "Original Recipe" episode 427 aired February 11, 2011, which reprised a Salter column about a handwritten Coca-Cola recipe. The other, "Very Tough Love", took eight months to research and compile.

The episode followed the show's standard format, telling the stories of several people, recording them speaking from their perspective. What was different was that TAL Producer Ira Glass delegated his regular TAL responsibilities for several weeks to personally research the story. He made several trips to Georgia to interview people for supporting testimony, acquired documents, discovered background information and made repeated requests to get Judge Williams to answer many questions raised.

The episode's name is derived from Judge Amanda Williams' comments that she believes in the use of tough love by families dealing with drug problems. The title is used because Williams' actions far exceed the normal standard of tough love, coming closer to Authoritarian parenting, which is often linked to negative outcomes.

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