As the ACT's jail is forced to expand, retired Californian Judge Peggy Hora is calling on the territory to catch up with the rest of Australia by introducing a drug court.
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She says it would force people into treatment and keep many offenders out of jail.
Ms Hora is renowned for her expertise in "problem-solving courts", which hold pre-sentencing hearings that aim to help offenders overcome the reasons they break the law.
She was invited to present her pioneering work with therapeutic sentences for drug addicts, in Canberra on Tuesday, at the invitation of ACT Chief Justice Helen Murrell who set up the first NSW Drug Court in 1998.
.Ms Hora is urging the ACT to adopt "smart justice" and said the territory should not be discouraged by a failed experiment with a drug court several years ago.
She praised the ACT's low incarceration rate and program of restorative justice that brings a victim of crime face to face with their offender,if the offenders chooses to attend a conference, rather than go to court and possibly jail.
Asked by Fairfax Media if she was disappointed the ACT had to so quickly expand its jail, she said: "Of course, because one presumes the planning that went into it was appropriate in the first place, so to have to change -- why did that happen, I don't know.
"Certainly an alcohol and other drug treatment court would reduce the number of people incarcerated [in the ACT].
"It takes at least a year to set up a drug court if it's done properly ... I think it's a perfect time for it to happen.
"The ACT had a short experiment that did not work out well in juvenile drug court.
"I think this would be the perfect opportunity to blend in and make whole and complete the array of justice services you need and certainly a drug treatment court is one of them.
"Also, you have a Chief Justice who used to be a drug court judge in NSW and she is the one who invited me here."
Ms Hora said the ACT prisoner incarceration rate was low compared to the national trend.
"You're in pretty good shape compared to the rest of Australia," she said.
Asked if the ACT would establish a drug court, a spokesman for the Justice and Community Safety Directorate said: "The ACT Government is open to considering the introduction of a solution-focussed court model in the ACT and is currently considering a range of options as part of the justice reform strategy and justice reinvestment strategy. Any reform would be designed to complement existing diversion and restorative justice practices."
On a previous visit, Ms Hora said she was appalled at the number of repeat drink-driving offenders in Australia.
Australia sorely needed drink-driving courts that focused on helping offenders overcome their alcoholism, she said then.
"I have never seen so many defendants with prior convictions into the teens as I see in this country," she said.
The ACT's successful restorative justice program was expanded to adult offenders under legislation passed in the Legislative Assembly last month.
The bill also allows for ACT courts to issue intensive correction orders as part of a new community-based sentencing option from this month.
