For Defense Attorneys and Public Defenders

Every document says what the course is: a self-paced online educational course, time-verified. The certificate also carries the line "Acceptance is determined by the referring court or agency."

• Active time only. Reading, listening and doing exercises count. The timer pauses after a few minutes with no activity.
• Logged on our server, session by session, with date and length. The progress report and certificate are built from that log, not from anything the student types.
• The final test is locked until every lesson is finished and the full hours are logged. It has 15 to 40 questions depending on length, with a 70–75% passing score.
• No shortcuts. An 8-hour class cannot be finished in 20 minutes. If a lesson ends before its hour, the student gets extra practice, and that time counts.

Details for courts and officers: how it works.

Lawyers often ask how fast a client can have something to show. A rough guide:

1. Same day: the enrollment letter, showing the client has started a specific course of a stated length.
2. Within days: a progress report showing hours logged and lessons done. A client doing two hours a day logs 8 hours in about four days.
3. At completion: the certificate, which the court or officer can verify online.

Start early. The hours can't be rushed, and a client with a hearing on Monday who starts on Sunday night will only have a progress report. If the court is likely to set a specific length, it may make sense to wait for the order, or to choose a length that matches what the prosecutor or court usually requires in your county.

Whether finishing a class before sentencing affects the outcome is for the judge. We make no claim that it will. Our job is to give you clean documents that say exactly what happened.

Please don't send a client to us if the case or order calls for:

• A domestic or family violence program — BIPP, PAIP, FVIP, BIP, an abuse intervention program, or a "52-week program." We are not a Batterer Intervention Program and are not on any state or county provider list. See anger management vs. domestic violence classes.
• A provider from a court or county list. We are not on any state list for anger management, because most states don't keep one.
• A live group, in-person class or an evaluation. Our classes are self-paced online, with no live instructor and no clinical assessment.
• Therapy or counseling. This is an educational course, not treatment.
• A DUI/DWI program or a state-listed alcohol or minor-in-possession course.

When the order simply says "anger management" or "impulse control" with a number of hours, our class fits most often. The court or officer still decides. Our hours vs. weeks guide helps when the order is written in weeks.

Anger Management (4 / 8 / 12 / 16 hours) — cognitive-behavioral skills education using SAMHSA's public anger management manual as a structural reference: warning signs, the anger meter and timeout, relaxation, changing hot thoughts, assertive communication, conflict resolution, stress and substances, and a written anger control plan. Longer versions add family, work, road and online conflict, empathy, resentment, shame and guilt, mindfulness and relapse prevention. Lesson list →

Impulse Control & Decision Making (4 / 8 / 12 / 16 hours) — urges and reward, pausing, thinking traps, decision tools, delayed gratification and goals, refusal skills, and an impulse control plan. Often used for theft, property and decision-making cases. Lesson list →

A one-page syllabus for each course and length is available on request.

We don't collect case numbers, court names, dates of birth or details of the offense. If the court needs a case number on the certificate, your client types it into their own copy of the PDF. The verification page never shows those details. Journal entries in the course are private to the student and are never shared, including in progress reports.

We only confirm a record to someone who has the certificate or enrollment ID and the student's last name, or with the student's permission.

The court, prosecutor or probation officer can:

1. Scan the QR code, or type goodstandingcourses.com/verify and enter the certificate ID and the student's last name.
2. Compare the name, course, hours, dates, test result and fingerprint code with the paper.
3. Contact us to confirm a record by hand or request a syllabus.

If you want a short handout for an officer, our page for probation officers covers the same points from their side. For background on spotting edited or worthless certificates, see how to spot a fake anger management certificate.