Drug Courts Reduce Recidivism
By Kenneth G. Todd Judge, Monroe Circuit Court
This article was published in the September 2006 issue of Safety~Net, a publication of the Shalom Community Center, sponsored by the City of Bloomington.
Submitted by Linda Brady, District 7

One of the most pressing issues facing the criminal justice system in the 21st century is the over-crowding of prisons and jails. It is a complex issue that defies meaningful discussion in the space allocated to this article. However, the direct correlation of alcohol and drug abuse to criminal conduct cannot be denied. According to a three-year national study conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, alcohol and drug abuse is a direct cause or contributing factor in about 80% of all crimes .

In the 1980s, the criminal courts and jails of Dade County, Florida, were being swamped by a tide of cocaine trafficking and related crimes. The Florida Supreme Court directed Judge Herbert Klein to research potential solutions. Over the course of the next year, he worked with other criminal justice officials, substance abuse professionals, and community leaders to design an intervention with addicted offenders which was more effective than incarceration. Ultimately, they proposed a non-adversarial, community partnership concept now known as the “drug court,” or, in Monroe County, as the “drug treatment court.”

Drug courts target non-violent offenders whose involvement with the criminal justice system is primarily due to their addiction to drugs and/or alcohol. Offenders eligible for the drug are identified as soon as possible after arrest.

Typically, participants are referred to intensive outpatient treatment, which requires at least three counseling and education sessions weekly, and are also required to attend at least three twelve-step meetings weekly. Additionally, participants are subject to a curfew, required to report daily to provide breath and urine samples to detect use of substances, and required to attend weekly hearings to review compliance with the requirements of the program.

At the weekly hearings, which are conducted on a more personal and informal level than other court proceedings, behavior is reinforced through a system of consequences for program violations and rewards for compliance with program rules.

Participants are also referred to appropriate agencies providing vocational, educational, family, medical and other support services as their circumstances may require.

Participation in the Monroe County Drug Treatment Court is voluntary. If offenders choose to participate, they enter a plea to one or more of the felony charges which have been filed against them and agree to continue sentencing for two years. If they successfully complete the program, the prosecuting attorney dismisses the charges to which they have pleaded guilty. If, despite the assistance of a team of people dedicated to their success, participation is terminated, participants are subject to sentencing with no agreement concerning the sentence to be imposed.

This process of quick intervention, intensive treatment and monitoring, and positive and negative reinforcement, combined with a non-adversarial community based team approach has proven to be very effective in a number of different ways.

It has been estimated that about 50% of incarcerated, addicted offenders are charged with new criminal offenses within one year of release from prison and about 70 % re-offend within three years after release. A 2004 study of the Monroe County Drug Treatment Court by Labrentz and Associates determined that the 67.2% of all participants graduating from the program had a recidivist rate of 7.7%, compared to a 38.5% recidivist rate for a control group of similar, non-participating offenders.

The program has resulted in a 64% reduction in post-conviction jail days, compared to the control group. And the program is far more cost-effective as participants are personally responsible for the cost of their substance abuse treatment, drug and alcohol screens, and other fees.

Other cost-benefits, more difficult to measure, include drug-free babies, restoration of stable family units, more stable and rewarding employment, and reductions in public assistance for housing, food, and medical care.

While time and space do not permit more detailed discussion of the principles and practical operations of the court, the Drug Treatment Court has been empirically proven to be a cost-effective means of reducing the jail population and restoring dysfunctional lives.

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