Drug Court : An Alternative Sentencing Program Essay

I can’t speak for the entire State of Texas but Travis County drug court is making a positive impact on offenders’ lives. Two judges who manage Travis County’s drug court are directing addicts into a court supervised treatment program instead of incarceration. Drug courts like the one in Travis County have successfully handled nonaggressive defendants with drug and alcohol addictions. People who complete drug court programs rarely fall back into substance abuse. Per four drug-court judges surveyed, about 10 percent of program graduates commit new crimes. That’s a recidivism rate of one-fifth that of traditional probation programs. Which shows drug courts can ease the strain on congested penitentiaries and save taxpayer money. A study done by

The purpose of this study was to show that an effective drug treatment program in the criminal justice system is a necessity and to show that treatment will reduce recidivism thus reducing crime in society as a whole.

I believe that drug court is the best option for people trying to recover from using drugs. The drug court provides a safe place for people who is trying to recover. Drug courts are there to keep the people away from drugs and the people that do them still so they can get their life put together again. People are in for a minimum of 18 months for people who have felony convictions, but it takes atlas 22 to 25 months to finish the program.

In response to the war on drugs, law enforcement started to crack down on misdemeanor drug laws and increased the convictions for possession and soon after the minor drug violations started to flood the jails and prisons. So to resolve the repeat offenders coming back and serving lengthy sentences, the first drug court was established in Miami-Dade County in Florida in 1989. Many more states and counties followed suit including Maryland in 1993. There has been

The primary interest within the independent variable is to determine whether participation in drug courts decreases the probability of recidivism. To evaluate this concern, the current study will analyze whether receiving treatment in a drug court versus the comparison group of probationers will affect various outcomes. Finally, gender, race, age, and education will also be included in the analysis as control variables.

In most cases, one of the main objectives of courts and the sentences they impose is that of rehabilitation. This is evidenced through a growing move in favour of a more holistic approach to justice, trying to address the issues which may have led to the crime, rather than just punishing the end result. One of the prime examples of this therapeutic approach to justice is the introduction of the Drug Court. Governed by the Drug Court Act 1998, the Drug court has both Local court and District court jurisdiction, and seeks to target the causes of drug-related criminal behaviour. It achieves this by ensuring that those who go through it receive treatment for their addictions, thereby reducing their propensity to reoffend, as many crimes are motivated by the need to satisfy addictions.

The NADCP was formed from the original drug court professionals who gathered to advocate the effectiveness of the drug court model and to work with future drug court team members across the country in providing the guidance needed to formulate an effective model (Webster, 2015). Under OJP funding, it established Drug Court Clearinghouse and Technical Assistance Project (DCCTAP) in 1995 to aid in planning, implementation, and assessments of drug courts (Webster, 2015). In cooperation between NADCP and DCCTAP, both organizations convened in a committee to develop a set of principles or components for drug court to adopt. The report: Defining Drug Courts: The Key Components, provides a framework for each individual jurisdictions in implementing its drug court program based on 10 key components of a drug court and provide a performance benchmark for each of the 10 components (NADCP, 1995; Saum & Hiller,

Last Thursday, Cristi Beaumont spoke to our class about Drug Court and her experience with the grant writing process. The drug court program sounds like an amazing program for individuals who utilize it. Drug court integrates substance abusers into society by helping them find employment and housing. Something Cristi said about the program I found especially interesting was the progressive punishments. The people who run this program understand that addiction is a disease and the clients are going to have slip ups and make mistakes. Progressive punishments are utilized instead of handing out the harshest punishment for a very first offense.

The authors showed that with the growing criteria for offenders to be submitted to drug programs caused a “widening net” effect. This effect causes many offenders who would have needed help with their addicted fall-through and are incarcerated. These individuals then contribute to the growing population of prisons and jails. I agree with the author’s idea to fix this problem by creating more drug court programs with will allow more offenders to filter through to get help. Another fix for drug courts is to widen the restrictions of offenders and allow more addicted offenders into the drug courts. This also will allow numerous offenders to get the help that they need and hopefully not

Currently, drug courts have been proven to be successful at reducing recidivism of offenders. In the United States there are about 120,000 people receiving help in order to rehabilitate them and to try to reduce the chances of recidivism (Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2011). These programs require individuals to participate in the programs for a minimum of one year. During this year the individuals are required to appear in court and be drug tested at

The drug treatments programs that prisons offer is beneficial in several different aspects. Although, inmates are viewed in a bad appearance in the community. However, the victim is the direct costumer and the

Other programs such as the drug anonymous may help with those who are struggling to cope with addiction. These programs can help on the inside of prison as well the outside when inmates enter a lot of the time it’s a drug related offense. By enrolling in these programs it’s a sign of self-improvement for the individual when it comes to “good time” or a projected release. This program can help aid for housing such as, twelve step programs or half way houses that deal with addicts. Sending drug abusers to community-based treatment programs rather than prison could help reduce crime and save the criminal justice system billions of dollars, according to a new study by researchers at RTI International and Temple University.

Everything I learned about drug courts in class reflected on to my experience at the actual drug court. These drug courts strive to reduce arrest and incarceration rates. Instead of locking someone up in jail, a diversion program such as this one helps rehabilitate and restore justice within the community. Just like I learned in class, there are four phases in the drug court process. While I was sitting in and examining the process, different parts of the phases were discussed. Some offenders were in phase 1, while others were in phase 2, or 3. The majority of people in this diversion were having success within the program, and that reflects what you have said about the success of drug

One of the most profound problems that plagues our society is drug addiction. With drug addiction comes those who offend and have run-ins with the law. Our country deals with these drug-addicted offenders by placing them in jails for a year or longer, only to have them come back out to society when their sentence is over. They are still drug-addicts and so they return to the street only to commit yet another crime. From here the cycle of crime, arrest, jail, and return to society continues, solving absolutely nothing. Therefore, placing drug-addicted offenders in jails fails to confront the major problem at hand which is that of the drug abuse. If drug-addicted offenders were placed in drug treatment centers instead of being incarcerated,

I attended Drug Court held at the Dunklin County Justice Center in Kennett, Missouri. Court was scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on June 14, 2017. I contacted Julie Spielman who serves as the Drug Court Administrator ahead of time to inform her of the assignment and to find out when the next meeting was. She was very helpful in providing me with various options of dates and times of available court hearings. She gave me directions to follow once I arrived at the Justice Center. Julie made me feel comfortable in attending. Observing Drug Court was very interesting and an eye-opening experience. This was my first time attending so I did not know what to expect. I expected to be in a court room with a judge and have various members of the community there to report on their progress. Phillip Britt, serves as the Drug Court Commissioner and he was leading court. He called each member up to the stand to report on their progress in treatment and to sign off that they were in attendance. I feel that Drug Court is very effective for those in treatment to attend. Along with their caseworker and the judge, members are held accountable to attend treatment, various meetings such as AA or NA, and encouraged to make positive choices to ensure sobriety. I observed that the court system works very well with the person in treatment. They work as a team to get the person sober and help them through treatment. The court system has strict guidelines set that each person must follow to graduate the