Drug Court Case Study

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

Diversion programs are a deferment of the criminal process, where offenders can participate in community-based treatment programs. Typically, diversion programs are used with juvenile first time offenders. However, there is also an adult diversion program, which is available to first time offenders only. Such programs include, drug rehabilitation, which involves those with alcohol and drugs related offenses and mandates offenders to complete a quantity of hours in alcohol/drug classes, or those with domestic violence charges which requires those offenders to compete certain amount of hours in domestic violence and anger management classes. Additionally, there is a mental health diversion for those who have mental health issues and diverts them from the criminal justice system to appropriate mental health care/treatment.

As the brand manager for Allround cold medicine, there were many decisions regarding product formulation, strategy, line extensions and product launches over the company’s last 10 periods. The brand was focused on remaining a profitable, mature product family within the cold medicine category, but also maintaining a premium brand image.

The Juvenile Drug Court Program is one of the most accelerated outpatient option available to youth who are arrested and have been determined to have substance abuse issues. The parent/guardian and the youth have the option of consulting with the Public Defender’s assigned attorney to explore other legal options before accepting Juvenile Drug Court as part of their verdict. The Juvenile Drug Court provides services to juveniles who are thirteen to eighteen year of age and

The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) Program was aimed to follow a rehabilitative justice perspective. This rehabilitative justice perspective is a “concept intended to meet the needs of the victims/offenders with the intent of having the community involved” (McCold, 1995). LEAD carries out this concept in three ways: it aids the police/ social services by creating a resource base, removes the offenders from society, and provides aid to the offender.

The sixth key component requires that sanctions and rewards be coordinated into the programs to govern responses to participant’s compliance and non-compliance (NADCP, 1997). Some rewards could be praise from the judge, reduced supervision, reduced fines and etc. while some sanctions could be fines, community service, or even jail confinement. The seventh key component focuses on the importance of judicial interaction throughout the program, which can sometimes occur on a weekly basis. Key component number eight explains how imperative monitoring and evaluation is to measure the achievement of program goals and measure effectiveness. It is imperative for drug courts to display some sort of positive outcome by “gathering and managing information due to them monitoring daily activities, evaluating the quality of services provided, and producing longitudinal evaluations” (Mackin et al., 2012). The ninth and tenth components promote the importance of interdisciplinary education and forging partnerships with other agencies and community-based organizations. Education and training are important to maintain a specific level of professionalism and expanding collaborations would be helpful to provide a continuum of services for drug court participants.

These programs hold the said offenders liable for their actions in a way hold them responsible for their actions and prevents future participation in criminal activities. Diversion treatment plans offer a variety of services, including methodological services to mentally unstable drug abusers and offenders. This is essential to society to prevent the appearance of drugs on public streets when these mentally unstable offenders are released. Diversion programs can greatly help those with a dual-diagnosis rehabilitate, not just spend time in jail. Diversion programs are aslo time and cost effective. They take less time and money to process a case than a regular court case does. According to a website that provides information on youth and adult diversion programs (youthservicesinc.org), in these programs, offenders are expected to acknowledge their responsibility for breaking the law, they must also be willing to make amends. Attendance at diversion board hearing is required to explain the violating behavior and to see if your case will be accepted by the board. If accepted, the offender will complete a contract within the specified length of time. Successful completion of a diversion program results in the dismissal of the charges against the offender. This helps participants of these programs continue working and going to school. It even helps them remain functioning members of society

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.

The Maryland drug court system has failed plenty of people since it was first introduced 1993, because of the goals and requirements are unrealistic and the offenders with an actual serious drug problem in the program are not getting the proper treatments they need to successfully stay clean once they graduate. In this essay elaborate on the practices that should be changed and if rehabilitation, detoxification and opioid treatments need to be available were to be implemented it would improve the program and keep people like my loved one on the right track and not headed to prison.

Dependent Variable. The effectiveness and the impact of the drug court will be assessed by analyzing the recidivism rates between the treatment group and the comparison group of probationers. Recidivism will be measured by examining both felony and misdemeanor charges and arrests, and drug related arrests will further be examined. Outcome data pertaining to arrests will be collected from the months of June, July, and August of 2016, allowing for an average follow-up time of 517 days. The data to be collected will include official rearrest results upon the completion of the drug treatment program and upon the completion of a probation sentence for the comparison group. Through the arrest results, further examination will be conducted on the severity of the crimes committed and whether they involved drug offenses.

The new policy that was introduced in 2011 is the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program that allows police officers the opportunity to allow individuals who have committed small drug offenses or prostitution offenses to work with a case worker to create a unique service plan that will better their lives and reduce their criminal behavior. The three states, Washington, New Mexico, and New York, who have adopted this new drug policy are working together to introduce this change into other police departments. The case worker will provide many resources—food, living necessities, employment opportunities, and access to drug treatment programs, like a methadone program—to these individuals so that they have an opportunity to help improve

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.

Drug courts can be defined as, "a special state, county, or municipal court that offers first time substance abuse offenders judicially mandated and court supervised treatments alternatives to prison" ( Siegel & Schmalleger & Worrall, 2015 P.142). Drug courts emphasize treatment, similarly just like the justice system practices, before the development of problem-solving courts. Drug courts were designed to increase the like hood that drug addicts would stay in treatment. When it comes to how drug courts operate, they operate in two different ways. The first way is that they can divert offenders out of the criminal process, by assigning the offenders to treatment. Secondly, the post adjudication programs can either defer the sentencing or suspend

For those addicts who want rehabilitation, finding a bed in a treatment center is a challenge; thus, many become frustrated and continue on a path of destruction. If addicts commit a criminal offense, the courts provide assistance. Due to the over- crowding of jails and prisons, many states are increasing the level of supervision, the level of drug treatment, and the intensity of probation at the front end as a formula to put broken people on the right track, piece by piece.

1. Do such programs promote the use of alcohol or illicit drugs, or just limit the harm forced upon society through the abuse of these chemicals?