Drug Court Model

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 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.

There are separate drug courts for adults and juveniles. An adult court is designed to reduce recidivism and substance abuse among drug-involved offenders in the community. It also seeks to increase an offender’s success in recovery through continuous treatment, mandatory random drug testing, community supervision and use of other rehabilitation services. In juvenile treatment court, offenders meet frequently (often weekly) to determine how to address the substance abuse and other related problems of the youth and his or her family that brought him or her to the justice system (Treatment Court

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.

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.

Drug courts are specialised programs aimed at criminal offenders who suffer from drug and alcohol addiction (US Department of Justice, 2015, p.1). Drug courts improve offenders’ quality of life by decreasing substance dependency and improve mental wellbeing. Jane Lee, for the Age, explains people facing jail for drug and alcohol charges may be placed on a two-year treatment order, instead of serving jail time. The purpose of a drug court is to secure and maintain drug users in treatment, reduce non-violent incarceration rates and recidivism among prior offenders (Belenko, 1998, p.6).

This study on drug courts intends to systematically review quasi-experimental and experimental evaluations of the effectiveness of drug courts. With an emphasis on committing future crimes and continuous drug use. This report focused on the programs associated with the standard in the criminal justice system case processing. This review expresses the effects of recidivism in the long and short-term soundness with the current evidence along with the relationship reduction and effectiveness. Eligibility for drug court applies to a non violent offender, with proof of substance dependency. Drug courts stand on the concept that combines drug treatment with legal and moral authority in the attempts to break the cycle of addiction and the committing

Nevertheless, some situations, such as a participant in the program refuse to continue to participate in the treatment, will result in termination and likely lead to the individual being taken back into custody. But for someone who violates the terms of the drug agreement by relapsing will result in extending time adding to their time. But for someone who violates the curfew or show sign of disrespectful to other people in the program will result to freedom being taken away like he or she cannot use a cellphone for two weeks, wash all the dishes, no tv privileges. Furthermore, when it comes to this drug court being successful in this program require successful completion of all the program is contingent upon remaining drug-free and without arrest for a specific for a specific period of

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.

Drug use and abuse is not a new problem for America’s prison system, and is one which speaks to the larger issue corrupting the judicial system as a whole. As of 2013, of those prisoners serving at least a year long sentence, 51 percent (98,200) of them were serving for drug offenses (Carson, 2014). To contrast the incarcerated with those on probation and parole, some 25 percent (977,662) of the 3.9 million people on probation were charged with drug

This report was done at Columbia University’s National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) and talks about the drug court model. This report explains that some drug courts evolved from other existing programs that focused on reducing drug use for offenders. Although the drug court is different than other programs that are meant to reduce drug use. In the drug court model, criminal justice components and substance abuse treatments work together to promote abstinence and prosocial behavior. Drug courts also result in closer and more intensive supervision and drug tests, court appearances, and treatment contacts are much more frequent than any other forms of probation. The key goals of most drug courts are to reduce drug use by engaging

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

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

Another query needs to be resolved is whether drug courts are positive reforms to the criminal justice system. According to Sasha Abramsky, a journalist and a senior fellow at Demos, problem-solving court has the ability to attract defendant to incarceration. She indicates, “mentally ill offenders who completed treatment through the city’s Behavioral Health Court were 55 percent less likely to be charged with a new violent offense than were their peers who had not been through the program” (Abramsky 33) which proves that problem­ solving courts' treatment and rehabilitation tend to improve defendant's mental and physical. Since the system is effective and works really well by reducing people entering the jail and prison, there are more and

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