Drug Sentencing Proposal

Since the declaration of “the war on drugs”, society’s perspective relating to punishment of drug-involved offenders has been much too vindictive. Now, an offender is not allowed to be sent to treatment by a judge, he must go to jail. This is due to mandatory sentencing. Upcoming diversion programs are an excellent alternative to “hard time” for qualifying drug offenders. These programs are becoming very popular and evidence shows that they are greatly beneficial, not only to the accused, but to society as a whole. Diversion programs benefit many regarding the increase in community involvement and safer city streets, rehabilitation of offenders, and financial means. The criminal justice system is currently at a stand still in regards to convicted

Drug Courts came about as a result of a backlogged court system and a steady, rapidly increasing prison population. Drug courts are a form of diversion that helps the offender through rehabilitation and the community through an increased sense of protection, which serves the best interest of everyone. Drug Courts are community based intermediate sanctions that incorporate treatment principles into the Criminal Justice System and divert drug offenders from traditional punishments of probation and prison. The objective of drug courts programs is to treat the underlying problems of addiction among drug offenders and eliminate participants’ future drug use and crime.

Since the origination of drug treatment courts, there has been countless numbers of offenders who have successfully completed the program and fought their way past drug abuse. There are also a handful of offenders who may have struggled to change their drug abuse or addiction, and fell short of completing the program. In this second part of my report, I will be determining whether drug treatment court programs actually work. To accomplish this task, I will be reviewing three empirical studies to evaluate how effective the program truly is.

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.

Once the individual is infatuated with one or more drugs it is viewed as an addiction, but programs such as the F.I.S.T program consider it to be a disease. This specific program takes those diseased who are willing to get clean and want to be reintegrated into society as a law abiding citizen. Many have argued that drug court programs do not focus enough on the participant’s life outside of the program after his or her graduation. A recent study researched the success of the after effects this program had against offenders who were eligible and entered the program versus those who were eligible and did not enter. With the F.I.S.T program, participants received therapeutic tools and rigorous education compared to those who did not. With this study, out of the 186 individuals who participated, only 10 of them were rearrested after the first 6 months. The counter research of the 994 who did not participate, had 108 individuals be re-arrested after the first 6 months. Once the one year or more re arrest comparison between the two were calculated, it was found that completers of this program are 16% less likely to recidivate to drug offenses than those who did not complete F.I.S.T. The reason behind these finding were the teachings the participants were exposed to during the process. With educational programs, they discovered what they were

Currently, America incarcerate a higher percentage of its citizens than any other industrialized nation in the world. The negative impact of addiction to alcohol and drugs on American culture and society is inescapable. Although various treatment models have been developed and implemented over the years, a monumental number of people struggling with substance dependence continue to be under treated. Whereas, many people are questioning the criminalization people face because they ingest or consume drugs, for the most part, the criminal justice system focus more on incarceration instead of rehabilitation for the offenders and addicts.

The goal of these programs is to provide treatment to reduce recidivism of inmates and provide them with treatment that will allow them to rejoin society. For the participants drug court acts as an intervention program. It functions by “addressing the problems associated with drugs use, learning skills to avoid relapse, increasing family involvement, and promoting accountability for offenders” (Goetz & Mitchell, 2006).

Since the first drug court was established in 1989 in Florida, it can be said there are more than 800 active drug courts today. Drug courts work with the intent of treatment over punishment to prevent recidivism and promote public safety, therefore sentencing treatment over prison. There are two primary functions with the intention of either diverting offenders out of the criminal process by sentencing them to treatment or by post adjudication with suspended sentences pending rehabilitation (Siegel, Schmalleger, & Worrall, 2015, p. 142-143).

The United States is desperately in need of prison and criminal justice reform. The current system miserably fails at lowering recidivism rates, limiting prison populations and rehabilitating drug and alcohol addicts. This is because very few prisoners receive drug treatment in prison, and those who do receive inadequate treatment. Fortunately, there are a multitude of upcoming drug treatment techniques that have proven effective in treating addiction. As a result of refining drug treatment in American prisons, not only will more drug addicts overcome their addiction, but the prison population will be reduced and the United States improve financially.

Between 1990 and 1999, individuals who were convicted of a drug crime rose past 100,000, which accounted for 20 percent of our nation’s increased prison population (Lurigio, 2008). Between 1995 and 2003, the number of drug-related offenders constituted the largest increase of criminals in our nation’s prison population (Lurigio, 2008). In 2004, approximately 50 percent of state prisoners were known to be substance abusers or have drug dependency (King & Pasquarella, 2009). During these years, drug offenders were crowding dockets, prisons, and nearly the entire criminal justice system (Lurigio, 2008). Due to the expensive cost of handling such cases and the difficulty of changing the habits of drug abusers, community based programs were introduced to slow the drastic increase of drug-related incarcerations (Lurigio, 2008). According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Americans owed nearly 32 billion dollars toward criminal justice expenses, 31 billion dollars toward lost productivity, and three billion towards property damage in 1998 (King & Pasquarella, 2009). These chain of events built the foundation for Drug Treatment Courts (DTC) here in the United States. The origin of the first-ever drug court was located in the 11th Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade County, Florida in 1989 (King & Pasquarella, 2009). DTC programs maintain

The drug court also provides powerful incentives and punishments for it participates. Some may be harsh and others are less harsh. At the state level the recidivism rate has lowered (Fulkerson et al., 2012; Rempel et. Al., 2003; Shaffer, 2011; Wilson, Mitchell, & MacKenzie, 2003). This is due to the defendant’s participation rate. There was a national study done showing a two-year recidivism rate of 28% (Roman, Townsend, & Bhati, 2003).

Drug courts were developed in response to a perceived need within society and the criminal justice system. This study collected data from 600 participants who successfully completed drug treatment court. The Drug Court Graduate Survey was developed by the court’s treatment program staff to serve as a measure of motivation for successful completion of the program as well as an evaluation of program functioning. The survey asked a variety of questions related to the clients experience in drug court and the client’s suggestions about way the court could change to improve effectiveness. Clients in this drug court provided interesting clues as to why drug addicted individuals enter drug court and what factors helped them successfully graduate.

Punishment is not the only way that we currently deal with criminals. Rehabilitation is another form of justice used , although it is not used as much as it should be. It seems like most people believe incarceration is a form of rehabilitation, when in-fact it isn’t and more and more criminals are no longer scared of prison. There are many forms of rehabilitation such as drug treatment, community service and mental institutions. The most common of these rehabilitation’s is Drug Treatment. In 2013 there were 210,200 inmates serving on drug related crimes (BJS, 2014, p.16) By helping these offenders to quit doing drugs, we can reduce the number of drug related crimes in the future.

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 United States Correctional System is often challenged as to whether it wants to rehabilitate drug offenders or punish them, and because of this it mostly does neither. Even though drug abuse and drug trafficking are widely spread national issues, the mental, social, and economic costs of "healing" through incarceration are only making the "disease" worse. Never before have more prisoners been locked up on drug offenses than today. Mixed with the extremely high risks of today's prison environment, the concept of incarceration as punishment for drug offenders cannot be successful. Without the correct form of rehabilitation through treatment within Michigan's Correctional System, drug