Pubdate: Sun, 25 Nov 2001
Source: Asbury Park Press (NJ)
Copyright: 2001 Asbury Park Press
Contact:  http://www.injersey.com/app/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/26
Author: Carol Gorga Williams, Toms River Bureau

DRUG COURTS SOON TO BE IN SESSION

They have the judges, they have the money and they're virtually guaranteed 
to have plenty of clients.

Beginning next year, drug courts will come to Ocean, Monmouth and four 
other counties, giving hard-core drug addicts what proponents call their 
best chance to get clean and stay that way.

Acting Gov. DiFrancesco in September signed legislation that allocated 
$14.7 million for the program. The money will pay the salaries of six drug 
court judges, and provide funding to the state Administrative Office of the 
Courts to run the programs and to the Division of Addictive Services in the 
state Department of Health and Senior Services.

The bulk of the money -- $10 million -- will go for extensive 
substance-abuse treatment of the clients, officials said.

It is not known how much money Monmouth and Ocean counties will get from 
the program. But each will receive $260,377 to fund aspects of the program 
from Jan. 3 through June 30, said John Wieck, manager of criminal court 
services within the state Administrative Office of the Courts. Drug courts 
also are scheduled to begin in 2002 in Bergen, Hudson, Gloucester and 
Morris counties.

Beginning Jan. 3, each court must advertise for and hire staff who need to 
be in place by April, when the programs begin seeing "participants" or 
"clients." They are not called "defendants," as in criminal court, because 
adversarial relationships are abandoned in drug court.

Initially, the program in Ocean County will serve 110 people, said James J. 
Kelly, who manages the criminal division for the county. "We are still 
planning how we are going to operate the program."

Superior Court Judge Peter J. Giovine, the county's presiding criminal 
court judge, will take over the drug court as well, Kelly said.

Sen. Robert W. Singer, R-Ocean, said, however, that he understands the new 
drug court judge will be Darlene J. Pereksta of the Ortley Beach section of 
Dover, who serves as deputy chief of staff in the governor's office.

Pereksta was confirmed by the Senate Oct. 3 for a "drug-court" seat, but 
often the judgeships are moved around within the county later.

Judge Paul F. Chaiet will preside over drug court in Monmouth County, which 
also will have 110 participants to start, officials said.

Treatment emphasized

Although they vary widely in how they operate from one jurisdiction to 
another, drug courts implement one basic philosophy: Use intensive 
supervision and positive reinforcement to get and keep addicts off drugs, 
and they will return to productive lives.

Participants are helped to get sober and obtain high school diplomas or 
high school equivalency certifications, find and keep jobs, and develop 
mentor relationships with someone in their communities. They are ordered to 
undergo regular drugs testing, often more than once a week, and a failure 
to appear for any court hearing or drug test can result in an immediate 
bench warrant and a stay in the county jail.

Who gets into drug court? Those addicted to drugs or alcohol whose criminal 
record includes no violent offenses and minimal drug charges involving 
distribution within a drug-free school zone. Although each jurisdiction 
must determine what constitutes a minimal number of drug charges, some have 
chosen two offenses.

The Administrative Office of the Courts is so enamored of the drug- court 
phenomenon that it plans to have such programs in all 21 counties within 
two years.

At a hearing in April of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, 
state Appellate Court Judge Richard J. Williams, who is on leave from the 
bench to serve as chief administrator of the office of the courts, told 
lawmakers the drug court program in place in five counties steers 
nonviolent offenders away from prison time.

Court called cheaper

Williams said drug courts may help reduce the disproportionate number of 
minorities in the state's prison system because 80 percent of the minor 
offenders are black or Hispanic. He said drug court is cheaper for 
taxpayers because treating offenders is about half as expensive as 
imprisoning them.

It costs $34,218 to keep someone in state prison for one year. Counseling 
and treatment ordered through the drug court program, which includes six 
months in an inpatient program, costs $17,266 the first year.

And although the start-up is expensive, if the goal is to restore lives and 
improve social ills, not just to move offenders in and out of the prison 
system, it is worth it, Wieck said.

"In the long run, we hope it will be cheaper," Wieck said. "People will be 
getting jobs, paying taxes. The long-term benefits outweigh the early costs."

The evidence so far is that the treatment keeps offenders from returning to 
drug use and from becoming involved in additional crimes, according to the 
Administrative Office of the Courts.

Drug courts allow nonviolent offenders with addictions to enter a program 
of judge-monitored treatment and counseling. The counseling component can 
sometimes last years. Pioneered in Miami in 1989, drug courts have shown 
success in preventing recidivism, proponents say.

According to a December 2000 report from the Administrative Office of the 
Courts, these are the benefits so far of drug court programs throughout the 
nation: More than 1,000 babies that would have been born addicted to drugs 
have instead been born drug-free, saving $250,000 in medical costs per 
infant. 3,500 parents in the program have regained custody of their 
children. 4,500 drug court participants have started or returned to paying 
child-support obligations. 73 percent of drug court participants have 
retained or obtained jobs.

Court has detractors

Not everyone supports the drug court program. Private defense attorneys are 
concerned that many participants will opt to use the services of public 
defenders since there is no need for a trial. Some opponents say the 
program costs too much and benefits too few. A judge earning $115,000 will 
supervise about 100 people when the job could be done by a probation 
officer earning less than half that, objectors say.

Critics say there is nothing new or innovative in the programs and charge 
that proponents are marketing their needs differently to get state or 
federal funds to help run the court system.

James M. Waters, president of the Lakewood/Ocean County Chapter of the 
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, has other 
concerns. He suggests that before a drug court gets under way in Ocean 
County, some sort of study is necessary to determine the fairness of state 
laws that provide for higher penalties for those caught with drugs near 
schools, parks and other recreational areas.

Because Lakewood has so many parks and schools, the drug-free zones in the 
town basically constitute the entire town, making people caught with drugs 
in Lakewood vulnerable to higher sentences, he said.

"Why should there be a separate penalty, if you are caught in Lincroft or 
Deal or even Brick?" Waters asked. "It has to be fair and equitable. We've 
got to find a way a youngster in one town is not to be punished differently 
from a youngster in another town.

"We need a society that represents fairness and equality for everyone," 
Waters said. "That is why I basically feel representatives from different 
minority groups need to be involved. I think some of the punishment we have 
right now is not equal and fair across the board."

Singer, the state senator, sees no need to change the laws.

"Don't buy or use drugs in Lakewood," Singer said. "I have no problem with 
that message. Should other municipalities catch up to us? Yes. The 
Legislature passed drug-free school zones to let pushers know that selling 
drugs near our children, our most treasured resource, would be vigorously 
prosecuted. I don't want to water that down in any form or way."

First Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Terrence P. Farley, who runs the 
county Narcotic Strike Force, said that his job is to implement the 
statutes set by the Legislature, not to tinker with them.

"The statutory edicts will have to be maintained unless the court is going 
to somehow override the wishes of the Legislature," Farley said. "I would 
be surprised if any law enforcement or legislative group looks to revise 
the drug-free zone, at least in a downward manner."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Rebel