Pubdate: Sat, 3 Oct 2009
Source: Times, The (Gainesville, GA)
Copyright: 2009 Gainesville Times
Contact:  http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2701
Author: Stephen Gurr
Referenced: The report http://drugsense.org/url/Nr6BWT5C
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

SUPPORTERS: DRUG COURT DOES WORK

Report Criticizes System

A national organization's critical report on drug courts has 
supporters defending a system they say has reduced repeat offenses 
and improved lives by making substance abuse treatment a part of the 
judicial process.

This week the 11,000-member National Association of Criminal Defense 
Lawyers issued "America's Problem-Solving Courts: The Criminal Costs 
of Treatment and the Case for Reform," a report that studied some of 
the nation's 2,100-plus drug, DUI and mental health courts. Hall 
County operates four treatment courts that require participants to 
get ongoing court-monitored treatment for substance abuse or mental 
health issues. All but DUI court are voluntary.

The report criticizes drug courts that require participants to plead 
guilty to the underlying charge before treatment begins. In Hall 
County's felony drug court, the criminal charge is dismissed and the 
conviction erased if a participant successfully completes the 
intensive two-year program.

The report claims that the system "results in dismissals for 
relatively few defendants."

But in Hall County drug court, 91 percent of the people who have 
entered the program have successfully completed it and had their 
charges dropped, with 313 graduates since the program started in 
2000. Only 4.9 percent of those who have completed the program have 
gone on to commit new offenses, a far lower recidivism rate than 
typical felony cases, according to Debbie Mott, Hall County's 
director of treatment services.

Superior Court Judge Jason Deal, who oversees felony drug court in 
Hall and Dawson counties, disagrees with the report's contention that 
drug courts should be operated without requiring a participant to 
first plead guilty.

Deal said one of the keys to the effectiveness of drug courts is that 
participants know if they don't complete the requirements and are 
terminated from the program, the felony conviction stays.

"It gives willpower to folks whose willpower has been undermined by 
their addictions," Deal said. Voluntary substance abuse treatment is 
less successful because "they can just walk away from private 
treatment," Deal said. "They can't walk away from drug court."

The report faults treatment courts for operating with little input 
from the defense bar and claims most defendants aren't adequately 
counseled on their rights.

Deal notes that local defense attorneys had equal input when the 
criteria and policies were first set for Hall County's drug court 
under the leadership of Senior Judge John Girardeau. The drug court 
team includes a defense attorney on staff, and private attorneys can 
also advocate on behalf of their clients in court, Deal said.

Drug court participants meet at least twice with a defense attorney 
before making a decision on entering the program and are counseled 
extensively on their rights before pleading guilty, the judge said.

The report is critical of drug courts that have strict entry 
requirements and don't accept high-risk repeat offenders, which it 
says are often those most in need of treatment.

In Hall County, participants in the felony court can only have one 
prior felony conviction and cannot have any convictions for violent crimes.

Federal requirements made when the court was started with Justice 
Department grants are part of the reason violent offenders are not 
allowed into the program, Deal said. But it's also a safety 
precaution for drug court staffers who are not law enforcement 
officers, he said.

Also, high-risk offenders could not be mixed in with low-risk 
offenders and the latter still be successful, Deal said. Prosecutors 
who answer to the public also may be reluctant to dismiss charges 
against a person with multiple prior convictions, he said.

"This has to be something that all the different parties are willing 
to participate in," Deal said. "It's a collaboration between the 
defense, the prosecution and the courts."

Advocates of drug courts take the biggest issue with what they say is 
an overtly political slant to the National Association of Defense 
Lawyer's report. The report recommends decriminalizing low-level drug 
use and asserts that drugs should be a public health concern, not a 
criminal justice issue.

"The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers favors 
legalization of drugs, including methamphetamine, heroin and crack 
cocaine," Chris Deutch, a spokesman for the National Association of 
Drug Court Professionals, said in a statement. "Therefore, it is not 
surprising that it chooses to attack our nation's most successful 
justice intervention for substance-abusing offenders: drug courts."

Deal said the scientific data backs up drug courts. But some of their 
benefits to society are "incalculable," he said.

People who were once a drain on the system become employed, taxpaying 
and responsible parents, Deal said.

Said Mott, "It's just kind of hard to dispute when you see folks 
return to their families and becoming productive members of society."

Said Deal, "I've got a box full of letters in my office and every one 
says, 'Drug court saved my life; if it weren't for drug court I'd be 
dead or in prison, I wouldn't have stopped.' So, it's hard to argue 
with that data." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake