Community Court System

Drug court was first started in 1989 in Miami, Florida. Drug court came about due to the link between crime and drug abuse. This drug related crimes caused the jails to become over populated. Drug court became the solution to aid in the recovery of SUD as well as weed out petite drug related crimes and hard criminals. This is in intensive program with court supervision, case management for prosecution and/or incarceration. As well as a team of professional that assist the client in with the court, probation, treatment and police. These professional meet up with the client to discuss the program and how they are doing in it. This is a abstinence base program that help with rapid treatment entry, integrated treatment and court service, drug testing, and a sanctions and reward system (Miller,2015)

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

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 court is an example of Packer’s crime control model. Offenders are placed in drug court because of plea bargains. Sentencing an offender to drug court leaves the prosecution as well as the defense the ability to move on to other cases. Furthermore, drug court is a cost saving method of justice in that an offender does not have to serve jail or prison time, thus, eliminating the cost of incarceration.

A judge is held to the highest standard in a participant’s journey through the drug court system. Some argue that drug courts are not the proper way to handle drug offenders. If judges assume their role as a leader, communicator, community builder, and institution builder participants will gain a lifechanging experience in drug courts. DRUG COURTS IN AMERICA In the 1980s, crack

In 1989, the first drug court came into existence in Miami-Dade County, Florida. They emerged in response to demands for change in the criminal justice system because of the War on Drug. (Listwan, Sundt, Holsinger, & Latessa, 2003) By 2007, drug courts were established in all 50 states. Statistics show that the prison population of women increased because of the War on drug policies. (Shaffer, Hartman, & Listwan, 2009) The drug court model became an alternative to sanctions given to drug offenders. Drug courts address addiction by merging treatment services, judicial monitoring, and probation supervision. (King & Pasquarella, 2009; NADCP, 2005; Shaffer, Hartman, & Listwan, 2009)

Drug courts improve lawbreakers mental wellbeing, allowing for a halt of criminal activity. Improvements of wellbeing is a result of drug courts. A study from Mendoza et al (2013, p.787) found psychological symptoms have a significant impact on the completion of drug courts, implicating the likelihood of relapse and recidivism. There is a clear relationship between the completion of drug courts and a reduction of substance abuse and child wellbeing; allowing many drug affected families becoming reunified (Child & McIntyre, 2015, p.67,85). A study from Boles et al displayed that children reunified with offenders who partake in drug court treatments are safe from repeated mistreatment when compared with children not associated with drug court treatments (Boles et al cited in Child & McIntyre, 2015). It is clear drug courts increase mental wellbeing and allow for offenders to return to a family orientated

Drug court is also known to reduce recidivism rates. This was done through participation of the defendants and justice professionals who are involved in the program. The issues defendants have been face with are address when they are sent to drug court. Most defendants that come into the criminal justice system are faced with depression, homelessness, lack of education, lack of employment, medical and mental health issues, poor motivation, lack of family support and community support.

Drugs have been known to be detrimental to American society. Commonly known as “ The war on drugs”. Majority of individuals who are incarcerated have been convicted of some type of drug offense and if not a drug related crimes. In many instances, a person can be sent to a jail or prison without receiving the required treatment to help the individual overcome their drug of choice. Remarkably, there is a court solely focused on an individual with a drug problem, which is known as Drug courts.

Judges and law enforcements were tired of seeing the same people with the same charges all the time so a group of justice professionals decided that the courts system was broken and they needed a way to fix it. They found a solution by combining a drug treatment with the authority of the judge. The Miami-Dade drug court sparked a national revolution that has changed our courts system. 10 years after the first drug court was established, 492 drug courts were created. By June 30, 2012 there were 2,734 drug courts up and running in every U.S. state. Today, drug court movements continue to spread throughout the country and the

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

Drug courts, and other recovery programs hold promise for retaining offenders involved with drugs in treatment services (SAMHSA, 2014, p.131-132). The first drug court formed in 1989 in Southern Florida. The change in the criminal justice system came when, tired of seeing the same offenders appear before the court under the same or similar charges. The group of professionals in Miami-Dade County combined drug treatment programs with criminal justice structure and authority of the judicial system (Franco, C. 2010). Since then, over 2,000 drug court programs have been adopted in communities across the country, though each court houses its own eligibility requirements, making it somewhat difficult to account for the success of drug courts as a

The criminologist’s perspective has a heavy reliance on the drug court when it comes to the disciplinary approaches used in relations to drugs. The term “drug courts” alludes to devoted courts that give judicially- observed treatment, drug testing and other services to drug-involved offenders. They target criminal respondents and guilty parties, adolescent offenders and guardians with pending welfare cases who have either drug or alcohol dependency problems. (Drug Courts Program Office, 1997)

One of the positive solutions regarding the treatment of drug offenders is the creation of drug courts the primary goal of which is to “reduce drug use and associated criminal behavior by engaging and retaining drug-involved offenders in programmatic and treatment services” (Belenko, 1998, p. 4). Providing the

The purpose of this study was to show that an effective drug treatment program in the criminal justice system is a necessity and to show that treatment will reduce recidivism thus reducing crime in society as a whole.