In 1989, the first Drug Court was created in Miami-Dade County after the courts were fed up with the same offenders and the growing drug cases. A group of individuals employed with the justice system decided to look for a better method of trying drug offenses by forming a drug court division. The group of individual’s solution for the repeated offenses and offenders was to combine drug therapy treatment with the legal authority of the courts. As a team, the drug court concept was effective in c correcting the lifestyle and behaviors of drug offenders. With its success, Miami-Dade Drug court sparked an effective trend and sparked the formation of 492 Drug Courts in the United States and continues to influence justice systems. (NADCP, n.d.)
Drug Courts were created to provide an alternative for non-violent drug offense in order for the courts to reduce substance abuse through rehabilitation and future recidivism possibilities through probation monitoring efforts and treatment facilities and other therapeutic services. Drug courts specialize in specific issues to reach goals of non-violent drug offenders through screening and assessments to evaluate the risk, treatment, and how the offender will respond to the efforts. Drug courts also employ the efforts of monitoring and drug testing through probation, as well as outpatient and
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Drug courts encourage the support of the family to aid the offender in rehabilitation and recovery to ensure the offender is successful in the treatment and post treatment. Many drug courts include the community as another source of recovery for the offender as the offender is re-entering society with corrected behavior and learning to adapt to the community and applying non-drug coping skills. (National Institute of Justice,
The justice system has to take a new approach to enforce law that place minor drug offenses in jail for long periods of time and actually
On April 20 of this year I attended the drug court which is located in the Erie County Courthouse. The Drug Court is intended to promote healthy and law-abiding behavior for its participants. It acts as an alternative for jail and an individual is free to live in the community as long he or she participates in all services, along with being subject to random drug testing.
While experiencing a drug court they may get fines and drug programs they have to finish. They will choose the kind of court when sentenced, this relies on upon how much drugs they possess. The purpose for the drug courts and drug programs is restoration for drug users was costly; they implemented these programs to offer assistance.
This coming year the United States will elect a new President. One amazing candidate that comes from my home state Texas is Governor, Rick Perry. He deserves your vote because of what he has done for Texas. Rick Perry has improved people’s health in Texas, and has great plans for health insurance in Texas, that can be established in the United States. He has also made the communities in Texas safer and can do that as well to the United States.
The creation of drug courts has had many positive effects on millions of lives and has helped with keeping certain familiar faces out of court. Though due to are countries fiscal crisis many programs have been cut or expansion has ceased. The criminal justice systems cost roughly 70 billion annual on the corrections system which is because of over reliance on incarceration. Instead of spending so much to increate people the courts could be sending them to reform programs that end
Diversion programs have become a prevalent form of justice in the Criminal Justice System. Diversion can be two things; diversion from jail or diversion from the legal system completely. Diversionary programs have been developed in the Criminal Justice System throughout its many levels for a multitude of reasons. Often, they are spurred on by practical concerns including, but not limited to, over-crowded prisons, the high cost of the criminal process, and as an alternative approach to dealing with those suffering from mental illnesses. Diversion may occur both before and after a trial and are aimed at avoiding the trial process (pre-trial) and incarceration (post-trial).
The first drug court was established in Miami-Dade, Florida in 1989. Drug courts were established because of the “revolving door of drug use” and increasing recidivism rates. Drug courts have the ability to change a person’s life for the better by teaching them how to beat their addictions while providing the proper treatments for each offender. As a result, of the ongoing development of drug courts it is unfair to expect the system to be indefectible. Still, there are many benefits in participating in the drug court system.
There are two theories of drug court that not has been proven, but has led to further discussion on the topic. The participants in drug court are predominately Caucasians and African Americans. Drug court participants are made up of 62% Caucasians, 21% African American, 10% Hispanic or Latinos and 5% of other racial groups throughout the US. The first theory of drug court was based on research that drug court offenders are more likely to have positive results related to graduation and recidivism.
The publication by Christina M. Gaudio is critical of the War on Drugs and focuses on its effects on juveniles. She takes time to outline the issues that are present with our current system, and specifically how the system is particularly unjust to juveniles. Gaudio details how the juvenile justice system operates state and federally, then she gives a brief history of the Drug War, the Drug Wars effect on Juveniles, its overall effectiveness, and possible solutions to what she sees as the problem. The Drug War is extremely costly to the taxpayer and is in many respects failing.
Only 18.3% (337,882) were for the sale or manufacture of a drug” (p. 23). Therefore, the individuals who are likely to enter the already overcrowded prisons may be users and the actual not distributors themselves. Thus, prison space that is intended to be reserved for murders and sexual predators is instead being occupied by substance
This model focuses on the individual needs of the offender and in doing so increases their chance of living sober once they reenter society. For example, indeterminate sentencing allows offenders who exhibit good behavior and participate in prison substance abuse programs to be paroled closer to the minimum sentencing term. This means the offender can be released from prison based on conditions set forth by the court. If the offender violates parole by committing another crime or failing to continue substance abuse treatment, they can be returned to prison. Furthermore, offering indeterminate sentencing for offenders who meet the criteria creates prison space thus helping with the ongoing problem of prison overcrowding (Seiter,
Juvenile Drug Court Logic Model Diagram, shows important key concepts and topics that need to be addressed. Furthermore, the creation of an actual model for juvenile drug courts served as a dynamic development that aided this type of rehabilitative ideal to be superior compared to incarceration. When adapting to a model such as Figure 2, it allows the juvenile court to produce stimulating discussion on how to even further improve the model to maintain a higher success levels for the juvenile, and an overall satisfaction from the criminal justice system that this is a viable option for these young offenders. A tremendous aspect of the framework of these types of models is that the time-frame for the program is roughly a year. While this may seem like a significant period of time for the juvenile, this is considered optimal to not only correct the issues relating to substance abuse, but also issues that are possibly related to the home life of the juvenile.
The Drug Treatment Alternative-to-Prison Program is another attempt to provide better treatment for people who are convicted. The study showed that drug offenders who underwent a treatment program outside of prison had a 26 percent less rate of re-arrest after two years than a control group that was sent to prison (Justice Policy Institute, 2010). Rehabilitative programs like the Second Chance Act and the Drug Treatment Alternative-to-Prison Program has shown to growth and positive
Another specialized court that a community might benefit from establishing is a mental health court. The aim of mental health courts is to connect people with mental illness, that display deviant behavior, to mental health resources and social services that can better deal with cases such as these as an option for individuals who need to be treated more than they need to be imprisoned (A Promising Alternative, 2011). One good reason to creating drug and mental health courts in a community is their goal to problem solve rather than just push defendants through the conveyor belt or revolving door
This leads to the question of whether the justice system is doing an adequate job of dealing with drug addiction. Instead of incarcerating people for drug abuse, an alternative is treating victims by rehab and treatment. This paper will exam why treatment is the superior option for