Drug Court Model

A program’s considered ineffective if it does not have a positive impact on a juvenile’s recidivism rate. Studies have shown that juveniles that attend ineffective programs have higher rates of going back to the prison system. Boot camps, intensive parole and probation supervision programs have a negative impact on juveniles and no reduction in recidivism rates. Programs such as deterrence, scared straight, and teaching the juvenile discipline actually have an increase in recidivism (Wilson, 2011, p. 106). Lipsey (2009) notes that discipline interventions had the largest negative effects on recidivism with an increase of 8%, with deterrence interventions, increasing recidivism by 2% (Bostic, 2014).

With the economy in the turmoil that it is in America cannot continue to support these sentencing guidelines. The Mandatory Article Sentencing declares that the laws are becoming a huge drain on the Justice Bureau’s budget, and in 2012 the United States had far beyond more people incarcerated than any other country. Most of these prisoners are low-level drug offenders sentenced under mandatory sentencing guidelines with a cost draining on American taxpayers $6.8 billion a year, as of 2012. These costs do not seem to have a ceiling and continue eating up about twenty-five percent of the federal justice system’s yearly budget.

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

Drug courts, initially propelled in Florida in 1989, are an arrangement of escalated treatment and supervision. The thought is to treat the instances of peaceful substance-mishandling guilty parties uniquely in contrast to other criminal cases in light of the fact that the dependence is at the base of the criminal action. Accentuation is on recovery instead of discipline. Drug Courts are the best equity intercession for treating drug-dependent individuals the purpose of drug courts is to diminish drug use, lessen wrongdoing, spare cash, and it reestablish lives with sparing more hardship on the kids and reconnecting families together. Drug Courts serve a small amount of the assessed 1.2 million drug dependent individuals presently included in the equity framework.

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

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.

Determining this, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has also developed a comprehensive drug abuse treatment strategy for those incarcerated inmates who were affected by illegal drug activities. Drug education programs, and comprehensive drug abuse counseling is offered to nearly all incarcerated inmates. While the number directly related illegal drug activity to inmate incarceration may be approximately fifty-one percent, some form of illegal drug activity may eventually affect nearly all

Prevention is key in order to maintain a successful outlook for these former inmates that are slowly but surely readjusting back to society. In the book “Community & Public Health”, the four basic elements of prevention include, “(1) education, (2) treatment, (3) public policy, (4) enforcement. The goals of education and treatment are the same: to reduce the demand for drugs. Likewise, setting effective public policy and law enforcement share the same goal: to reduce the supply and availability of drugs in the community.” (McKenzie 2012).

The court room consists of a judge, lawyers, probation officers, and counselors who access each participants progress through the program. This specific Treatment Court has an informal feel to it, because from time to time all of the participants are asked to give a round of applause to each who stands in front of the judge. Because of its informal approach each participant

Overview: The purpose of the Executive Summary, The Multi-Site Adult Drug Court Evaluation: Executive Summary (Rossman, Roman, Zweig, Rempel, Lindquist, 2011), was to show how Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center (UI-JCP), RTI International (RTI) and Center for Court Innovation (CCI) conducted research on how drug courts impact the overall crimes related to drugs. The main issue being explored is how well the drug courts are doing to help lower crime revolving around the drug epidemic. This issue is significant to criminal justice because it shows that the United States has a serious drug dilemma that started in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s that has to be combated by government and law enforcement agencies. This includes the issue you of whether or not drug courts are actually helping reduce crime.

this study used evidence from 23 drug courts and 6 comparison sites. With the hypothesis “that drug court participants have lower rates of drug use and criminal activity and show improved functioning compared to similar offenders not offered drug court,” the study will offer information on whether or not the drug courts are working enough to be widely used. To see whether the drug courts were performing or not, 7 outcomes measured drug use, criminal activity, incarceration, socioeconomic status, mental health, family support, and homelessness (Rossman, 2011, p.20). Information found through the study points to reduced drug relapse, reduced criminal behavior, and increased court appearance (Rossman, 2011, p. 3-4). Overall, through the MADCE study, results proved that those who go through Drug Courts have less chance of relapse, commit less crime, and Drug Courts even “return a net benefit of $5,680 to $6,208 per participant” (Rossman, 2011, p. 257-258).

According to the National Institute of Justice, currently there are 1,558 drug courts within the United States, and 409 which are juvenile drug courts. The purpose of drug courts are to serve as an alternative to incarceration for drug offenders, based on a treatment-oriented approach. The research question that I have developed will address the effectiveness of drug courts on juvenile offenders compared to those adjudicated to traditional sentencing (i.e. Probation, Incarceration). Although many research has been conducted on the effectiveness of adult drug courts, less is known about effectiveness on

In 1989, officials in Miami-Dade County, Florida established the nation’s first drug court. This special court was designed to bring drug treatment more fully into the criminal justice system, treating offenders with a history of drug abuse for their addiction, while simultaneously ensuring supervision, and sanctions when needed, from the courts. The movement for an alternative court to sentence drug offenders emerged from the rapidly evolving reality that the nation’s decision to address drug abuse through law enforcement mechanisms would continue to pose significant challenges for the criminal court system. In 2004, 53% of persons in state prison were identified with a drug dependence or abuse problem, but only 15% were receiving professional

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.

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