Drug Court Model

According to the National Institute of Justice, “Recidivism refers to a person 's relapse into criminal behavior, often after the person receives sanctions or undergoes intervention for a previous crime,” (Recidivism). A study conducted in 2005 by the Bureau of Justice Statistics about recidivism revealed “about two-thirds (67.8%) of released prisoners were arrested for a new crime within 3 years” upon release (Cooper). These high rates are influenced by a number of factors both while in prison, and following release. For instance, drug offenders “underestimate their vulnerability post-incarceration,” especially because many often return to neighborhoods that are associated with pre-incarceration drug use. Not to mention, they need proper housing and employment to readjust into society, but they lack access because they are labeled in society (Chandler).

The amount of rehabilitation provided in prisons is slowly increasing as more light is being shed on the issue. There is no difference between an inmate and a non-offender seeking treatment but the limitations for inmates to receive effective treatment they need are countless. “Sixty to 80 percent of the American inmate population has a history of substance abuse. Meanwhile, the number of drug-treatment slots in American prisons has declined by more than half since 1993” (Schlosser 54).

The role of specialty courts Specialty courts are a big thing in the United States. They are a problem solving oriented court that are narrowly focused on within the jurisdiction. At first these types of courts were called designer courts or boutique courts which indicated the special nature of the court. Drug courts were made due to the amount of drug addicts that were going into jail or prison rather than treatment. Since then there are 3,000 drug courts in the United State, and then in addition there are 1,125 other problem solving courts such as mental health courts, gun courts, truancy courts, domestic violence courts etc (Neubauer).

In America’s society, there are an estimated 1.2 million violent crimes committed every year. Adults are not the only individuals that are committing violent crimes. Juveniles are estimated to be involved in twenty-five percent of all violent crimes. Along with these crimes comes the decision on whether these juveniles should be tried as minors or adults, which has created an immense controversy around the United States. Certain juveniles are tried as adults because they must be held accountable for their actions, it brings justice to their victims, and because those individuals have a moral sense.

There was a study done that examined the self-control theory by using the criminal records of 500 adults. There were four indicators that were taken: aliases, social security numbers, dates, and place of birth that were used to create a self-control measure. “Negative binomial regression models indicated that offenders who scored low on the self-control measure accumulated significantly more violent index, property index, white-collar, and nuisance arrests net the effects of control variables. These findings contribute to the empirical support for self-control theory and indicate that self-control is salient using a criminal sample” (Matt Delisi, 2001, College of health and human sciences, georgia state university).

The purpose of this case study is to analyze Reginald Tone's behaviors and early life in order to attempt to provide some reasoning behind the crimes he committed. Reginald Tone was arrested in 2008 and charged and convicted of three murders and ten assaults that were both sexual and violent in nature. These crimes will be analyzed in context of Tone's childhood and adolescence, drawing on both his actions and the environment in which he was raised. Some key factors of Tone'e early life will be discussed and used to apply pertinent psychological theories and prospectives to try to explain why Tone committed the crimes that he did. Case

The media tends to focus on the mistakes of the criminal justice system. Many reports have highlighted the cases of wrongfully imprisoned people. While these cases are indeed wrong, many of the people imprisoned have committed a crime. For example, DNA evidence is now a useful determinant of guilt or innocence with regard to rape cases. Gwendolyn Carrol wrote an article for the Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology.

Finckenauer of the from Rutgers University School of Criminal Justice calls “vicarious deterrence,” or the concept of preventing someone from making a bad decision by observing another person who has made the same decision (Sullivan). Often, the presentations from the inmates during the jail tour include graphic stories about the horrors of prison life and the actions that led to their incarceration. The original pilot Scared Straight program was featured in a 1978 documentary entitled Scared Straight!, which was directed by Arnold Shapiro and narrated by Peter Falk. The documentary followed nineteen juvenile delinquents as they participated in the program at Rahway Prison (IMDb). Today, the A&E series Beyond Scared Straight follows participants through these programs all over the United States

In the article “Even Prisoners Must Have Hope”, Richard Stratton (the author) talks about his thoughts on the federal prison system in America. Stratton himself had served 8 years in jail for smuggling marijuana. He strongly advises not to make the prisons even worse than they already are. The harsh conditions and other peoples’ vengeful attitudes toward criminals only make the violence and crime continue. According to Stratton, instead of improving the harsh conditions and trying to rehabilitate and help prisoners that could lead to peace, our society inflicts more pain and punishment, enforcing a violent cycle.

Introduction To begin with, a juvenile court is a special trial court that deals with children and adolescents convicted of crimes and most importantly, intervene in delinquent behavior through police court. They are specifically a correctional institution. In brief, it handles cases of delinquent behavior and dependency. There has and is still ongoing debate on the definition of who is a juvenile. However, a juvenile under eighteen years qualifies for juvenile court procedure.

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

Inciardi, Steven S. Martin, and Clifford A. Butzin’s “Five-Year Outcomes of Therapeutic Community Treatment of Drug-Involved Offenders
After Release From Prison.” This article starts by saying that, according to several drug abuse clinicians and sociologists have stated the importance of the therapeutic community, referred to as TC because it is the “most viable form of treatment for drug-involved offenders, particularly for those whose criminality has resulted in incarceration.” (Inciardi, Martin, Butzin, 2004) The authors state that TC is a treatment environment separate from the prison population and that primary staff members are ex-substance abusers who previously went through TC treatment. There are three effective stages incorporated into TC treatment intervention.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the use of illegal drugs was growing; which undertook a war on drugs. As of June 2001, there were a total of 697 drug court programs, serving around 226,000 offenders and another 427 programs being planned (Office of Justice Programs, 2001). The drug court can be seen as a social movement to crack down on drugs. Although the drug court model continues to evolve, there are some key components. Some of these key components are, a non adversarial approach that emphasizes teamwork; eligible participants are defined early and promptly placed in the drug court program; and abstinence is monitored by frequent alcohol and drug testing, and so on.

As of September 26, 2015, there is a total of 93,821 inmates in prison for drug offenses, which is equivalent to 48.4 percent of the prison population. The use of illegal narcotics has been an issue within the country for decades; however, is incarceration the way to solve this problem? I think not. During the late 1960’s, poverty was a substantial issue within urban cities and secluded rural areas. On the other hand, recreational drug usage promoted by fashionable young, white Americans as a symbol of social upheaval and youthful rebellion coincided with the deprivation within many of these areas.

In eleven states, at least 1 in 20 black adults are in prison. Research shows that prosecutors are twice as likely to pursue a mandatory minimum sentence for black people as for white people charged with the same crime. One in nine black children and one in 38 Latino children have an incarcerated parent, compared to one in 57 white children.