Pubdate: Wed, 06 Jun 2001
Source: Times-News, The (ID)
Copyright: 2001 Magic Valley Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.magicvalley.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/595
Author: Shawna Fuller
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n964/a02.html

DRUG COURTS DO GOOD WORK

Mr. Kalange, in response to your letter of May 28:

You are correct in your analysis of the current "front-end 
rehabilitation strategies (programs)" that do not work and end up 
throwing the addict into relapse and back into the court system.

Dismissing the drug court as "frivolous" is a jump in the wrong 
direction. The drug courts in and of themselves do not "stop 
addiction," nor do they hope to correct morality. However, working 
with drug and alcohol treatment programs, the pilot drug courts 
nationally have shown a reduction in recidivism. When you consider 
the rise in the recidivism rate from 17 percent in 1974 to 67 percent 
in 1999 and the millions of dollars that had been spent on programs 
that have not worked, seeing a reduction in the rate of recidivism is 
meaningful.

But we must know our target audience for any program to be 
successful. With 80 percent of those in drug and alcohol treatment 
being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and 
learning disabilities, the rehabilitation drug program must be 
modified to address the learning styles and the behavior clusters of 
the addict-offender. Until the November 2000 founding of Life 
Challenges Inc. in Twin Falls, there were no formal 
rehabilitation-treatment programs that targeted this audience. (At 80 
percent, this is a rather large audience that has been overlooked.) 
As a result, most offenders, after going through as many as five 
different programs, continue to violate. The offender, 80 percent of 
the time, is not able to understand, process, apply, establish a 
structure of self-discipline, see or change distorted 
self-perceptions, or modify thinking and behavior strategies, as 
taught in most core programs. Therefore, he fails or, more honestly, 
the program fails.

The drug courts, with appropriate rehabilitation-treatment programs, 
give the offender an opportunity to develop an individual relapse 
prevention plan that in turn generates more personal responsibility 
and accountability. The individual relapse prevention plan can be 
altered as the need arises and allows room for growth and refocusing. 
There is no magic program out there that will fix someone who doesn't 
want to be fixed. But in my experience, most of the offenders do want 
to change or improve but do not have the tools to be successful. Drug 
courts are a step in the right direction for much needed correction 
reform.

SHAWNA FULLER
Twin Falls

(Note: Shawna Fuller is president and developer of Life Challenges 
Inc., a social program that teaches people who are on probation or 
parole how to get out of the criminal justice system. It targets 
those who have attention deficit disorders and behavior problems.)
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MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe