Pubdate: Tue, 14 Aug 2001
Source: Montgomery Journal (MD)
Copyright: 2001 The Journal Newspapers
Contact:  http://cold.jrnl.com/cfdocs/new/mc/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/545
Author: Michael Neibauer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)

JUVENILE DRUG COURT

County Considering Juvenile Drug Court Team In Training To Help PW 
Procure Juvenile Drug Court

Prince William's 31st Judicial District is training a 10-member team 
to further plans of implementing a federally funded juvenile drug 
court.

While the final decision whether to install the court is up to 31st 
District Juvenile Court judges, the Federal Drug Court Training 
Program will put the district at the top of the federal government's 
priority list to receive funds in fiscal year 2003, which begins in 
Oct. 2002.

``Getting into the court system is worse than getting into the 
welfare system," said Prince William Supervisor Mary Hill, R-Coles, 
who started the ball rolling with last summer's request for an 
investigation into drug court possibilities. ``Once you're in the 
juvenile justice system it's very difficult to work your way out. And 
you're held to a higher standard than a person who hasn't been in 
trouble. You're held under a microscope."

Drug courts, a specially designed court calendar, require an alliance 
between courts, probation officers and substance abuse treatment 
agencies.

Judges see participants in court frequently - as often as once a week 
for treatment progress reports - and they hold the power to impose 
sanctions for relapse and noncompliance. Probation officers perform 
drug tests and supervise the program face to face, while substance 
abuse clinicians provide treatment and mental health assessment.

The ultimate goal of the courts is to reduce recidivism and substance 
abuse among nonviolent offenders and increasing the likelihood for 
successful rehabilitation. The programs have become widely used over 
the past several years but data regarding their success is still 
preliminary.

Eleven drug courts are operational in Virginia and two are juvenile 
only, including one in the 15th Judicial District, which encompasses 
Stafford County. More than a dozen other courts are in the planning 
stages.

As of May, there were 483 adult, 158 juvenile, 38 family and nine 
combination drug courts throughout the United States, according to a 
study by Steven Belenko with Columbia University's National Center on 
Addiction and Substance Abuse.

``In many jurisdictions, drug courts have become the preferred 
mechanism for linking drug or alcohol involved offenders to 
community-based treatment and related clinical interventions," 
Belenko wrote in the study.

``Drug courts have achieved considerable local support and have 
provided intensive, long-term treatment services to offenders with 
long histories of drug use and criminal justice contacts, previous 
treatment failures and high rates of health and social problems," he 
continued.

The courts cost about $300,000 a year to run, 85 percent of which 
comes from federal and state grants. And the expense of incarcerating 
an offender is more than 10 times higher than substance abuse 
treatment, according to Hill.

After Hill's request last summer, the 21-member Community Criminal 
Justice Board took up the matter and created a subcommittee to 
investigate the possibility of drug courts, said Christina Frank, 
office of Criminal Justice Services director. The group met for five 
months, took some field trips and earlier this year recommended 
exploring the courts on a juvenile level.

Frank's office applied for a Federal Drug Court Planning Grant, the 
application for which requires a 10-member team participate in a 
yearlong training effort. The U.S. Department of Justice selected the 
31st District to participate in three workshops over the next year, 
culminating in possible federal funding.

But the district has yet to decide if the drug court will get the go-ahead.

``We haven't yet crossed that bridge," Frank said. ``But there's a 
good opportunity. Now it's up to the court to launch it."

The training group includes the chief judge of the Juvenile and 
Domestic Relations Court, a defense attorney, prosecutor, Community 
Services Board therapist, police officer, juvenile probation officer, 
citizen, court coordinator, school representative and research 
analyst.

``I'm just hoping we can find other answers besides taking such a 
hard line," Hill said. ``People need to be held accountable but they 
also need to be treated fairly and their needs met. They need to get 
the help they deserve. They need people to believe in them."
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