Pubdate: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 Source: Cleveland Daily Banner (TN) Copyright: 2004 Cleveland Daily Banner Contact: http://www.clevelandbanner.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/947 Author: D. Gary Davis, Bradley County Mayor Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts) DRUG COURT'S MISSION IS TO HELP OFFENDERS BECOME FREE OF DRUGS In July 2003, the Tennessee General Assembly passed the Drug Court Treatment Act. This act provided for the establishment of drug courts to treat substance-abusing offenders. In keeping with the mandate of the legislature, the 10th Judicial District established a Drug Court team comprising of representatives from the judiciary, district attorney's office, public defender's office, probation/parole, community corrections, and treatment. This Drug Court team, including Circuit Court Judge Carroll L. Ross, District Attorney General Jerry Estes, Assistant Public Defender Richard Hughes and Sheriff Dan Gilley, built the framework for the 10th Judicial District Adult Drug Court and on June 29, 2004, the 10th Judicial District Adult Drug Court was opened for adjournment. The 10th Judicial District Adult Drug Court is a post-adjudication court targeting offenders who are non-violent, property or drug offenders who are substance-abusing. The Drug Court is a division of the Criminal Court and services the four counties of the 10th Judicial District (Bradley, McMinn, Monroe, and Polk counties). The 10th Judicial District Adult Drug Court is a special court given the responsibility to handle cases involving substance-abusing offenders through comprehensive supervision, drug testing, treatment services and immediate sanctions and incentives. Graduated sanctions, including jail time, are imposed for noncompliance. Although an offender is placed in Drug Court, he has already been adjudicated in Criminal Court and must comply with the supervision of the Criminal Court in addition to the Drug Court. Drug Court brings the full weight of all interveners (judges, prosecutors, defense counsel, substance abuse treatment specialists, probation officers, law enforcement and correctional personnel, educational and vocational experts, community leaders and others) to bear, forcing the offender to deal with his or her substance abuse problem. In addition, the Drug Court ensures consistency in judicial decision-making and enhances the coordination of agencies and resources, increasing the cost effectiveness of programs. The success of the drug court system is well documented - more than 70 percent of drug court clients successfully completed the program or remain as active participants and the cost of drug court programs are significantly less than the cost of incarceration and traditional court systems. The 2003 National Institute of Justice recidivism report entitled, "Recidivism Rates for Drug Court Graduates: National Based Estimates," representative of over 17,000 annual drug court graduates nationwide, found that recidivism rates for drug court participants one year after graduation is a mere 16.5 percent and only 27.5 percent after two years. The report also found that participants from 38 drug courts throughout the country have recidivism rates lower than 10 percent one year after graduation. Incarceration of drug using offenders costs between $20,000 and $50,000 per person, per year. The capital costs of building a prison cell can be as much as $80,000. In contrast, a comprehensive drug court system typically costs between $2,500 and $4,000 annually for each offender. Evaluations from the State of Oregon and Dallas County, Texas have shown that for every dollar invested in drug court, ten dollars are saved by corrections. The mission of the 10th Judicial District Adult Drug Court is to promote safer communities by assisting drug abuser/addicted criminal offenders in becoming drug-free, and empowering them to be productive and responsible members of their and communities through expedited court processing, reduced incarceration, and accountability-based sanctions. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin