Pubdate: Mon, 27 Jun 2005
Source: Charlotte Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2005 The Charlotte Observer
Contact:  http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/78
Author: Tim Whitmire, Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)

PRISON ALTERNATIVE IN PERIL

Drug Treatment Program Lauded But State Money Uncertain

(AP) It was a graduation ceremony like many others. Ellie Andrews got a 
diploma. Her 3 1/2-year-old daughter Abbey applauded, and later licked the 
icing off a celebration cupcake.

But the commencement speaker was a judge who congratulated Andrews for 
completing a nearly yearlong treatment program in Mecklenburg County's drug 
court, where coursework included staying clean for 340 days and never 
missing a court or counseling session.

"It was hard and time-consuming, but it was worth it," said Andrews, 30. 
"It's much better than the alternative."

For Andrews, the alternative was a prison term of at least two years. 
Instead, she ended up in the drug court, an option offered to some 
nonviolent offenders that studies have found to be much more effective than 
traditional drug treatment programs.

But despite the program's successes, and the support of both local and 
statewide court officials, the drug courts in Mecklenburg County and more 
than a dozen other judicial districts around the state are in peril as 
legislators in Raleigh negotiate a budget for the next two years.

The Senate's version of the budget cuts nearly all of their budget of just 
over $1 million. Sen. Scott Thomas, D-Craven, one of the budget writers, 
believes the courts can be run using existing resources and untapped 
federal drug treatment funds.

But without state money, Mecklenburg County officials say they'll have to 
shut down their drug courts by Oct. 1. And even if the money is restored, 
there remains a deep conflict between the locally run courts and the state 
Administrative Office of the Courts, which is trying to standardize drug 
court operations across the state.

"I don't understand it," said Phil Howerton, the Mecklenburg District Court 
judge who congratulated Andrews at her graduation last week. "Come on, 
guys, this works. Why kill it?"

On that point -- that drug courts work -- there appears to be little 
debate. Mecklenburg County's drug court, the state's first when it opened 
in 1996, today handles more offenders than any other in North Carolina and 
has been a national model.

A state study released in March reported 2004 graduation rates of 35 
percent and a retention rate of more than 65 percent for all of North 
Carolina's drug courts. While that might appear low, national studies have 
found that 80 percent to 90 percent of drug abusers don't even make it to 
the one-year mark of traditional treatment programs.

One recent national study, which included drug court graduates from North 
Carolina, found that only 16.4 percent of 17,000 drug court graduates had 
been re-arrested and charged with a felony.

Estimates of money saved by drug courts, which can substitute for 
incarceration and are aimed at preventing future arrests, trials and prison 
time, vary widely, but supporters agree the long-term payoff is substantial.

"It works," said Rep. Becky Carney, D-Mecklenburg, who successfully 
insisted the House budget include the money for the drug courts left out of 
the Senate version. "Why would we try to stop something that has got a 
proven track record?"

The question of state funding is now before a committee working on a 
compromise budget .

Thomas, the senator who handles courts budgeting, said the Senate's cuts 
don't mean the end of drug courts. "It was our intent for the drug 
treatment courts to continue to exist with existing personnel," he said.

Howerton and others in Mecklenburg County, where courts already are 
overburdened, dismiss that logic.

"It's incredible to me that the legislature would pass up the opportunity 
.. to treat defendants and avoid the recidivism that we've had for so many 
years ... for the relatively minor amount of money the drug courts need to 
operate," Howerton said.
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