Frequenty Asked Questions about Drug Court
1. How does someone get into Drug Court?
In order to enter into the Chesterfield/Colonial Heights Drug Court program, an individual must be charged, in Chesterfield County or the City of Colonial Heights, with one of the following offenses:
- Possession or attempted possession of a Schedule I or II drug;
- Grand Larceny, Felony Petit Larceny, Forgery, Uttering, Credit Card Theft or Unauthorized Use;
- Prescription fraud or forgery
In addition, the individual must be 18 years or older and have a verifiable drug addiction. Individuals who have prior felony convictions for violence, drug distribution or a sex offense, are not eligible. Additional criteria may be used to determine eligibility. To determine if a person may be eligible, please contact Kerri Gordon at (804) 706-1257.
2. How does Drug Court differ from traditional probation supervision?
Drug courts offer one of the most intensive drug treatment options available in a criminal justice setting. Drug court programs combine the following:
- Strict and frequent supervision by probation staff (defendants are drug tested three to four times per week for the first three months)
- Intensive drug treatment by clinicians (defendants attend treatment at least three times per week for the first three months)
- Close judicial monitoring by the court (defendants appear weekly in court for the first three months)
Drug court participants report that regular appearances before the court make the difference in this approach to breaking their cycle of addiction.
3. Do Drug Courts work?
Drug Court programs recognize that: (1) incarceration, in and of itself, does little to break the cycle of illegal drug use and crime, and offenders sentenced to incarceration for substance related offenses exhibit a high rate of recidivism once they are released; and (2) drug abuse treatment is demonstrably effective in reducing both drug addiction and drug-related crime.
Offenders with substance use disorders are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime. During periods of heavy or addicted use, the frequency and severity of criminal activity rises dramatically. A survey of chronic drug users not in treatment in 1992 found that over half were involved in illegal activity, with 10 percent deriving income solely from illegal sources. Fortunately, entry into drug treatment has been shown to have an immediate impact on the levels of drug use and associated crime, and retention in drug treatment to have a significant impact.
Data collected on defendants in 23 cities indicates that 65% of arrested males and 57% of arrested females were under the influence of at least one illicit drug at the time of arrest (Department of Justice, 1994). Defendants convicted of drug offenses are either sentenced to a period of incarceration or referred for probation supervision with drug testing to monitor drug use. Most probation offices lack the capacity to promptly respond when a defendant has tested positive. Few jails or prisons provide any treatment services for inmates and none provide long-term support once the defendant is released. In jurisdictions which require, as a condition of probation, completion of a treatment program, there is generally no monitoring of whether defendants who complete such programs actually cease or reduce their use of drugs. This situation, coupled with available recidivism data, has led many justice system officials to conclude that the traditional case disposition process lacks the capacity to bring about any significant reduction in drug usage by persons convicted of drug offenses.
Because drug court programs test defendants regularly for drug usage, information regarding drug use by defendants under drug court supervision is available on an on-going basis. The experiences of most operating drug courts indicates that the drug usage of defendants participating in drug court programs is substantially reduced while in the drug court program and, for most participants who graduate from the program, eliminated altogether.
Most criminal justice system professionals estimate that at least 45% of defendants convicted of drug possession will recidivate with a similar offense within two to three years. The more frequently a defendant has been arrested for a drug offense, the more likely he or she is to recidivate. A high percentage of defendants convicted of drug possession are also arrested for property offenses during the period they are using illicit substances, and a substantial percent have either committed violent offenses or are considered likely to do so.
In comparison, drug court programs are experiencing a significant reduction in recidivism among participants. Depending upon the characteristics of the population targeted and the degree of social dysfunction (e.g., employment status, family situation, medical condition, etc.) they reflect, recidivism among all drug court participants has ranged between five percent to twenty-eight percent and less than four percent for graduates.
Despite their rigorous requirements, drug court programs are retaining a significant percentage of the participants and are, consequently, have a more significant impact on participants’ lives than traditional pretrial and/or probation supervision. Data from the fifty oldest drug courts reflects an average retention rate of over 70% (the total of graduates plus active participants), despite the difficult populations most programs are targeting.
4. Do Drug Courts save money?
A variety of studies from the National Institutes of Health, Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, and other prestigious institutions have all shown that drug treatment reduces drug use by 50 to 60 percent and arrests for violent and non-violent criminal acts by 40 percent or more. Drug abuse treatment reduces the risk of HIV infection, and interventions to prevent HIV are much less costly than treating the person with AIDS. Treatment tied to vocational services improves the prospects for employment, with 40-60 percent more individuals employed.
Successful drug treatment takes a person who is now seen as only a drain on a community’s resources and returns the individual to productive membership in society. According to several conservative estimates, every $1 invested in addiction treatment programs yields a return of between $4 and $7 in reduced drug-related crime, criminal justice costs, and theft alone. When savings related to health care are included, total savings can exceed costs by a ratio of 12 to 1. Major savings to the individual and society also come from significant drops in interpersonal conflicts, improvements in workplace productivity, and reductions in drug-related accidents.
A Drug Court program typically costs less than $4,000 annually for each offender. Savings in jail bed days alone have been estimated to be at least $5,000 per defendant. This figure does not include the savings realized when bed space, which would otherwise have been taken up by these drug addicts is, instead, reserved for more serious offenders.
Most programs report that a substantial percentage of participants who came into the program unemployed and on public assistance have become employed while in the program and are now self-supporting. Over 1,000 drug-free babies have been reported born to female drug court participants while enrolled in drug court program, thus eliminating the substantial medical and social service costs (estimate at $250,000 per baby) required to care for a drug-addicted infant.
5. Can I attend a session of Drug Court?
We encourage individuals who are interested in learning more about Drug Court to come to a session of court. Drug Court is held in the Chesterfield Circuit Court each Wednesday. Court begins at 8:30am and runs until approximately 10:00am. To schedule a visit, please contact Tara Kunkel, the Drug Court Administrator, at 717-6801.
See more information about Drug Court
|
