Is there an alternative to jail for those struggling with addiction?
- Yes. Drug courts are special courts for nonviolent, low level offenders whose crimes are connected to drug abuse or addiction. Since first opening in 1989, they have expanded to every state and now number around 2,100.
- Participants appear periodically before a judge and case workers for as long as 18 months. In properly run courts they submit to drug tests and treatment, and if they successfully graduate, may have their records wiped clean.
- Called ‘therapy with teeth,’ drug courts have a lower rate of recidivism; only 16.4 percent of graduates had been rearrested and charged with a felony, according to a 2003 study.
- Historically, adult substance abuse offenders don’t remain abstinent after serving time exclusively; it is with the addition of treatment and the challenge of a drug court program that they are more likely to achieve the goal of remaining drug free.
- Often drug court programs are an addict’s only opportunity for treatment, especially for the most economically disadvantaged.