DRUG COURT SUCCESSES KEEP JUDGE OPTIMISTIC FOR TWO OTHER AVENUES

Two prongs of "therapeutic" courts have been deployed in Tulsa County, and
despite funding entanglements for both, the judge presiding over those
courts is hoping to add a third.

Special District Judge Sarah Smith said she has seen the changes produced
by Drug Court over the past several years. She said she believes DUI Court,
which opened this summer, will enjoy the same success. All that is needed
to complete a triumvirate of treatment is a criminal mental health court,
she said.

"In the long run it would save us some money if we kept people in
treatment," Smith said. "It would certainly save us jail space. I could
argue that."

Smith, who also presides over civil mental health court, said Tulsa County
needs a criminal version.

"A lot of my people that get off their meds, commit a criminal offense --
often assault on an officer -- and they end up going through a criminal
proceeding," she said. "They ought to be over here."

More than half of the participants in the Tulsa County Drug Court program
managed to complete the battery of treatment and graduate, according to
court statistics. As of Aug. 29, 462 nonviolent offenders had been accepted
into the program in the past five years. Of that number, 241 have graduated.

"To me, it's a very successful program for the motivated," Smith said. "For
people just trying to trick the system and avoid prison, they're not making
it."

The statistics also reflect the youth of the program. Right now, fully
1-in-5 of all the participants to ever go through the program are currently
enrolled. Of those 101 individuals, 75 are actively participating in the
program. The remaining 26 had bench warrants for their arrest hanging over
their heads as of Aug. 29.

"One of the things I like about therapeutic courts is that you can see it
work when it is working," Smith said.

With its focus on rehabilitation as an alternative to incarceration, the
5-year-old program remains a mix of legal machinery and social science.

Only a select few survive the scrutiny of the Tulsa County District
Attorney's Office to make it into the program. In August, there were 61
people who applied to the Drug Court program. Only seven cleared all hurdles.

People under Drug Court's jurisdiction cannot have a history of violent
crimes, but most of the rest of the selection remains the discretion of the
District Attorney's office.

"We also try to weed out those, who from the record, appear to be drug
sellers," Assistant District Attorney George Nelson said. "It's a select
group of people."

In exchange for guilty pleas, participants enter rehabilitation. They are
assigned group meetings, 12-step program meetings and one-on-one counseling
ses sions. Probation officers serve as the eyes and ears of the court,
making sure that 9 p.m. curfews are met and that none of the rules of their
performance contracts are broken.

Over a 24-month period, they will either complete the program and get their
charges dismissed, or they will wind up behind bars. Along the way they
will face stress, temptations and the threat of sanctions. For violations
of their contracts, Smith hands out sentences that range from eight hours
of community service to time in jail.

In some cases, it's probably better treatment than some deserve, Nelson
said, but it's hard to quantify the quality of mercy. Especially when it is
squeezed into such a short time span.

"You do see some people that when you wave good-bye, you think that they
might make it," Nelson said. "But then it can also be very frustrating to
have people in their 30s, 40s and 50s who have to have a keeper.

"Sometimes I have to fight the tendency to say, 'Get yourself together.' "

It's especially challenging to deal with offenders who started the program
just to avoid the consequences, Nelson said. Many of those wind up in jail,
countered Assistant Public Defender Aaron Goodman.

"We have to get over the impression that this is some kind of 'Hug-a-thug'
court," Goodman said. "You have the authority of the court paired with this
treatment aspect. Through that, we are trying to change people's
lifestyles, and that's not easy to do. You've got a maximum of two years to
take someone who has been dysfunctional for decades and to make them
functional."

Goodman, who has represented clients before Drug Court for the past 37
months, said his experience there has made him optimistic about DUI Court.
Since its formation in July, 32 people have applied to DUI Court, but only
three have been accepted. Fully 75 percent of DUI Court applicants have
either been rejected or are awaiting review. Twelve applications are
pending review by the District Attorney's office and 12 have been declined.

"We're building on the foundation of Drug Court and dealing with a specific
kind of problem," Goodman said. "It's giving the client an opportunity to
reverse the downward spiral" of addiction and prison time.

Nelson offered a less sanguine view of the new court.

"Society is so approving of alcohol use that it is going to be much harder
to deal with," Nelson said.

On the flipside, locking up people for drinking isn't fixing the problem,
he added.

Although Judge Smith's focus is on expanding the therapeutic courts,
getting money to pay for the ones in existence has become a challenge, she
said. The state approved funds for drug and DUI courts this spring, but
money has yet to be released.

"They are trying to ensure that drug and DUI court funding is distributed
equitably across the state," Smith said. "Meanwhile, we are desperately in
need of funding."

Meetings in Oklahoma City to resolve that issue continue.

"The money is there, but my treatment people are going hungry waiting,"
Smith said.