BEACH JUDGE HONORED FOR CREATING MODEL DRUG COURT

NEW ORLEANS -- When Judge Virginia L. Cochran created a Virginia Beach
drug court in 1997, she had little money and even less support.

Critics said a drug court -- with its commitment to treating offenders
instead of punishing them -- wouldn't succeed in a place where tough
jail sentences were common for abusers of illegal drugs and alcohol.

But four years later, Cochran's program has gained prominence and
become a model for the nation.

Cochran and her drug court were honored in New Orleans this week at an
annual conference where 3,000 professionals involved in the burgeoning
drug court movement gathered to examine the state of the approach.

The Crescent City conference provided the most convincing proof yet
that drug courts are becoming the preferred way to handle criminals
with addiction problems who repeatedly end up in courts and jails,
said C. West Huddleston III, senior director of the National Drug
Court Institute.

``We have have seen a sea change in this country,'' Huddleston told
the conference audience. The country, he said, has abandoned ``the
idea that the addict is a bad person and needs to be locked up in prison.''

Drug court professionals discussed issues ranging from the recent
movie ``Traffic'' to the abuse of inhalants and alcohol among American
Indians.

Cochran's Virginia Beach program earned the designation of mentoring
court -- one of two programs in the country honored for work with
people who commit driving under the influence offenses.

``It wasn't just me,'' Cochran said. ``We eventually got a lot of
support from many people.''

Cochran and her staff will help train professionals nationwide on how
drug courts for DUI offenders should operate. The judge's focus:
treating offenders instead of throwing them in jail with little chance
that their behavior will change upon release.

Treatment rather than punishment has been controversial since a judge
in Miami began using the approach less than 10 years ago.

Drug courts allow offenders to have their criminal charges dismissed
if they accept a treatment program aimed at helping them recover.
Instead of being locked up, the addict can remain in the community
while undergoing care.

Critics, including many police officers, once argued that drug courts
were soft on crime.

But two things have changed minds: Jail populations surged with an
influx of drug offenders, and drug courts began churning out success
stories.

President Bush has thrown his support to the concept, helping secure
the largest annual funding -- $50 million for 2001 -- ever granted to
the drug court initiative.

But much work remains, said Marilyn McCoy Roberts, director of the
Drug Court Program Office in the U.S. Department of Justice.

The 1,000 drug courts nationwide, Roberts said, represent a small
percentage of the 13,000 courts across the country. The drug courts
that exist treat 100 to 200 cases per year.

That means most people who need treatment don't get it, Roberts
said.

Despite success rates approaching 100 percent, she said, ``there is a
still a huge amount of skepticism.''

The courts received key support this year when the Conference of Chief
Justices unanimously endorsed the concept. The conference is
represented by the chief judicial officer in each state. Thirty-two
state legislatures also have supported the concept.

That support has given life to a cottage industry that provides tools
for drug court professionals -- from computer software to electronic
bracelets to track defendants who must stay at home.

Some police still doubt that laws will be enforced through drug
courts, said Neil Thompson, a Virginia Beach lieutenant in charge of
special investigations. He supervises 47 officers who often work
undercover narcotics cases.

Drug courts have proven so efficient that Thompson sells the concept
with a dollars-and-cents approach. He tells his officers that it costs
almost $20,000 annually to lock up an offender and less than $2,000 to
send them through a drug court treatment program.

``I tell them that it is coming out of their pockets,'' Thompson
said.

Cochran's local drug court is directed solely at DUI offenders, and it
is one of the few in the country that does not combine treatment with
a dismissal of criminal charges. Instead, the Beach program allows
convicted DUI offenders to receive treatment but does not ultimately
clear their record.

Cochran said it was the only way to introduce the program in a
politically conservative climate.

Most new drug courts nationwide are guided by the principle that
substance abusers should not be convicted first and then treated for
their problems.

Cochran said other judges in Virginia Beach have begun supporting the
process, including colleagues in General District Court. Circuit Court
Judge Patricia West also is interested in using the concept.

The Beach experience symbolizes how drug courts have slowly won over
supporters, said A. Ward West Jr., coordinator of Virginia's first
drug court, in Roanoke.

``We are seeing a fundamental shift,'' West said. ``Prosecutors and
defense attorneys are seeing that they need to become partners to
determine what is best for this person, not fight over how much time
this person should spend in jail.''