OFFICIALS SAY AS MUCH AS 85 PERCENT OF CRIME CAN BE TRACED BACK TO A
DEFENDANT WITH A DRUG PROBLEM

Ralph Richey is pretty certain that most burglars and thieves are
after more than a few pieces of jewelry, guns, car stereos or televisions.

Regardless of what's taken, what they're really after is something
they can quickly sell.

In most cases, the St. Florian Police Chief said, the money they
receive for the stolen items is used to purchase illegal drugs.

Law enforcement officials such as Richey, district attorneys and
criminal judges agree that a majority of crimes can be traced to drug
addiction.

"They've got a habit and they're looking for a nickle or a dime here
and there to support their habit," Richey said.

He said most every weekend, whether officers look for it or not, the
small Lauderdale County town has a drug arrest.

Those in law enforcement and the judicial system say as much as 80
percent to 85 percent of crime can be traced back to a defendant with
a drug problem.

Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing said that applies to
crimes that involve drug possession or distribution, crimes that are
committed while a defendant is under the influence of drugs, or
robberies and burglaries that are committed because someone needs
money for drugs.

"I know that a lot of the thefts that are traced back are for drugs
or money to buy drugs," Colbert County Circuit Judge Hal Hughston said.

Hughston said many assault cases are the result of defendants being
under the influence of drugs.

A capital murder case in Colbert County involving a husband and wife
charged with brutally killing a man was directly tied to drugs, officials say.

Eugene Pierce, director of the Franklin County Community Corrections
Program, said many bad check and forgery cases can be tied to drug addiction.

Lauderdale County Circuit Judge Mike Jones said one way to determine
the involvement of drugs in non-drug related cases would be to
examine the pre-sentencing investigations that are prepared by the
state probation office before a defendant is sentenced.

He said the question of drug dependency is part of the pre-sentence
investigation.

Even then, there are those who clearly have a drug problem but deny
it, he said.

Jones said that out of 880 felony cases that came through his
courtroom in 2006, 410 were directly related to drugs and most of the
balance were drug related.

"Drugs permeate the criminal process throughout," Hughston said.

One solution that Colbert and other counties have begun to explore
are drug courts, which are a part of a larger community corrections program.

"The reason we started community corrections was to try and deal with
the addiction," Hughston said.

He said if the court system can help eliminate a defendant's drug
addiction, they hope to eliminate the associated criminal behavior
that it caused.

Hughston said he can also order a defendant to go through a drug
rehabilitation program when sentencing someone to prison.

"Normally they comply and put them in those programs," the judge
said. "I've had some people write back and say they'd been through it
and say it had been very effective. Only through time can you tell."

Pierce said defendants who express a desire to go through drug court
are screened to determine the level of addiction and also if the
person is attempting to fake an addiction to get into the system.

Defendants in drug court can have charges against them dropped if
they successfully complete the intense 18-month program.

Pierce said all defendants in the community corrections program are
screened for drugs.

"We do a lot of random drug screenings," Pierce said. "Even if it's
not a drug related crime, we will test them anyway."

Pierce said the amount of crime could be reduced if drug addiction is
reduced. That can be accomplished through treatment programs and education.

While there are many drug abuse awareness programs at the middle
school level, Pierce said those programs should really begin in
elementary school.

He said he's been in the corrections business for 20 years and has
dealt with three generations of the same family. Children can be
taught about the dangers of drug abuse in schools, yet see the
activity at home where it becomes common.

"It's a learned behavior," he said.

According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, research has
shown that combining criminal justice sanctions with drug treatment
can be effective in decreasing drug use and drug-related crime.

According to its Web site, defendants involved in supervision-intense
programs, such as drug court, tend to stay in treatment longer and do
as well as or better than those who are not under legal pressure.

Defendants who fail the drug court program can have their previously
agreed upon sentences immediately imposed.

Bennett Wright, a statistician with the Alabama Sentencing
Commission, said there haven't been any studies to determine how many
crimes, such as burglaries or thefts, could be connected directly to
a drug addiction.

"There is not a foolproof way to capture that in a court record,"
Wright said. "There's no legal reason to put that in a court record."

He said the Chief Justice's office is advocating the establishment of
drug courts in all 67 Alabama counties because of the amount of cases
that are tied back to drugs.

"They've been very successful in other states," Wright said. "We'd
like to see the full potential of drug courts realized in Alabama."