STATE'S CHIEF JUSTICE SUPPORTS DRUG COURTS

SAN FRANCISCO -- California Chief Justice Ronald George told a
national conference here on Thursday that he thinks separate drug
courts work and should be continued.

"The rapid expansion of drug courts can be traced to one basic factor
- - they work," George told participants in the annual training
conference of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals at
the San Francisco Hilton.

In drug courts, which are separate from regular courts in a state
system, judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers, defendants, social
service providers and rehabilitation experts collaborate to develop
individual programs to help offenders who are drug abusers.

George said the purpose is to reduce recidivism and address the
problems that can stem from drug abuse, including child neglect and
abuse, domestic violence, criminal activity to support an addiction
and the impoverishment of a family.

"By focusing on the factors that cause abuse and the problems caused
by abuse, courts and others involved in these programs can assist
abusers in breaking the cycle of repetition that so often traps them
and makes ending substance abuse much more difficult," George said.

The concept of drug courts was introduced in the early 1990s. George
said California now has 102 drug courts throughout the state, with
more being planned.

The National Association of Drug Court Professionals said there are
currently more than 600 drug courts in operation or in planning stages
in the United States and in several foreign countries.

The chief justice said in his keynote address to the conference that a
recent study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse
at Columbia University found that drug or alcohol abuse was either the
direct cause or a factor in 70 percent of the nation's child abuse and
neglect cases.

George said that California's Judicial Council, which he chairs, will
continue a drug court advisory committee, seek increased federal and
state funding, and support more systematic evaluation efforts.

He said the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Drug Court Programs
has awarded the California Administrative Office of the Courts a
$300,000 grant for a pilot program that will eventually lead to a
comprehensive, statewide evaluation of drug courts, including a
cost-benefit analysis.

The chief justice said he anticipates that study and other evaluations
will show that drug courts "save taxpayer dollars, decrease drug use,
improve lives, protect communities and bring new meaning to the
concept of administering justice."