CRITICS CAN'T ARGUE WITH DRUG COURT'S SUCCESS RATE

For 21/2 years, critics have mocked Fresno Judge James Aaron's Drug Court,
a program that allows first-time offenders to skip prison if they complete
an 18-month treatment plan.

They said Aaron couldn't stop an addict from shooting up, snorting and
smoking drugs or from committing new crimes. "Once a loser, always a
loser," Aaron said some people have told him.

Today, he can prove the naysayers wrong.

The first computer analysis showed 305 of 345 people who have graduated
from Aaron's Drug Court have not been rearrested - an 88% success rate,
said Larry R. Price, Fresno County's chief probation officer.

"That's pretty incredible, considering the national benchmark is about 60%
non-rearrest rate after graduation," Price said.

When Fresno County started Drug Court in March 1996, there were only a
handful of them nationwide, said Aaron, a former prosecutor and a judge for
20 years.

Now there are more than 200, he said.

Fresno County has two drug courts: Aaron's and one for repeat offenders,
which began in January and is run by Judge Jane York. The county hopes to
start a third drug court for juveniles this year.

The drug courts saved money because defendants are not incarcerated,
sparing taxpayers of having to pay about $25,000 a year for each inmate
housed in jail or prison, Aaron said.

Defendants also must pay for their own drug testing and treatment program,
he said.

"The cost savings is immeasurable," Price said, "because not only do we
save jail bed space for more serious criminals, but we break the cycle of
drugs and crime in families."

Boasts success rate

Aaron's Drug Court is for first-time drug offenders who commit either a
misdemeanor or felony.

>From its inception, he has boasted a high success rate, without having an
independent study to back it up. His remarks, according to Price, has
caused some people to be skeptical of the program, saying defendants are
best locked up.

"But in the real world we knew we had to do something because locking them
up didn't always work," Price said.

Aaron's program is unusual because it does not require prosecutors or
defense lawyers. Probation officer Vince Davis works with Aaron to
determine the best method to rehabilitate defendants.

The program, in general, works like this:

Defendants must plead guilty, and criminal charges are suspended once he or
she enrolls in an 18-month treatment program, which includes counseling and
urine testing.

The defendant then must complete the program and fulfill any other
requirements imposed by Aaron before he or she graduates. Upon graduation,
the guilty plea is erased from their criminal record.

Before Drug Court, Fresno County's drug-diversion programs offered little
or no accountability, the judge said. Offenders were ordered into
county-approved programs, but attendance was not adequately monitored and
many participants dropped out, he said.

"This has been a team effort," said Aaron, who credits Presiding Judge
James Quaschnick, Judge Stephen Kane and Judge Lawrence O'Neill, and Price,
for supporting him.

He also thanked probation officer Lucky Baltierra, who worked in Drug Court
from its inception until June. He now works at Juvenile Probation.

"Although some people bad-mouthed us from the start, we believed in Drug
Court, and they defendants believed in us," Baltierra said.

Price said new computer technology allowed the probation department to
analyze a period from Drug Court's first graduates in October 1996 to July
1998.

The 40 people arrested after graduating from the program were taken into
custody for crimes ranging from drug charges to burglary to stealing cars.
One person was arrested on a sex charge and three for assault with a deadly
weapon, the analysis showed.

"On the bright side, 305 people are now living a crime-free life," Aaron
said, noting that many graduates have gotten jobs and are off welfare.

No 'bull'

Aaron convenes Drug Court every Thursday and every other Wednesday in a
basement courtroom at the downtown Fresno courthouse. Defendants must
patiently sit inside the courtroom until their name is called. Once called,
they have to explain their progress or relapses to Aaron.

"I know when someone comes to court under the influence of drugs," Aaron
said, explaining his success rate. "They can't give me a line of bull."

He said he won't punish participants for relapsing if they confess to it,
but he will reinstate charges and send participants to jail if they commit
new crimes. His court sometimes can resemble a church revival because he
will say publicly that God is working miracles. Other times, he'll send
participants to jail.

"He scared me straight," Julie Cavin, 40, of Fresno, said of Aaron.

Cavin was addicted to methamphetamine for 25 years before she got arrested
in 1995 and placed in Aaron's Drug Court. She graduated from the program in
November 1997.

"He always threatened to throw me in jail," she said. "But I knew deep down
that he was doing it for me. He really does care about us."

A better analysis of Aaron's Drug Court will come after graduates have been
in society for three years, Price said.

The probation department also plans to research why defendants have failed,
he said.

Checked-by: Pat Dolan