US-STYLE DRUG COURT SYSTEM PLANNED FOR NEXT JANUARY

Plans to set up a US-style drug court in the Dublin District Court in
January are due to go to Government next month.

The drug court system, which sentences offenders to treatment rather than
prison, is strongly endorsed in a report to the Minister for Justice, seen
by The Irish Times.

The report by the Working Group on a Courts Commission cites "conclusive"
evidence that drug courts elsewhere have resulted in reductions in drug
related crime, the number of babies born drug-addicted and the costs of
dealing with offenders.

The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, is believed to be preparing
proposals to be put to Government next month based on the recommendations
by the group, chaired by Supreme Court judge Mrs Justice Susan Denham.

Among the proposals is the establishment of a pilot project in the Dublin
District Court from January, a move expected to cost IEP250,000.

The report describes the system as radical and a "fundamental alteration in
the approach of society and the courts". The authors say it would not
require large amounts of legislation as the legal provisions have been on
the statute books for 15 years.

Under the 1984 Misuse of Drugs Act, judges can adjourn sentence and order
treatment on bail, with medical and vocational reports on an offender's
addiction. Offenders can also technically be sentenced to a "custodial
treatment centre".

However, the report says while the legal provisions exist, the resources do
not. There is no such treatment centre and the current system, whereby some
judges request treatment for offenders, "has neither defined objectives,
nor adequate support personnel, nor the necessary infrastructure".

The report recommends that the system be used to deal with people who come
before judges on non-violent offences, including possession and petty
crime.

Drug traffickers or those arrested with large amounts of drugs would be
sentenced by the normal courts. The report's recommendations do not change
the provision for a 10-year mandatory sentence for those convicted of
having IEP10,000 or more worth of drugs.

The report recommends that judges would volunteer to sit as drug courts
judges for part of their working week.

Those sentenced to treatment would be required to give regular urine
samples and failure to stay drug-free would mean "short, sharp sanctions",
including long or short-term prison terms.

The drug courts could also issue treatment orders, to run alongside
community service orders, with the sanction of prison for those who fail to
stay drug free.

The report does not specify the number of treatment places needed to meet
demand from such a system. But it says that further units for
detoxification, stabilisation and aftercare and "more aftercare units, such
as hostels with day activities, such as training and education by committed
staff, will be essential".

It says a committee should be established to cost the system across all
Departments. "The resource implications cannot be quantified at this time.
The requirements for an optimum system could be vast."

The main recommendations are:

A drug courts' planning programme to be set up by a group representing the
presidents of the District, Circuit and High Courts, the Director of Public
Prosecutions, the Attorney General, the Bar, the Law Society, the Prison
Service, the health boards and the voluntary agencies.

A drug courts' co-ordinator be appointed as a member of the planned Courts
Service Agency.

Training and education for those involved and visits by Irish judges to US
drug courts.

The decision to sentence to a treatment programme to be at the discretion
of judges, with the DPP having the power to make submissions, but not to
veto such a decision.

The integration of drug courts into the existing courts structure, starting
at District Court level.

Legislation to be considered to allow courts to make drug treatment orders,
similar to community service orders.

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)