REPORT FOCUSES ON DRUG TREATMENT INSTEAD OF JAIL

They may not be called drug courts but the district courts at Dublin's
Chancery Street deal with little else. Last year 3,340 people facing more
than 33,000 charges came before the Bridewell courts. Most were young, from
the inner city and most of the crime was carried out to feed a drug habit.
Most offenders were referred to the Probation and Welfare Service for a
report and guidance. Some judges ordered treatment and support, on foot of
reports, and offenders were monitored so that they remained drug free.

An official drug courts system would see these offenders sentenced to
treatment rather than prison. But the system operating in the Bridewell,
according to the Denham report, "has neither defined objectives, nor
adequate support personnel, nor the necessary infrastructure".

The Drug Courts report by the Working Group on a Courts Commission, chaired
by Mrs Justice Susan Denham, recommends an overhaul of the way the system
deals with addicts who commit crime to feed a habit. The junkies who appear
in Dublin's District Court have ridden the roundabout of courts and crime.
Many fall off into the prison system, which at IEP900 a week per prisoner is
one of the most costly in Europe. On release most return to a heroin
lifestyle. The report sums it up bluntly: "A cycle of life and death has
been established around drug abuse."

The Government is committed to building 1,092 new prison spaces by next
year, with IEP49 million allocated for this year's building programme. A
further 1,000 spaces may be built by 2002, which could be "treatment places"
rather than prison cells.

The expert group started looking at the idea of drug courts last October.
The system would be a "fundamental alteration in the approach of society and
the courts," the report says.

Drug courts originated in the US with the first established in Dade County,
Miama, in 1989. More than 32,000 people are now enrolled in drug court
programmes in the US.

However Irish law allowing courts to order treatment for offenders predates
the US model. Under the 1984 Misuse of Drugs Act, courts can order medical
and treatment reports and rule that the offender be put under the
supervision of a health board, or detained in custody in a "designated
custodial treatment centre."

But such a centre "does not exist in any real or appreciable sense," the
report says. The only place it exists is on the statute books.

"The establishment of Irish drug courts will not only require that these
supporting agencies be adequately resourced, but also that they become part
of an integrated court-centred treatment regime which works towards a common
goal."

This year the Probation and Welfare Service pointed out that it deals with
5,000 offenders a year on a budget of IEP12 million, less than a tenth of
the prison service budget of IEP130 million, which deals with 10,000 offenders.

"All the research shows that a key to the success of the Drug Courts process
is that there be a treatment programme and a clear and fast sanction should
the participant falter in the programme, " the report says. Short sharp
sanctions, such as jailing an offender over a weekend if their urine tests
positive for drugs, rather than dropping them from the programme, could be
considered. The report stresses the need to look beyond the criminal justice
system, without specifying how much should be spent on all the pieces needed
to complete a drug courts jigsaw.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett