PROGRAM FOR FIRST-TIME DRUG OFFENDERS SHOWS RESULTS

A Study Finds That Multnomah County's Drug Court, Which Offers A Clean
Slate Upon Graduation, Not Only Works But Saves Money

It's a Wednesday afternoon in drug court. Six people are graduating from an
intense yearlong drug treatment program. And all six will have felony drug
charges wiped from their records.

That's the promise and reality of Multnomah County's groundbreaking drug
court, formally known as Sanction-Treatment-Opportunity-Progress (STOP).
The successful outpatient drug diversion program, which has been copied in
Oregon and throughout the country, offers first-time drug offenders a
chance to avoid jail and get treatment for their addictions.

The secret to the court's success is simple: Participants waive their right
to trial and agree to a year of treatment. If they fail, they are
automatically convicted of felony drug possession. If they succeed, their
slate is clean.

The first evaluation of STOP, released early this year, indicates that its
graduates had 76 percent fewer subsequent arrests than a comparison group
of people who were eligible but did not participate in the program. The
evaluation, prepared by Michael Finigan of the Northwest Professional
Consortium, found that graduates also had 80 percent fewer serious felony
arrests and 85 percent fewer subsequent drug arrests.

Evaluators also found that STOP saves the county and state more than it
costs. The county spends $4,522 to put an individual through STOP. It costs
$10,151 to arrest, convict, jail and provide probation supervision for an
offender.

Finigan found that Multnomah County saves more than $2 million a year by
using STOP. And because program graduates commit fewer crimes after
graduation, STOP saves the state of Oregon more than $10 million that would
otherwise be spent on police protection, court costs, supervision costs,
jail and prison costs, increased medical assistance, food stamps and other
costs, Finigan said.

Multnomah County's drug court is one of the first programs of its kind
nationwide - following only Miami and Oakland, Calif. More than 300 such
courts now span 48 states, including a handful of others in Oregon. STOP
costs local, state and federal agencies about $800,000 a year.

Judge Harl Haas, who founded STOP in 1991 after observing Miami's drug
court program, said the study's results prove that treating addicts is more
effective than convicting them.

"Treatment works," he said. "What doesn't work is putting people in prison
and then just releasing them again."

Robert Williams, STOP program manager, works out of the Metropolitan Public
Defender office and has been with STOP since its inception. In addition to
the existing Oregon drug courts, four or five more are in planning stages,
Williams said. He is working with his counterparts in other counties to
start an Oregon Drug Courts Association.

Multnomah County's program is unique because it accepts people with some
criminal history, as long as the district attorney approves.

Change Seen After Three Months

Williams estimates that 6,000 to 6,500 people have entered STOP since 1991.
About 2,000 have graduated. But judges and attorneys involved say
graduation statistics don't tell the whole story. Finigan's evaluation
found that people who had only been in STOP for three months had a lower
recidivism rate than counterparts who had been arrested and convicted.

"Even for people who don't finish, the seeds of recovery have been
planted," Williams said. "We have to look at the reasons people don't
finish. ... We're dealing with the human condition here. But the seeds will
stay with them as they work through other problems."

But STOP is a risk. Williams stresses this every morning to a new group of
potential participants who were arrested the day before and referred to his
office by the district attorney.

If they enter and fail, they automatically will be found guilty in
stipulated facts hearings, which are based on police reports.

They will receive 18 months of formal probation, pay $400 to $800 in fines
and be sentenced to jail time for each count against them.

But a person who successfully completes STOP will not appear before a grand
jury, be indicted or enter a plea. And there is no record of conviction.

"Once there is a guilty verdict, at that moment in time, and possibly for
the rest of your life, you have that label: convicted drug felon," Williams
tells his orientation group. "You are among a small percentage of people
who are given a chance to enter and exit (the criminal justice system) with
no record that you were here."

Participants have 14 days after the initial orientation to drop out of STOP
and reclaim their rights to a trial. The district attorney and judge also
have 14 days to rescind offers of enrollment.

Participants undergo random full-spectrum urine tests at least twice a
month. They may be tested more frequently if tests are positive or if their
home or work situations seem unstable.

If a person fails to show up for a STOP court appointment, a bench warrant
for $55,555 is issued.

Haas said the program works because everyone involved closely supervises
participants.

"Suddenly, these people have someone who cares, someone who'll give them
every chance to make it," he said. "I've learned that relapses happen. It
takes effort, and it takes time, and it takes compassion."

It also takes commitment from the participants.

"We're just gyroscopes and compasses to keep people balanced and pointed in
the right direction," Williams said. "These people do the work. We just
help guide them."

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