DRUG COURT'S MISSION IS TO HELP OFFENDERS BECOME FREE OF DRUGS

In July 2003, the Tennessee General Assembly passed the Drug Court
Treatment Act. This act provided for the establishment of drug courts
to treat substance-abusing offenders.

In keeping with the mandate of the legislature, the 10th Judicial
District established a Drug Court team comprising of representatives
from the judiciary, district attorney's office, public defender's
office, probation/parole, community corrections, and treatment.

This Drug Court team, including Circuit Court Judge Carroll L. Ross,
District Attorney General Jerry Estes, Assistant Public Defender
Richard Hughes and Sheriff Dan Gilley, built the framework for the
10th Judicial District Adult Drug Court and on June 29, 2004, the 10th
Judicial District Adult Drug Court was opened for adjournment.

The 10th Judicial District Adult Drug Court is a post-adjudication
court targeting offenders who are non-violent, property or drug
offenders who are substance-abusing. The Drug Court is a division of
the Criminal Court and services the four counties of the 10th Judicial
District (Bradley, McMinn, Monroe, and Polk counties).

The 10th Judicial District Adult Drug Court is a special court given
the responsibility to handle cases involving substance-abusing
offenders through comprehensive supervision, drug testing, treatment
services and immediate sanctions and incentives. Graduated sanctions,
including jail time, are imposed for noncompliance.

Although an offender is placed in Drug Court, he has already been
adjudicated in Criminal Court and must comply with the supervision of
the Criminal Court in addition to the Drug Court. Drug Court brings
the full weight of all interveners (judges, prosecutors, defense
counsel, substance abuse treatment specialists, probation officers,
law enforcement and correctional personnel, educational and vocational
experts, community leaders and others) to bear, forcing the offender
to deal with his or her substance abuse problem.

In addition, the Drug Court ensures consistency in judicial
decision-making and enhances the coordination of agencies and
resources, increasing the cost effectiveness of programs.

The success of the drug court system is well documented - more than 70
percent of drug court clients successfully completed the program or
remain as active participants and the cost of drug court programs are
significantly less than the cost of incarceration and traditional
court systems.

The 2003 National Institute of Justice recidivism report entitled,
"Recidivism Rates for Drug Court Graduates: National Based Estimates,"
representative of over 17,000 annual drug court graduates nationwide, found
that recidivism rates for drug court participants one year after graduation
is a mere 16.5 percent and only 27.5 percent after two years. The report
also found that participants from 38 drug courts throughout the country have
recidivism rates lower than 10 percent one year after graduation.

Incarceration of drug using offenders costs between $20,000 and
$50,000 per person, per year. The capital costs of building a prison
cell can be as much as $80,000. In contrast, a comprehensive drug
court system typically costs between $2,500 and $4,000 annually for
each offender. Evaluations from the State of Oregon and Dallas County,
Texas have shown that for every dollar invested in drug court, ten
dollars are saved by corrections.

The mission of the 10th Judicial District Adult Drug Court is to
promote safer communities by assisting drug abuser/addicted criminal
offenders in becoming drug-free, and empowering them to be productive
and responsible members of their and communities through expedited
court processing, reduced incarceration, and accountability-based sanctions.