BREAK CYCLE OF ADDICTION, CRIME

Drug Courts Legislation Lifts Accountability In Treatment System

It's a rare instance when we policymakers can save lives, save money and
reduce crime.

Drug courts do just that.

Properly run drug courts, also known as drug treatment courts or
problem-solving courts, utilize a unique system of graduated sanctions and
incentives to break the cycle of drug dependence and crime, to enhance
community safety and to save money.

I first learned of the great promise of drug courts as a policy adviser to
U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak. My work later as vice-president of the
Drug-Free Kids Campaign and now as the ranking Democrat on the House
Criminal Justice Committee confirmed my belief that drug courts must become
the rule, not the exception, when it comes to dealing with addicted
offenders throughout Michigan and nationwide.

Drug courts operate at a fraction of the cost of incarceration and are far
more effective. Some Michigan drug courts currently operate at an annual
cost of $1,800 per participant compared to the $28,000 one year of
incarceration costs taxpayers. What's more, drug courts have shown much
greater success than prison with recidivism rates as low as 9 percent,
compared to 63 percent of offenders who cycle through our traditional
criminal justice system, repeatedly returning to a life of crime to finance
their drug addiction.

As Michigan's investment in drug courts grows, the state needs legislation
to increase the number of drug courts statewide, to create standards in drug
court operations and data collection, and to ensure that all courts, present
and future, have the flexibility they need to reflect local prerogatives.
Such legislation would help reduce a number of problems.

According to the Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia
University, as many as 80 percent of the more than 2 million people
incarcerated in the United States have a severe substance abuse problem. As
many as one half also suffer from mental illness.

In Michigan, and throughout the nation, taxpayer dollars are being wasted on
a failed strategy of attempting to incarcerate our way out of this problem.
The result has been a revolving door effect for addicted offenders who are
chronic recidivists. Drug addicts and the mentally ill are clogging our
criminal justice system when we should be preserving scarce prison space for
the most violent offenders.

A solution to this crisis is the use of drug courts. They are specialized
dockets or courtrooms involving a nontraditional partnership between judges,
prosecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement, case managers and treatment
professionals.

The reason they are so effective is that this drug court team applies a
laser focus to the addiction that propels so many offenders to commit crime,
instead of applying a Band-Aid to addiction's many symptoms. While addicted
offenders in the traditional criminal justice system are often free to roam
our communities with little supervision, drug court participants are
subjected to strict judicial supervision, intensive monitoring and drug
testing.

Within the drug courts system, offenders are forced to confront their
addiction and other barriers to their becoming productive citizens. A system
of graduated sanctions and incentives is applied. The first time an offender
does not comply with the terms of a drug court contract that they
voluntarily signed upon entry into the program (such as failing a drug
test), the judge hits them with a sanction (20 hours of community service).
If they violate again, they are subjected to a harsher sanction, such as the
weekend in jail. If such a sanction is applied, it is immediate. Right then
and there, in front of the other drug court offenders, that person is taken
to jail.

This immediacy is rarely seen elsewhere in the criminal justice system. If
an offender exceeds the threshold of permissible violations, they are
expelled from the program and returned to conventional court. If they
fulfill all obligations of the drug court, their charges are dropped or
sentence suspended.

Michigan has 24 operational drug courts, with several more in the works. It
is estimated that Michigan already has 1,600 drug court graduates, 65
percent of whom were previously incarcerated.

In the coming weeks, Democratic and Republican members of the House and
Senate will join me in introducing the Michigan Drug Offender Accountability
Act. When enacted, it will solidify the firm foundation of the drug court
movement in Michigan and provide accountability to make certain that drug
courts are utilizing well-established practices.