JUDGE SMITH SEES DRUG COURT AS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY

An offender is arrested for a drug-related crime. The police notify the
District Attorney's office and prosecutors notice this is a potential drug
court case.

The offender is then given two choices: the standard fine and jail sentence
or an opportunity to participate in drug court.

If the offender chooses to apply for drug court, the D.A.'s office reviews
the legal criteria behind the case. If its office gives the OK, the
offender would then go to mental health for an evaluation.

Once accepted into the program, the offender would be tested regularly for
drugs. He or she would go to court twice a week, meet with mental health
counselors weekly, be required to have a high school diploma or G.E.D. and
have gainful employment.

If offenders stay clean and meet all the requirements of the program, in
nine months to a year they become regular citizens again and the court has
the power to expunge their records.

Instead of paying over 30 grand to send drug-related offenders to jail, the
Mississippi Legislature recently passed an act which will allow drug court
intervention programs. The Alyce Griffin Clarke Drug Court Act is an
attempt to provide an alternate method of sentencing for non-violent
criminal defendants who are charged with a drug-related offense, in hopes
of reducing the occurrence of drug use, addiction and crimes committed as a
result of such drug use and addiction. The goal of the drug court is to
promote public safety for the entire community by providing a court
supervised program for offenders of the criminal justice system.

"Statistics show that this type of program has reduced recidivism more than
any other program so far," said Circuit Judge Al Smith of Cleveland. "They
have programs like this all over the country . . . It's a national trend
that is just now catching on in Mississippi. It's a wonderful opportunity."

A Drug Court team from Bolivar and surrounding counties has been traveling
all over North America, training since February. Presently the team
includes mostly men and women from Cleveland, but hopefully will soon gain
more involvement from the other participating counties, Coahoma, Quitman,
and Tunica.

Members include Judge Smith, Judge Larry Lewis of Clarksdale, Prosecuting
Attorneys Laurence Mellen and Leslie Flint of Cleveland, Public Defender
Raymond Wong of Cleveland, Probation and Parole Officers Tony Harris of
Cleveland and Jeffrey Davis of Clarksdale, Treatment Facilitators Charles
Thornburg and Stuart Allen of Cleveland, Case Manager Kenneth Behrens of
Cleveland, and Administrators Rebecca Cochran and Vicky Smith of Cleveland.
The drug court program offers maximum supervision of participants to make
sure they stay on track.

"We've become involved with the people who are on probation. It's a lot
more intensive supervision by drug counselors, mental health counselors,
and the Department of Corrections on a weekly basis. Before a person on
probation would see someone maybe once a month for 15 minutes," explained
Smith.

The program "is not soft on crime. In fact, it's just the opposite. It's a
more intensive program than they would go through otherwise," said Smith.

The drug court program is open to criminals involved in drug-related
crimes, with some exceptions, that also include crimes such as embezzling,
writing bad checks or shoplifting, which are related because of an
offender's addiction.

The legal requirements that must be met in order for someone to be accepted
into the drug court program are that the offender must not have any felony
convictions for crimes of violence, cannot have been charged with burglary
of an occupied dwelling, cannot be charged with driving under the influence
of alcohol or any other drug that resulted in the death of a person, cannot
have been arrested for distributing, selling, possessing with an intent to
sell, or producing any controlled substance, and cannot have had a prior
conviction for any of these crimes.

The drug court program is open to adults 18 and older, unless a person is
certified as an adult for the type of crime they have committed. The
program will also have a finite number of participants - up to 150 people
maximum for all four counties involved.

Participants in the program will be paying their own expenses, but the
exact price of the program is unknown at this time. Costs would include any
fines imposed by the court, a nominal fee for court meetings and chemical
tests, as well as entrance and exit fees for the program. All money
received from the program will be used to continue funding the drug court
program. The drug court has applied for grants, but is currently relying on
volunteers, said Smith.

"We're looking for any volunteers from the public who want to help along
this line, church groups, etc," said Smith. Participants in drug court will
also be required to do public service work every month and the majority of
them will need rides. If a group is willing to offer some type of taxi
service for the program, Smith said it would be a great help.

Since many addicts have relapses, it is possible for an offender to be
accepted into the program a second time. The District Attorney's office
will have the final word on anyone that is to enter the program. According
to Smith, one of the goals of the program will be to re-educate people on
the proper course of conduct and to not throw anyone away, but give them a
second chance.

"We want these people back as productive members of society, as taxpayers,"
said Smith.

There will be sanctions for participants who don't comply with the
guidelines of the program, but Smith believes the drug court program is a
"win-win situation if participants want to work to succeed."