A SECOND CHANCE

Drug Courts Help Offenders to Kick Habit

A pair of recent stories in The Dispatch provided moving accounts of
how a pair of Ohio courts -- specially designed to handle crimes
related to drug addiction -- are changing lives for the better.

West Side resident Teresa Talbert was featured in one of those
stories. For 15 years, she abused drugs and alcohol and, as a result,
lost custody of her three children. Now, thanks to the intensive
treatment and monitoring provided by Franklin County's pilot
drug-court project, she has been sober for 10 months and hopes her
continued success will help her regain custody of her children.

Ohio is a national leader in the drug-court movement, with 50 courts
in operation and more than a dozen more in the planning stages,
according to Judge John M. Durkin of the Mahoning County Court of
Common Pleas, who also is president of the Ohio Association of Drug
Court Professionals.

These courts can be found in 27 Ohio counties. Seven of them are
designed to handle family drug problems, such as those faced by
Talbert. Of the rest, 26 are for adult offenders and 17 for juveniles.

These courts ally judges, social workers, drug-treatment experts and
others to design and monitor an intensive treatment regimen for each
offender who comes before the court. The aim is to treat the drug
addiction rather than send first- and second-time offenders to prison.

Judges follow a case from beginning to end, becoming familiar with
each drug offender and his progress toward sobriety. The crucial
element of the process is that offenders know that the judge can toss
them into jail if they fail to stick with their rehabilitation plan.

Durkin and other experts in drug treatment, such as Luceille Fleming,
director of the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction
Services, say the threat of imprisonment or the loss of custody of
their children is often the only way to reach those caught in the grip
of addiction. Drug courts are intended for nonviolent offenders
accused of the least serious drug abuse and possession charges, not
for dealers.

Those who want to take advantage of the program first must plead
guilty to the drug charge lodged against them. This means that they
can immediately be sent to prison for up to 18 months if they fail to
make a good-faith effort to comply with their treatment plan. This
gives judges tremendous leverage over offenders who otherwise might
try to game the system by opting for treatment with no real intention
of bucking their drug habit.

Several studies of drug-court programs have concluded that they are
effective in reducing recidivism among drug offenders, but because so
few studies have been conducted so far, the evidence is not conclusive.

But for those who have successfully graduated from these programs and
remained clean and sober, no more study is needed. They are grateful
to be free of addiction and grateful for a court program whose tough-
love approach made it possible.

Ohio's experience so far with drug courts suggests that they work and
that the system should be expanded as evidence of their effectiveness
accumulates.