Drug court reduces crime by getting addicts clean

By Carl Hessler Jr.
chessler@pottsmerc.com

NORRISTOWN — While the effectiveness of drug treatment courts is still being analyzed, some statistical evidence suggests the verdict is favorable.
“I do drug court because it works. Pure and simple, drug treatment courts work,” said Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O’Neill, who presides over the county’s nearly seven-year-old drug treatment court. “They are the most effective intervention in the criminal justice system, ever, when dealing with an addict population.”
According to county statistics, since April 21, 2006, when the treatment court was implemented, and Dec. 5, 2012, when the program held its 43rd graduation ceremony, there have been 186 graduates. Since 2006, 33 of those graduates — or only about 18 percent — have been rearrested — meaning 82 percent of the drug court graduates remained arrest-free since their graduations. Non drug court addicts in the criminal justice system have a re-arrest rate of more than 60 percent, according to Judge O’Neill and The National Association of Drug Court Professionals.

(Photo by John Strickler/The Mercury)
Judge Steven T. O'Neill's drug court gavel.

Chester County has a similar program presided over by Judge Phyllis Streitel, which graduated 922 defendants between November 1997 and September 2012. That number was out of 1,843 who were accepted, according to the Chester County Adult Probation Office.
According to the NADCP, a nonprofit group founded in 1994 that includes judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers and clinical professionals, 75 percent of drug court graduates nationwide remain arrest-free at least two years after successfully completing the programs.
Drug courts refer more people to treatment than any other system in America, annually serving more than 130,000 seriously addicted people, according to the NADCP. Drug courts have served more than 1 million people.
“It works far better than anything we’ve ever tried in terms of the addict in the criminal justice system, ever,” O’Neill recently told a group of new drug court participants. “This program works. It’s designed to work. It’s about an opportunity to have a structured, evidence-based — that means things that work — environment to recover from your disease.”
“They work because of the structure, the change, the accountability and the compassion because these are people who have never had anybody say, ‘You can do it’ in their lives,” O’Neill added.
According to the county’s 2013 budget, the county commissioners have earmarked $609,215 for the drug treatment court of which about $350,000 is allocated for drug and alcohol treatment. The remainder is used to cover the cost of intensive drug testing, specialized probation officers and services as well as sheriff’s department overtime costs for night court.
According to the NADCP, the first drug court was formed in 1989 in Miami-Dade, Fla., and by December 2010 there were 2,633 drug courts operating nationwide.
The specially designed treatment courts offer non-violent, drug-addicted offenders a chance to avoid jail or more harsh sentences if they participate in judicially-supervised treatment programs — that includes drug testing, sanctions for not living up to their obligations and rehabilitation services. Another goal is to reduce recidivism.
“Those who characterize drug court as soft on crime are flat out wrong,” NADCP Chief Executive Officer West Huddleston said recently. “Most graduates will testify that completing a drug court program, and confronting their demons head on, is far more difficult than sitting in a jail cell.”
“This country annually spends over $60 billion on corrections with little return on our investment. If we are serious about reducing the prison population, then resources must be put towards a better approach,” Huddleston added.
Proponents of drug court programs refer to them as a “common sense approach” that not only cuts crime and saves taxpayers money but also improves employment and keeps families together.
“And the science shows that if we can keep you involved in structured recovery for a long period of time and it becomes easier not to use, guess what happens? The crimes that are based on your addictions dramatically reduce. That’s what the criminal justice system gets in return,” O’Neill told some new participants.
With the average length of stay for an offender in the county program at 21 months, the program saves what officials typically refer to as “jail days.”
According to county officials, it currently costs $44.91 a day, or about $16,392 annually, to house an inmate in the county jail. Comparatively, it can cost an average of $5,000 to $8,000 to provide long-term drug treatment to an offender for up to 23 months.
“These people are not in jail. That is the jail days saved, that is the taxpayer dollars saved,” O’Neill explained.

Follow Carl Hessler Jr. on Twitter @MontcoCourtNews