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For one to truly understand what Drug Court strives to achieve e must look at studies done on the way treatment was provided and the success of each type. This is very important for those looking to help improve the structure and function of the services provided. To be able to best help those who struggle with drug or alcohol addictions, we must look closely at what treatment has been successful and which treatment has had a higher rate of failure. The article “Drug Courts and the Logic of Coerced Treatment,” looks into what Drug Court is and the coerced treatment as a punishment for drug related offenses.
The evidence Of drug use and criminal activity has greatly increased over the last 30 years. Lengthy mandatory prison sentences and the increase of federal funding for the War on Drugs, has had a significant impact on the prison population in the united States, which is 2. 3 million. This article describes the history of coerced treatment punishment by the law. In the past, coerced treatment was a conviction and a mandatory prison term. In which offenders were offered treatment in prison, however it was sporadic and had very little if no interaction with the judge.
As the U. S Department of Justice’s Drug Courts Program Office explains, “drug courts leverage the coercive power of the criminal justice system to achieve abstinence and alter rimming behavior through the combination Of judicial supervision, treatment, drug testing, incentives, sanctions, and case management. ” Drug courts coerced treatment sanctions imposed by the judge are increasing in severity and are considered instrumental in drug court operation. The judge retains considerable power over the offenders’ treatment process.
They meet regularly in the courtroom with the defendant and a treatment team that consist of clinical psychologist, doctors, counselors, and case managers. They monitor the defendants’ progress using urine testing, and reports from the reattempt team to assess the compliance with requirements that Drug Court has places on the offender. The author of this article talks about the methods of finding that they used were, documents generated by the advocacy organizations, governmental agencies, and research centers that were concerned with Drug Courts and their expansion.
The authors interviewed 12 key members of these organizations. The article talks about how the advocates of Drug Court have their theories of addiction and recovery. They describe how addiction and recovery is based on science and how the brain is affected; they use that information to develop their treatment methods. Rather than punishing a specific crime that the defendant has committed ten DRUG COURT Years ago, they focus on curing a specific condition of addiction and one affecting present and future actions.
They become concerned with their behaviors and what they accomplish with employment and education to overcome their past addiction and change their lives. In making their case for coercion, Drug Court emphasizes the role coercion plays in the therapeutic setting. They claim an evidence based approach that shows addicts need coercion. They claim that it is the key to rehabilitation. Addicts don’t want to change unless they have to. They have more success rates in recovery for those who have had coercion than those who have had voluntary treatment.
This article describes how most all of Drug Court advocates fell the same way and that it is the right way for the criminal justice system to deal with drug users. The second article I reviewed is, “Enhancing Drug Court Success. ” This article refers more toward the statistics of the different kinds of outcomes in Drug Court mainly in Orange County, California. The article goes in to detail about how the Drug Court system operates and all the services provided. They describe how residential treatment for 90 days prior to entering into the Drug Court system affects the outcome of the offenders.
It shows various charts and describes each one in detail. The charts consist of characteristics of the Drug Court participants, from their gender, race, marital status, educational level, employment, age, drug of choice, frequency of drug used, and age at first use of drug. Other charts look at retention and graduation by enhancing drug court component, month in programs of residential treatment, days in drug court by residential treatment status, and gains in education and employment by epically groups.