Drug court

Drug courts emerged as a direct response from the government, after they introduced and escalated their campaign of the War on Drugs in the 1980s and 1990s. This era exposed bipartisan support of the enforcement of drug laws, and its effect on low level drug offenses and harsher criminal penalties for possession and/or sale of small amounts of substances. Due to this, millions of cases flooded the court system, charging people with minor drug law violations, drastically increasing the number of individuals in jails and prisons. Judges, in turn, tired of repeat offenders, try to apply therapeutic jurisprudence upon individuals in hope that their action world cease. The drug courts were not at all positively effective in the combat of the War…

Drug courts are specialized courts, which is an alternative to criminal court, for offenders who have drug or alcohol dependency problems. When they were established in 1989, their main purpose was to help prevent overcrowding in prisons, by giving low risk drug offenders an alternative option (Fulkerson). A couple more reasons drug courts were brought into the picture were to keep court costs down and be able to provide the offenders with personalized treatment to help them overcome their drug…

Specialized courts have been instrumental in deviating the impact of overpopulated and taxed prison systems. Accordingly, they provide an environment that allows drug abusers to correct their behavior and lessen recidivism for similar crimes (Drug Courts, n.d.). The advantage of having a drug courts improve the treatment an offender gets and allows them to take charge over the positive changes in their day-to-day lives. The National Institute of Justice has found that recidivism rates drop…

Today I sat in on “Drug Court” which was very interesting and not what I expected at all. I sat in on an adult session of drug court which I thought would be like the probation violations hearing I previously went to where the defendant and the judge would talk about criminal history, but it was very different than that. Drug court is actually more of conversation between the judge and the defendant. They discuss sobriety and things that have been going on their lives since they have become…

This paper written by Amanda B. Cissner and Michael Rempel, discusses what the drug courts are, a brief explanation when and how the drug courts got started, how do they work, and what do they do for the people who are given the treatment for their dug usage problems. In this review paper I’m going to explain what those points are and what do they mean to me in my own words. Drug courts was introduced in 1989 in Miami, it launched dramatic shift in how the court system responds to the criminal…

juvenile detention hearings and a drug court trial in Mercer County, New Jersey. For my first observation, I went to Mercer Family Division in Mercer County, New Jersey. I observed several juvenile detention hearings. I asked one of my previous supervisors if I could sit in with her during her time in court. Overall the process for each child went relatively briefly. The detention center has two buses that transport the juveniles from the detention centers to the courthouse, one 8 am and…

Drug Court Effectiveness and Recidivism of Participants According to the results from the 2013 Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring II (ADAM II) survey (2014), between two-thirds and three-quarters of all adults males arrested were at risk for drug dependence; as few as one-quarter had sought any type of treatment for drug or alcohol use. (p. xiv). Traditionally, the criminal justice system focused on enforcement and incarceration to reduce drug-related crime, but recidivism has remained high. An…

The first drug court was established in Miami-Dade, Florida in 1989 (National Association of Drug Professionals). Drug courts were established because of the “revolving door of drug use” and increasing recidivism rates. Drug courts have the ability to change a person’s life for the better by teaching them how to beat their addictions while providing the proper treatments for each offender. As a result, of the ongoing development of drug courts, it is unfair to expect the system to be…

As a way of relieving the overcrowding of the prison system and providing a means by which drug offenders could be rehabilitated rather than incarcerated, drug courts were established. Through the analyzing of empirical studies, it was illustrated that drug courts are successful in reducing the recidivism rate among drug offenders. Even though drug courts have a net-widening effect, they are a beneficial in treating low-risk and high-risk offenders. In addition, drug courts are most promising…

Drug Courts Drug courts are here to help those in need and establish a better society for this country. The first drug court began in Florida in 1989 because there was a lot of drug cases that were similar to each other, so instead of wasting the judge’s time, the government decided to create drug courts (History). Drug courts was a positive effect to this country, however, many people still do not like this idea of having a drug court. Drug courts has caused many arguments which created two…