Drug courts: An alternative to the war on drugs?
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Miami built their first drug court almost 25 years ago as an alternative way to combat the rapid increase in cocaine-related crimes. It worked so well that by 1996, Minnesota followed suit, and now the state is expanding the program.Following a 2013 Minnesota Legislature funding increase, the Minnesota Judicial Council authorized the addition of six new drug courts in Minnesota last month, bringing the state’s total number to 44 courts serving 56 counties. And officials say the addition will help keep offenders from falling back into the system and save the state money when compared to traditional incarceration.“What [the researchers] found was if someone was sentenced to treatment [by a traditional court], most defendants didn’t even show up, and the ones who did dropped out,” said state drug court coordinator Jim Eberspacher. “If you don’t supervise the person and continue to provide services, the likelihood of them continuing down a path to sobriety is minimal. Drug courts attempt to provide all the services necessary to keep the person on the right path.”A 2012 state-wide evaluation compared 500 drug court participants to nearly 650 similar offenders who did not participate in the drug court program. Over the two and a half year study, drug court participants had a 17 percent recidivism rate compared to 32 percent of those who didn’t participate – almost a 50 percent reduction. Continue Reading
