Drug Court System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Drug Court System - Essay Example Hence, the introduction of various criminal justice programs to achieve this goal (James Ernest Lessenger, 2007, p. 126). The program we focus on is the Drug court system. Drug courts can be described as judicially monitored court dockets, whose aim is to handle cases involving non-violent substance abuse offenders under the juvenile, adult, tribal and family justice systems. These courts operate under a unique model where the defense, prosecution, law enforcement, social service, probation and the judiciary work as one to assist offenders recover and become valuable citizens. Drug courts were formed in 1989 when Miami-Dade County officials formulated a thorough, community based, rehabilitation, treatment, and supervisory program for drug defendants who were non-violent, to deal with increasing recidivism rates. These exceptional courts were established to incorporate treatment of drug problems into America’s criminal justice system, handling offenders with drug abuse history for their addiction, and at the same time ensuring supervision, and sanctions where necessary, from these courts (O’Hear, 2009, p. 105). The need for these courts in sentencing drug offenders arose from the dawning reality that America’s method in combating drug abuse by law enforcement strategies continued to cause a significant challenge for the country’s criminal court system. Drug related crime has continuously been an enormous burden for the American society, one whereby supply reduction techniques have unsuccessfully eliminated. Since 1989, these courts have scattered throughout America, and their movement has reflected the desire to change the focus from attempting to address drug crimes by cutting off their supply, to combating drug demand through addiction treatment. Drug courts have used criminal justice system to combat drug addictions by an integrated set of legal and social services instead of dependence on sanctions through probation or incarcerati on (O’Hear, 2009, p. 128). Drug courts have achieved success, the principal one being recidivism reduction when offenders are in the program and after. Drug courts are centered on close monitoring of offenders, with increased drug testing. These courts generate savings due to reduced prison time, reduce criminal justice expenses and reduce criminality. Offenders who have passed through this program have reduced recidivism rates than those who have not. Drug courts have demonstrated the feasibility of hiring a team based, problem solving strategy to adjudicating drug offenders in a manner that improves public safety, and criminal behavior is also reduced tremendously when offenders participate in this program (David W. Neubauer, 2010, p. 284). Several components describe the operational procedure of Drug courts, but with variation on the population of the defendant background and legal issues. In their legal framework, there are two Drug court models; post adjudication program s and deferred prosecution programs. In deferred prosecution, defendants who meet particular qualification requirements are directed towards Drug court system before pleading to a particular charge. They are expected not to plead guilty, and the ones who complete the program are not prosecuted any further, but failure to finish the program leads to prosecution. In post adjudication, defendants are supposed to plead guilty, but their