Commentary : Drug Courts Offer Offenders a New Path : Justice:Treatment that is monitored by judges can provide a path to health for some people.

The criminal justice system is at the crossroads of many societal problems, and drug addiction is one of the most serious of them. In 1992, government spent more than $40 billion trying to fight drug abuse and drug addiction.

But the criminal justice policy of simply incarcerating drug offenders over and over is largely a failure. At least half of all drug offenders sentenced to probation in state courts are rearrested for felony offenses within three years; a third are arrested for new drug offenses. While incarcerating drug offenders does provide some measure of public safety, it is only a short-term solution.

A recent Rand study indicated that drug treatment offers a cost-effective method of fighting drug abuse. This same study concluded that “for every dollar spent on treatment for drug and alcohol abuse, California taxpayers reap $7 in savings, mostly due to reductions in crime and health care costs.”

Five years ago, Los Angeles County began operating “drug courts”--judicially monitored, intensive, one-year drug treatment programs that are offered only to nonviolent drug offenders who have had no prior convictions for selling drugs or for violent or serious felonies. The court--the first of its kind in Southern California--has had more than 1,000 participants, about half of whom either have graduated or soon will. Drug courts now operate in Santa Monica, East Los Angeles, Southeast Los Angeles (South Gate), Pasadena, Van Nuys, Compton, Inglewood, Rio Hondo and Pomona. (There is also a similar program run by the Superior Court and a juvenile program in the Sylmar court.) On Sept. 30, Los Angeles County’s downtown drug court will hold its 20th graduation at the Criminal Courts Building.

Recently, Atty. Gen. Janet Reno proposed creating a new level of “reentry” courts based on the drug court model to help people who have served prison terms to stay out of jail. She was prompted by the success of the drug courts now in operation--as state attorney for Florida’s Dade County, she helped launch the drug court concept a decade ago--and by statistics that indicated that about two-thirds of convicts return to prison within three years of release.

While the reentry concept has yet to be tested, I can testify to the fact that the current drug courts do work.

The typical drug court defendant is someone who has been arrested for felony possession of drugs and has a prior criminal history of charges involving drug possession or being under the influence. Drug courts can help get them into treatment, where they can find new reference groups and moral and ethical standards to replace those that led to drug addiction and a criminal lifestyle. Drug courts also help the people who have been adversely impacted by the drug addict. Specifically, recovering addicts will most certainly enhance their relationships with their parents, children, spouses, neighbors, friends, employers and the public at large.

An added bonus: When alternatives to incarceration are offered by the criminal justice system and efforts are made to help people such as drug addicts, the community is more likely to support the criminal justice system. A large percentage of the minority community has lost confidence in the system. Drug courts help restore that confidence by offering a chance for the community to work with courts and law enforcement to salvage lives. They also dispel the notion that the criminal justice system is only interested in incarcerating drug offenders, especially minority defendants.

The results have been documented. The recidivism rate for the drug court graduate after five years, based on new arrests, is 19%, including minor traffic offenses. If you factor out minor traffic offenses and dismissals, the recidivism rate is only 14%. This is decidedly lower than the rate of other drug offenders. If you add in the incalculable benefits of a mother having a drug-free baby (there have been six drug-free babies born to women in the L.A. program), you have a program that obviously is paying huge dividends to all concerned.

Is drug court a panacea for the drug addiction problem? Absolutely not. Does it work for everyone? No. But drug courts do help many people to straighten out their lives. Some have even told me the program has saved their lives.

It is essential for government, especially the courts, to offer people who have fallen into the hellish world of drug addiction a viable way out. Society benefits, and it is the right thing to do.