The Edmonton DTC Program is based upon recognized DTC principles and Models found in Canada and the United States. Essential principles for DTC development and successful development identified by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime were expressly adopted. However, the Edmonton program is not a copy or a clone of any specific program. Rather, it was developed in response to local needs and having regard to finding an Edmonton and Alberta solution.
This was accomplished. The Edmonton Program incorporates three features that are relatively unique. First is the specific incorporation of restorative justice principles, including victims’ rights into the Program. Second is the incorporation of community justice principles, which over time will be best reflected in community service involvement by DTC participants, but which will have additional expressions in community interaction and involvement with the Program at all levels of operation and management.
The most innovative feature is the model of Governance that was developed and adopted in support of the Program. The vast majority of DTC programs, including other programs in Canada, do not use a formal model for Governance. Rather, the lead Judge is typically the driving force, with strong involvement of the Crown. Informal Committees, without formal policy or management oversight (thus, merely advisory roles) are the norm. In Edmonton the judiciary is removed entirely from Program management, and the Community as well as Government act as executive management, akin to a corporate Board. An eight-member Program Management Committee enjoys full management authority, and is advised by the full time internal Executive Director, and the Chairpersons of four substantive Working Groups, who take direction and instructions from the PMC, but do not have a position on the Board, or a vote.
Describe some successes that have come out of this approach?
The level and consistency of stakeholder involvement is higher and stronger as a result of our DTC Governance model. There is also a single voice for development and expression of policy, for program design and for program implementation.
Can you describe a specific success story without naming names?
One the first participants, who had been on the street for 15 years as a prostitute, and who had lost custody of her children some three years earlier, was able to break the cycle of her addiction, quit the street life, obtain custody of her children, and was also able to achieve success in an employment skills program that has resulted in her starting a career, for the first time in her life.
What do you find rewarding about your work in the drug treatment court?
The most rewarding thing is to be part of an innovative program, from the ground up, that has the potential of having a real and long-term impact on the lives of many people, and which offers a real method of breaking the cycle of criminal and other destructive behaviours.
What do you find difficult/challenging about your work?
The development of the Program has been a challenge, intellectually and more importantly, in engaging a large group of stakeholders over a long period of time. The development of a committed team, and the management and direction of that team, was the most rewarding experience associated with this program.
Describe the best success story you have seen.
In addition to the story in point 3 above, a participant, on the street as a prostitute from age 15, not only broke the addiction that had been governing his life, but very quickly embraced the opportunity to have a new life. From the street to University, where this Fall this person will attend Ryerson College in design.
Another story – A 20 year old participant, on the street as a prostitute since her early teens, was reunited with her mother, in the Courtroom, for the first time in 3 years – this was a “failed” participant, who was expelled from the Program for non-compliance. She was given a conditional sentence, and ordered to live with her mother in a small town. Throughout the nine month period of the CSO, she could not visit Edmonton, among many other conditions, including sobriety. She never breached any condition during that part of her sentence, proving to us that “graduation” from the Program is only one means of defining Program success, or, successful participation.
What convinced you that the drug treatment court is a good alternative to the traditional way of dealing with offences related to drug dependence?
Drug-related crime, particularly offences driven by the need to purchase drugs, represents a constant revolving door of offences, arrest, incarceration, and a return to repeat this cycle over and over, until the person dies of an overdose or through violence. The criminal justice system, in the traditional model of charge, conviction and sentence, and release, is not set up to break the cycle or stop the revolving door. By taking the simple idea of delaying final disposition and allowing the offender, on a purely volunteer and consent basis to obtain treatment and engage in community-based rehabilitation , in return for a lighter (non-custodial presumably) sentence, the cycle can and is being broken. Long-term repeat offenders can be transformed into rehabilitated recovering former drug addicts who are striving to lead a normal crime and drug free life, and not only receive the obvious personal benefits that will result, but also become law abiding and productive members of our community and society at large.
The key to why these programs work (and the results from the more than 1,800 American drug courts show the successes in clear terms) lies in the power of the Judge, and the impact the presiding Judge has on the participant. Rather than standing silent, as it the right of an accused person in the normal criminal process, in a DTC program, with legal protection from self-incrimination, and after a guilty plea is entered on the charges before the Court, the participant becomes engaged, on a weekly basis, in a personal dialog with the Judge, and also with other members of the Court team. The offender finds, for the first time, that the Legal actors all treat him or her as an individual, and that the Judge and others are interested and concerned about the offender.
This dialog creates a completely new dynamic, in the Courtroom, and outside, as the offender works through the Program. With the ongoing support of the Judge and Court Team, many (in fact most) participants respond very favourably, and begin to really change not only their attitude but also their behaviours, within 2 or 3 weeks. The reason is really quite simple – for very often the first time in their life, the offender-participants find themselves being treated with interest and kindness, by a variety of officials and actors in the justice system, and they, as might be expected, respond very quickly and positively. The impact of this approach, and the fundamental change in the dynamic of the process of criminal justice, cannot be under-estimated. It is the primary reason why these programs work (i.e. to reduce recidivism).