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The Program

The Edmonton Drug Treatment and Community Restoration Court (“EDTCRC”, or “DTC”) program is the product of nearly four years of development, culminating with a successful proposal to Justice Canada for special DTC funding. A formal Proposal document, issued on January 17, 2005 for Federal funding purposes, outlined essential program philosophy and features. The Proposal was transformed and updated into an operational format through publication of the “EDTCRC Program Description” in October 2005. The court program operates in the Provincial Court of Alberta in Edmonton. Formal commencement occurred on December 7, 2005.
 
The Edmonton DTC program is founded upon on recognized principles for drug treatment courts, and adds two other concepts: (1) community justice and (2) restorative justice. The melding of concepts, principles and features from these three separate movements in contemporary criminal justice, and the theory of therapeutic jurisprudence provides for a broader and longer-reaching set of expected outcomes in the Edmonton program. The Edmonton program offers eligible offenders the ability to reintegrate into the community, while at the same time engaging victims and the community in a process of restoration.
 
The first drug treatment court was developed in south Florida in 1989. This first DTC was organized with the assistance of the former United States Attorney General Janet Reno, in her capacity as a local district attorney. When the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime Legal Advisory Program commenced operations in 1996 there were no drug treatment courts outside the United States. Since then, UNODC has built a practitioner network, which enabled initiatives such as the UNODC DTC Expert Working Group and its work outputs. The report of that working group (from its 1998 meeting in Vienna) has been used as a guide to establish drug treatment courts within and outside of the United States.
 
Success Factors - Expert Advice and the Development of Common Success Factors
 
UNODC’s DTC Expert Working Group reviewed collective drug treatment court experience and identified core factors underlying effectiveness and success. The Expert Working Group described requirements for success and developed practical guidelines on how best to establish and implement these courts. The Expert Working Group Report identified the following 12 success factors for Drug Treatment Courts:
  1. Effective judicial leadership of the multidisciplinary Drug Court team. 
  2. Strong interdisciplinary collaboration of judge and team members while each also maintains their respective professional independence. 
  3. Good knowledge and understanding of addiction and recovery by members of the court team who are not health care professionals. 
  4. Operational manual to ensure consistency of approach and ongoing program efficiency. 
  5. Clear eligibility criteria and objective eligibility screening of potential participant offenders. 
  6. Detailed assessment of each potential participant offender. 
  7. Fully informed and documented consent of each participant offender (after receiving legal advice) prior to program participation. 
  8. Speedy referral of participating offenders to treatment and rehabilitation. 
  9. Swift, certain and consistent sanctions for program non-compliance but with rewards for program compliance. 
  10. Ongoing program evaluation and willingness to tailor program structure to meet identified shortcomings. 
  11. Sufficient, sustained and dedicated program funding. 
  12. Changes in underlying substantive and procedural law if necessary or appropriate.
The Edmonton DTC Steering Committee adopted these UNODC principles in the development of the EDTCRC Program. The Program Management Committee subsequently endorsed them.