Edmonton Drug Treatment & Community Restoration Court

The DTC Phenomenon (the American Experience); some fundamental drug treatment court facts, as presented by the Drug Court Institute. Source

 

Drug courts represent the coordinated efforts of the judiciary, prosecution, defence bar, probation, law enforcement, mental health, social service, and treatment communities to actively and forcefully intervene and break the cycle of substance abuse, addiction, and crime. As an alternative to less effective interventions, drug courts quickly identify substance abusing offenders and place them under strict court monitoring and community supervision, coupled with effective, long-term treatment services.

 

In this blending of systems, the drug court participant undergoes an intense regimen of substance abuse and mental health treatment, case management, drug testing, and probation supervision while reporting to regularly scheduled status hearings before a judge with specialized expertise in the drug court model (Fox & Huddleston, 2003). In addition, drug courts may provide job skill training, family/group counselling, and many other life-skill enhancement services.

 

No other justice intervention brings to bear such an intensive response with such dramatic results; results that have been well-documented through the rigors of scientific analysis. From the earliest evaluations, researchers have determined that drug courts provide “closer, more comprehensive supervision and much more frequent drug testing and monitoring during the program than other forms of community supervision. More importantly, drug use and criminal behaviour are substantially reduced while offenders are participating in drug court” (Belenko, 1998; 2001). To put it bluntly, “we know that drug courts outperform virtually all other strategies that have been attempted for drug-involved offenders” (Marlowe, DeMatteo, & Festinger, 2003).

 

With 1,183 drug courts currently in operation (Table I), 414 actively involved in the planning process in 2003 (American University, 2003), and another 184 jurisdictions accepted into the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), U.S. Department of Justice formal drug court planning training series for 2004 (Mankin, 2004), drug courts are the future, having transformed from a grass roots movement of “specialized courts” to an institutionalized way of doing business in the courts.

 

Drug courts have been called the most significant criminal justice initiative in the last century. Many of the leading benefits of drug court programs are discussed below.