Drug courts are a relatively new phenomenon
Drug courts are a relatively new phenomenon in the American judicial system. Focus your discussion on the following:
Discuss the philosophy and role as well as provide a short history of drug courts.
Does the state in which you reside utilize drug courts, and if so, how successful have they been in reducing recidivism rates?
Would you recommend that all of the states utilize these courts to assist in processing drug cases?
Sample Solution
As the name implies, drug courts are specifically for persons with substance use disorders. These court programs offer individuals the opportunity to enter long-term treatment and agree to court supervision rather than receiving a jail sentence. Drug courts emphasize long-term recovery over punishment. Therefore, drug court`s primary goal is not punishment, it is treatment for the disease. To motivate treatment, the court grants rewards for progress and sanctions for failure to meet program requirements. The first jurisdiction to implement a drug court was New York City; it created the court in 1974 in response to the enforcement of the draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws, which overwhelmed the state`s criminal justice system with an unrelenting spate of drug cases throughout the 1970s (Belenko & Dumanovsky, 1993).
