Specialty Drug Courts Columbia Southern University 1/27/2014 | The importance of Drug Courts are non-traditional justice procedures that were created to find alternative solutions for overcrowded prisons and for nonviolent drug offenders to seek treatment and prevent further drug use while saving the criminal justice system money. According to (Dean J. Champion, Richard D. Hartley, Gary A. Rade, 2012, p. 300) “The first drug court began in Dade County (Miami) in 1989; today there are somewhere around 2,500 drug courts across the United States’’. Drug courts have a big influence on the drug policy that helps correct nonviolent drug offenders with addiction instead of jail time. The debate on drug courts therapy is a main problem with politics with race, poverty, and drug cities (p.417).
Drug users are more likely to commit crimes then non-drug users. Juvenile drug courts were initially established as a recreation due to the growing number of juvenile substance arrests. Funding of the juvenile court programs was established by the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. The two primary emphases are rehabilitation and diversion. Juvenile drug courts are similar in that most rely on teams of juvenile justice professionals by requiring routine drug tests and mandate frequent appearances in front of a judge.
One factor contributing to the continuous growth of substance abusers in the prison population is drug misuse and addiction. The majority of inmates incarcerated have used illegal drugs on a regular basis (at least once a week for a period of one month) and have been incarcerated for selling or possessing drugs; driving under the influence of alcohol; committed crimes under the influence of drugs or alcohol; committed their crimes to get money for drugs; have a history of substance abuse; or share a combination of these characteristics (CASAColumbia, 1998). Another factor is the war on drugs and mandatory minimum sentences. In an attempt to reduce drug abuse and drug dealing, the U.S. has pursued punitive drug control policies to threaten arrest and incarceration. Mandatory minimums at the state and federal levels lead to individuals being sent to prison for possession of relatively small amounts of illegal substances (Taylor, Hallam & Allen, 2009).
Drug Court is judicially supervised, and it handles cases of substance abusing offenders. Drug court helps the offenders recover from their drug abuse and become productive citizens once again. The goal is to stop the abuse of alcohol and other drugs. Drug court consists of a highly specialized team, which addresses the nonviolent drug related cases. The court has a team of staff, attorney’s probation officers, substance abuse evaluators and treatment professionals.
In addition, gangs increasingly are smuggling large quantities of heroin, cocaine, and MDMA (also known as ecstasy) into the United States. Local street gangs in rural, suburban, and urban areas transport drugs within very specific areas, most of what seem to be low socio-economical areas. Some gangs collect millions of dollars per month selling illegal drugs, trafficking weapons, operating prostitutions rings, and selling stolen property. Gangs launder their proceeds by investing in real estate, recording studios, motor cycle shops, and construction companies. The extent of gangs/drugs A proliferation in gangs will also mean a growth in drug and violence in our community’s and threatening society in general.
Looking at individuals having to do drug testing to obtain employment I do not see why a defendant should not have to do the same. Once in the criminal justice system defendants should have to do drug testing to make sure that they are clean or if they are on any type of drug that can endanger their life or the life of someone else. Performing drug test on those entering the criminal justice system can help those that need help for their habits obtain it during and after their incarceration. These studies found that measures of prior drug arrests or convictions frequently do relate to measures of pretrial misconduct (Goldkamp, Gottfredson, and Weiland, 1990). For example, Roth and Wice, Toborg and Kirby, and Toborg et al.
The other kind is “lifelong-persistent” prisoners, who commit crimes repeatedly and end up on a never-ending cycle in the criminal justice system (Why Prison Doesn’t Work: An Essay). This recidivism has led to one of the major struggles we have with our prison system today. Here in America, we spend on average anywhere from $30,000-$60,000 per year to keep these criminals in prison. According to the article, “The Cost of a Nation of Incarceration” locking these people up costs the U.S. $63.4 billion dollars per year. Where does the government get this money to spend all of this?
Drugs are more profitable in prison than on the street. A bundle that sells for about seventy dollars on the streets can sell for about three hundred dollars in prison. A prison dealer can easily make thirty five hundred to four thousand dollars a week dealing drugs within the prison walls, (Wynn, 1996). The drug business is very lucrative behind prison walls. On the street the dealers cut his or her product with substances to increase their profits.
Or were certain demographic areas and groups of people targeted as a whole in this war on drugs? As in any war, there are always two parties involved. In the war on drugs there are those whose job it is to enforce the laws and to protect the communities across this country, and there are those who are using, dealing or distributing drugs throughout the United States. The war on drugs in the United States has lasted now for over forty years, with an estimated cost of over $1 trillion dollars and has led to over 45 million arrests making the United States the world’s largest jailer. However, today drugs are more readily available and in a purer form, yet seem to be more cost effective to those who use (EugeneJarecki, 2013).
M. Diaz 11 April 2012 Drugs in Prisons: Usage, Effects, and Intervention One might believe that incarceration would serve as an immediate cold-turkey rehabilitation for drug-using arrestees. However, contrary to this popular belief, more than half of incoming prisoners are dependent drug users (Gossop et al., 2000) and over 71 percent of prisoners reported dependent drug use during imprisonment (Strang et al., 2006). Drug use in prisons is not only a prevalent security and legal problem, but can also lead to the spread of diseases and increased violence. Intervention efforts must be made in order to combat this ever-increasing problem. A large number of these pre-imprisonment drug users persist the addiction throughout