Overhaul of Drug Court sentencing urged by NACDL.
A national group of defense attorneys says low-level drug offenders deserve treatment in the public health sector without being penalized by the criminal justice system.
That position was put forward in a report released Tuesday by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, which spent two years dissecting drug court programs nationally.
"Drug abuse is a community problem, not a problem for the courts," Cynthia Orr, president of the lawyers group, said in a conference call with national media. "It's cheaper and smarter to get low-risk offenders out of the courthouse and into treatment." State courts and prisons are still overflowing with people charged with use or street-level sale of drugs. The FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2008 issued this month listed 1.7 million drug arrests 12.2 percent of all reported crimes: 4,658 arrests every day, roughly one arrest every 18 seconds.One problem is that many courts force people to enter a guilty plea in order to get into court-supervised treatment programs. Even if an addict achieves lasting sobriety or learns to control antisocial behavior and is unlikely to recommit a crime, the consequences of a criminal conviction a felony or misdemeanor can be lifelong and devastating.
In many programs, the individuals most able to help themselves, or those with more resources, find their way through drug courts into treatment, while defendants most in need of treatment, the hard cases, are set up for failure -- a one-way ticket to jail. This sort of ``skimming'' may give drug courts impressive success statistics, but doesn't make efficient use of the limited resources available. Programs that help people conquer addiction save tax dollars; programs that put addicts into prison for long sentences cost the taxpayers money.
Most drug courts were created by prosecutors and judges faced with overloaded court dockets, and there often has been little opportunity built into the process for defense lawyers to protect the rights of their clients.
Links:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/defense-lawyers-urge-overhaul-of-drug-courts/1040261
http://www.nacdl.org/public.nsf/9C898E6AFF7E6DB485256EC5005D9D1F/FE51602E35C7830C85257640004F0A0F?OpenDocument