Paper on Drug Courts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Paper on Drug Courts - Essay ExampleHowever, effectiveness of this decision in fighting the growing crime pass judgment left much to be desired. Prison overcrowding and abnormal growth of expenditures needed to enforce the new legislation were the most noticeable outcomes of the attempts to fight drug crimes within the framework of existing criminal transcription (USDJ, 1995). Drug appeals were taken up as an alternative to resolve the problem of growing drug-related crime rates and slack the expenditures to acceptable level.Although opinions on what constitutes a drug philander may vary, the most typical definition of drug courts describes them as Courts specifically designated to administer cases referred for judicially manage drug treatment and rehabilitation within a jurisdiction or court-enforced drug treatment program. (Inciardi, 1996 25). The history of drug courts goes back to 1989 when the first drug court was established in the Dade County (Miami, FL). Since those da ys, drug courts have established a substantial presence in the criminal court system of the U.S.While the criminal court systems is concerned with law enforcement based primarily upon penalties, drug courts represent the coordinated efforts of several institutions. The prosecution, defense bar, law enforcement, judiciary, probation, mental health, social and nursing institutions join unneurotic in the drug court to fight the cycle of drug-related crime and substance blackguard. High effectiveness of drug courts in fighting this segment of crimes is due to a specific approach that differs from the one implemented by criminal courts. The U.S. drug courts do not stick to the same model. Some of them simply facilitate and surrogate the process of shuffling wrongdoers through the traditional criminal justice system others pay more attention to rehabilitation, treatment and long-term monitoring of individuals. The key elements that coiffure efficiency of a drug court are partnership a nd intensive cooperation of multiple agencies and institutions, early actions to pr even offt re-offending, education, close monitoring of the offenders, consistent and on-going judicial function and effective assessment/evaluation procedures in place (DCSC, 1997). Drug courts featuring all of these components are the most effective and vice versa.Philosophy of the drug court system implies that appropriate treatment and education is more effective tool to fight drug-related crimes than penalties and punishment. Therefore, offenders whose cases are brought to the drug court undergo an intensive course of substance abuse and psychological treatment. Frequent drug testing and probation supervision coupled with close judicial monitoring carried out by a judge with deep friendship of drug-related issues reinforces the treatment results. Besides, some drug courts utilize additional techniques - such as family counseling or job skill training - to make this reinforcement even more effec tive (Fox and Huddleston, 2003). Drug court is the best instrument within the criminal justice system to shorten the period between arrest of the offender and beginning of his treatment and ensure the appropriate structure to evaluate whether the treatment long enough to achieve the targeted outcomes or no.Effectiveness of dr