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Invisible5-HT2A
Registered: 01/30/10
Posts: 1,794
In Drug Courts, Judges Practice Their Own Version of Justice - And "Treatment"
    #14209869 - 03/30/11 02:29 PM (12 years, 10 months ago)

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/150430/in_drug_courts%2C_judges_practice_their_own_version_of_justice_-_and_%22treatment%22/?page=entire

In Glynn County Georgia, reports the popular radio show This American Life this week, Lindsey Dills is the victim of horrifying injustice in the name of drug treatment. For forging two checks on her parents’ checking account when she was 17, one for $40 and one for $60, Ms. Dills ended up in that county’s drug court for five and a half years, including a total of 14 months behind bars – and then, when she was finally kicked out of drug court, she faced another five-year sentence for the original offense, including six months in state prison. In other Georgia counties and in other states, the penalty for this first-time, low-level offense would have been a term of probation and/or drug treatment.

Ms. Dills’ harrowing journey includes a lengthy stay in solitary confinement, being denied access to prescribed anti-depression medication and a suicide attempt. When she entered Glynn County drug court, Ms. Dills had no idea that she was entering a Kafkaesque world in which she had virtually no rights, was subject to the whims of a single dangerous judge and would end up losing years of her life in a dark, unexamined corner of the American criminal justice system.

Superior Court Judge Amanda Williams, who runs the Glynn County drug court, thought she was running her drug court according to national standards. The National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP) says she’s got it all wrong. Judge Williams’ drug court may be unique. But, according to a new report by the Drug Policy Alliance, drug courts across the country exhibit similar (though , one hopes, less extreme) problems.

How is it that Judge Williams is free to steal a decade of Ms. Dills’ life, wreak similar havoc in the lives of so many others and remain on the bench? The fact is that, in drug courts across the country, the judge is king – and doctor.

The NADCP works to educate judges and other court personnel about addiction, to urge drug courts to focus on people with a history of law-breaking that is linked to a drug problem (rather than people facing a first-time drug charge), and to emphasize that incarceration does not “treat” addiction. Like other industry groups, it also serves to promote drug courts through public relations campaigns and to secure increases in federal funding for the programs. The NADCP has no authority over the nation’s more than 2,000 drug courts and, as a spokesperson tells This American Life, the group is aware of at least 150 drug courts that do not operate according to the best practices it promotes.

The Drug Policy Alliance is concerned that the number of drug courts whose practices may actually increase the criminal justice involvement of people struggling with drugs – as well as of people who do not have a drug problem but are convicted of a drug law violation – may be far greater.

Drug courts are locally developed and locally run. In them, judges have near complete freedom to choose who to accept, what kind of treatment to mandate, who to incarcerate and for how long and when to deem a participant a “success” or “failure.” They lack national standards and, worse, are not accountable to any authority.

Despite the NADCP’s recommendation that drug courts focus on cases involving people who have lengthy criminal histories and who actually have a drug problem, for example, a national survey found that roughly half of drug courts exclude people on probation or parole or with another open criminal case, 49 percent actually exclude people with prior treatment history and almost 69 percent exclude those with both a drug and a mental health condition.1 Another national survey found that fully one-third of drug court participants do not have a drug problem.2

Drug courts that focus resources on people without much of a criminal record, especially those who do not have a drug problem, do little to reduce costs and may actually increase incarceration. This is because many of these individuals would not be facing significant time behind bars were they sentenced conventionally and may experience repeated incarceration while participating in drug court. Drug courts rely heavily on incarceration as a sanction for failing a drug test, missing an appointment or having a hard time following the strict rules of the program. And, when any of them are later kicked out of a drug court, they may be incarcerated for longer for the original offense than if they had been conventionally sentenced at the outset – because they have lost the opportunity to plead to a lesser charge or because they stipulated to a longer sentence in order to enter drug court.

Drug courts have grown dramatically over the last 20 years thanks to moving success stories and enthusiastic proponents within the criminal justice system. These success stories are real and deserve to be celebrated, but they provide only a partial picture. Back in Glynn County, Judge Williams’ drug court has its own success stories. But what happened to Lindsey Dills is happening to others. Drug courts must be standardized, they must be held accountable and they must not be our primary policy approach to drug use and addiction.

Footnotes:

1. Bhati, Avi, John Roman, and Aaron Chalfin, To Treat or Not to Treat: Evidence on the Effects of Expanding Treatment to Drug-Involved Offenders, Washington D.C.: The Urban Institute, 2008.
2. DeMatteo, David S., Douglas, B. Marlowe, and David S. Festinger, “Secondary Prevention Services for Clients Who Are Low Risk in Drug Court: A Conceptual Model,” Crime and Delinquency 52, no. 1 (2006): 114-134.

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OfflineJoolz
Male

Registered: 09/19/10
Posts: 3,614
Last seen: 11 years, 4 months
Re: In Drug Courts, Judges Practice Their Own Version of Justice - And "Treatment" [Re: 5-HT2A]
    #14210347 - 03/30/11 04:07 PM (12 years, 10 months ago)

Ms. Dills should never work again after 10 years of this bullshit. I would sue the ever living fuck out of the government and demand an annual amount that made sure I was comfortable the rest of my life. Oh, and this judge should be stripped of any and all justice licenses and fired.

Oh, and I can't wait for the day drugs and drug addiction is treated as a problem that can be fixed, not a crime. This country sucks so fucking bad at drugs. Ever been to a festie? People are so happy to be alive and have their substances.

I truly think all that our current drug laws do is make the world spin less smoothly.


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Prohibition didn't work for God; Eve ate the fruit.

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OfflineHumility
Working on it
 User Gallery


Registered: 10/07/08
Posts: 6,745
Last seen: 7 years, 11 days
Re: In Drug Courts, Judges Practice Their Own Version of Justice - And "Treatment" [Re: Joolz]
    #14212560 - 03/30/11 11:02 PM (12 years, 10 months ago)

Wouldn't your parents have to press charges against you for the check theft to be a prosecutable offense?

This is why I won't go to jail.  It's babysitting camp where folks make money and feed their kids off of watching other folks be locked up.  Doesn't matter why someone is locked up, only that there are people to watch so other people can get paid.

And people scoff at me for talking about running if facing legal trouble.  Have fun spending 5-10 years of your LIFE in prison, some of it likely in solitary confinement.

Fuck that shit.  I wasn't reincarnated as an animal, I'm a human being.  If you're gonna lock me down I'm going to make you work for it.


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Offlineshroom_boom
boomer
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Registered: 03/28/11
Posts: 61
Loc: michigan
Last seen: 10 years, 11 months
Re: In Drug Courts, Judges Practice Their Own Version of Justice - And "Treatment" [Re: Humility]
    #14213053 - 03/31/11 01:49 AM (12 years, 10 months ago)

why is it we are always so willing to give up our rights it seems at every turn you hear another case of someones right being violated in one way or another i never truly understood why judges are given so much freedom or anyone in the justice department i mean this girl stole 100 dollars with is a misdemeanor and she loses 10 years of her life because of this judge its crazy to think about this country we live in

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Offlinemastacheefa
Stranger


Registered: 09/02/04
Posts: 425
Loc: N. Georgia
Last seen: 10 years, 5 months
Re: In Drug Courts, Judges Practice Their Own Version of Justice - And "Treatment" [Re: shroom_boom]
    #14221303 - 04/01/11 02:21 PM (12 years, 10 months ago)

Drug court is usually only a 2 year program. The fact this girl was in there for 5 1/2 years means she was fucking up.  If she would of just followed the rules of the program she would of been out in 2 years and never had to spend one day in jail.  To place blame solely on the judge isn't right.  This girl knew the consequences and repeatedly pushed the rules of the program.

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