What is Drug Court?
Drug Courts are revolutionizing the criminal justice system. The strategy departs from traditional criminal practice by placing nonviolent drug abusing offenders into intensive court-supervised drug treatment instead of jail. If participants fail to complete treatment, then prosecution and sentencing proceed routinely. But many offenders stop using drugs, start working, support their families, and end their criminal activity - at far lower cost to the taxpayer than incarceration. Re-arrest rates among drug court graduates are lower than for drug abusing offenders who have been released from jail or are on probation.

In late 1996 Clallam County was awarded a Department of Justice grant to establish Drug Courts for both adult and juvenile offenders. In 1997 Clallam County began the first juvenile drug court in Washington State. In 1996 only King, Pierce and Spokane Counties in Washington State had drug court programs. As of 2003 more than 1200 drug courts are in operation nationwide, with hundreds more in the planning stage.  Fourteen counties in Washington State now operate one or more drug courts.

How does Drug Court work?
A person with substance abuse problems charged with a non-violent, non-sexual and non-drug trafficking offense is provided an option to enter into a Court supervised treatment program if an evaluation finds the offender amenable to treatment. The program consists of frequent urinalysis testing, counseling, education, vocational assistance and court appearances. The program provides incentives for success including dismissal of the charges filed if a person successfully completes a year long program. However, there is also immediate accountability and sanctions for non-compliance, including termination from the program. If terminated, the offender is tried on a stipulation to the police reports, without a jury, and, if convicted, sentenced as required by law.

How much does Drug Court cost?
Drug Court reallocates community resources towards eliminating substance abuse. In order to accomplish that goal costs must be saved elsewhere. Participants must give up certain rights, such as the right to a jury trial, the right to a speedy trial, the right to contest the initial arrest or search. They must also stipulate to the police reports and have their guilt decided by the Judge based on those reports. This saves the costs of lengthy trials, police overtime for testifying, attorney fees, jury costs and the like. Those participants who are successful result in less cost for incarceration expenses, find employment and thereby increase the taxpayer rolls and cease committing crime to support their drug habit and thereby reduce crime in our community and all of the costs associated with such crime.  Public Health costs are also reduced as recovering addicts get back to a healthy state.

Each drug court participant in Clallam County is required to pay a portion of the costs of the program.

Does Drug Court work?
The recidivism rate for Drug Court graduates nationwide is approximately 14%. This compares to a national recidivism rate of more than 30% for similar offenders who do not participate in the Drug Court option. Seventy-five per cent of offenders who have chosen the Drug Court option currently remain in treatment or have graduated. Approximately sixty percent of all eligible offenders choose the Drug Court option. The Drug Court program is a rigorous program which holds its participants fully accountable for their own acts and requires a great commitment from its participants to attend frequent meetings, hearings and routine testing. Many offenders find jail time an easier course. Drug Court won't be successful with them. But it appears to work exceedingly well with those offenders who choose it as an option to help them change their lives.

Drug Courts are being established across the country because they work.  President Bush, The National Association of Police Chiefs, former President Clinton, the United States Attorney General and both houses of Congress are Drug Court proponents. Locally, every tribal, city and county police agency; the county law and justice council; the Border Patrol and U. S. Customs; the Washington State Department of Corrections; and numerous other agencies endorsed Clallam County's Drug Court grant request.

A study by the Rand Corporation, an independent think tank, concludes that treatment such as Drug Court is ten times more effective in reducing crime on a dollar per dollar basis than traditional criminal justice methods. (May 12, 1997.) The study concludes that continued law enforcement efforts coupled with comprehensive treatment is our best weapon in the war against drugs.

As of September, 2003, the Clallam County Juvenile Drug Court had graduated forty-two young people from the program. The Clallam County Adult Drug Court began in October of 1999. As of the end of September, 2003, sixty-six people have graduated from the program.  Nine drug-free babies have been born to participants as well.

Prepared by Judge Ken Williams.