Drug Treatment Court and Diversion Programs

Question 1

What is a diversion program, and what are some examples of it?

Answer 1

Diversion Programs: They are meant to get you out of the system so that you can fix whatever issue is causing you to return to crime. First consider whether they are a first time offender, and their eligibility

1. Scared straight: At-risk youth interact with inmates who traumatize them out of committing crime. People claimed this worked in the 80s… not now
2. Shock Incarceration: Stick kids in cells for the night
3. Boot Camp/Youth Programs: Motivation through screaming, pretty militaristic. It strips you of all individuality through discipline, and gives a sense of routine and structure
   e. g. 1960s, was a way for the US to get people into the wars. They put them in boot camps, then offered them a job in the military
   e. g. Uh oh! Gulf war, this fell apart. Violent offenders were put in the boot camps, so they just learned how to kill people better!

Question 2

Why is Drug Treatment court implemented? What research do we have on addictions?

Answer 2

Drug Treatment Court is a diversion program!
1. Tonry, 1987: The drug crime nexus. 70-80% of arrests occur because the person is intoxicated. How can we know whether drugs feed crime, crime feeds drugs, or both, or neither?
Parens Patriae: The government is responsible for the person. In drug treatment court, the judge is kind of like the parent, checking up on the addict and helping them to curb their drug use
2. People go through treatment 6-9 times before they are successful, partially because the environment they go back to is a cue for their drug usage. This cycle is something the judge takes into consideration

Question 3

What did we learn from the 2009 Tonry Drug Treatment Court Evaluation Reading?

Answer 3

The First 27 pages hold information from the people working within the program. They ask for more resources, money, housing, and staff. The rest of the report is participant evaluation. It cost six million dollars and was not reviewed. In the evaluation they measured:
1. Drug use: Edmonton didn’t ask what kind of drugs they used, and only focused on graduates, who apparently had 100% abstinence, based on SELF-REPORT. Regina said that drug use went down for a few weeks (?), Ottawa says that IV drug use went down dramatically (but not specifically), and Winnipeg just didn’t study it… Basically, this sucks
2. Crime Reduction: No-one really did any research….
3. Participant Retention and Graduation: Edmonton said that 0-50% showed up, and Winnipeg said that up to 36% graduated
4. Quality of life: They got employment assistance, but no-one said how long they stayed employed, or what kind of assistance they got. There was basically no followup.
This ended up being more expensive than prison, because people aren’t incarcerated for nearly as long as people expect.
Conclusion? It works!