by Lisa Frederiksen
This article, DUIs in Drug Court Idaho, by Kendel Murrant, published in the Idaho Press-Tribune online, offers an excellent explanation of Drug Court – an alternative to incarceration for drug and alcohol related offenses, such as DUIs. As this article explains, treating the underlying problem — alcohol or drug misuse — for the presenting offense — a DUI, for example — is critical to preventing a recurrence of the presenting offense or the commission of an equally awful crime.
Quoting from Murrant’s article,
…High-risk offenders who don’t receive treatment through drug court either tend to not follow through with treatment, drop out or fail to follow conditions of probation, Jaeger said. But in drug court, “they stay in treatment long enough, are held accountable consistently and regularly enough to really change their behavior,” Jaeger said. “The treatment effect is more than skin deep.”
“Drug court — it gets right to the heart of the problem. They are there to treat people and help them overcome their addictions, period,” defense attorney Charles Crafts said.
And treatment also deals with more than the person’s addiction.
“It’s really focused on all the characteristics that makes a person pro-social, less likely to have attitudes toward committing crime … not just abstaining from the use of alcohol,” Jaeger said.
She said it’s common for repeat DUI offenders to have other attitude adjustments to make.
“They think, ‘Well, I can drink, I just need to be more careful, make plans to not drive.’ When they do drink, their judgment becomes impaired. The decisions they make in that condition are not good decisions.”
Another benefit to rehabilitation through problem-solving courts, Jaeger said, is that offenders can keep social supports.
“Having a job, having a family, taking care of your bills are protective factors, assets in making a recovery,” Jaeger said. “Those social supports are important in making lasting behavior change. The more supports that you can keep for a person, the greater likelihood that they can establish a lasting recovery.”
Crafts said the community-based treatment in problem-solving courts is a “progressive-thinking model” for rehabilitating offenders.
“I think that we have a tendency when someone gets in trouble to just turn around and want to punish them,” Crafts said. “Drug court — it’s definitely a punishment to be in drug court, but they do build in these motivations for people to be successful in the program. … It’s much more of a progressive-thinking model of rehabilitation.”
Click here to read the complete article.
