Drug Court Seminar in Monmouth County Superior Court
I attended a seminar last week on Drug Court given by the Honorable Thomas Scully, J.S.C. at the Monmouth County Superior Court in Freehold, New Jersey. This seminar was extremely helpful and informative to me as a criminal defense attorney and Drug Court is an important avenue to understand when trying to achieve the best possible resolution for a client charged with a drug offense in New Jersey.
Drug Court is essentially a non-adversarial process whereby the State and the defense attorney work together to provide assistance to a non-violent drug addicted offender.A defendant may be eligible for drug court under N.J.S.A. 2C:35-14 (Special Probation for prison-bound offenders) or N.J.S.A. 2C:45-1 (Ordinary Probation) according to the guidelines of the Drug Court Manual. The Drug Court probationary period requires intensive probation supervision, including frequent and random urine testing, along with employment and other counseling and drug treatment programs.
According to the statistics I received at the seminar, of the one hundred and one (101) Monmouth County Drug Court graduates prior to January 29, 2009, only 1 was sent to State prison for a new offense after completing the program. Thirty four (34) were employed when they entered the drug court program and ninety five (95) were employed by the end of the program. Only 12% of the offenders had medical benefits when they started the drug program while 70% had benefits upon completion. Further, only 9% of the offenders had a valid driver's license upon entering the program. Upon graduation from the program, 70% had received a license or restored their driving privileges.
As you can see, Drug Court is extremely successful in rehabilitating these non-violent drug addicted offenders. This helps turn the lives around of these defendants. Moreover, this program is helpful to the State by creating productive members of society while also alleviating some of the drug problems in New Jersey. Further, incarceration of one (1) adult defendant for a period of one year costs the state $37,000. The first year of drug court, on the other hand, costs the State between $5,400 and $19,500 depending on the type of treatment. As a result, this program is beneficial to all involved and is a positive result for clients with drug addiction issues.
The program doesnt work..the success rate of people who actually get through the program is extremely low.