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Drug Courts

From 1974 until 1980, Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter adhered to policies that allocated more than half of the federal government's antidrug budget to programs designed to reduce demand for illegal drugs through treatment of drug abusers and prevention of drug use by young people. However, after President Reagan's 1981 inauguration, the treatment and prevention approach was virtually abandoned. His policy appropriated more than 50 percent of the antidrug budget for programs to reduce the supply of illegal drugs through (1) enacting, and then strictly enforcing, stronger antidrug laws and (2) adhering to a policy of zero tolerance for all drug dealers and users.

When President Reagan's antidrug policy was put into effect, the intensified law enforcement effort led to the more arrests, prosecutions, and incarcerations. From 1980 to 1998, the total number of criminal arrests nationwide increased by 40 percent, from 10,441,000 to 14,528,300, while the number of drug arrests rose by 168 percent, from 580,900 to 1,559,100 (FBI 1980: 19, FBI 1999: 210). As the result of the steep escalation in the number of arrests, the number of inmates in U.S. prisons increased by 300 percent, from 501,886 (Brown 1996: 7) to 1,825,000 (Beck and Mumola 1999:1).

The federal, state, and local judiciary systems were not prepared to handle this enormous increase in the number of arrests. Already-crowded court dockets were packed with even more cases, so that the time necessary to process an individual case increased dramatically. As more drug-abusing individuals were sent to short-term drug treatment programs prior to release, it became apparent that President Reagan's strict enforcement policy did not to reduce the demand for illegal drugs. At completion of short-term treatment programs, the vast majority of participants immediately renewed their drug abusing habits. The courts saw these people repeatedly as they completed a cycle of addiction, short-term program, and readdiction.

Preadjudication and Postadjudication Drug Courts

Dedicated drug treatment courts, or “drug courts” have provided the judiciary system with an equitable method of handling nonviolent drug cases. This court is highly specialized, having jurisdiction over only nonviolent, drug-related cases. In each case, the judge, attorneys, and defendants use a collaborative approach, focused on the defendant's referral to and successful completion of a substance abuse treatment program. Drug courts fall into two major categories, preadjudication and postadjudication courts.

In a preadjudication court, also known as a diversion court, if an alleged drug law violator has had no previous criminal conviction, and then enters into and successfully graduates from a treatment program, no criminal record is generated because the court will not keep a record of the drug offense that set the drug court process in motion. Consequently, in this situation, no criminal record is generated. However, if an alleged drug law violator with no previous convictions enters into, but fails to graduate from, a preadjudication drug treatment program, the court records the criminal charges, and the prosecutor initiates the case, generating a criminal record for the individual.

In postadjudication courts, if a person who has no criminal record is charged with violating a drug law, the case proceeds. If the individual pleads guilty to the drug law violation, when the plea is entered, even if he or she immediately agrees to enter drug court treatment. In this situation, the individual's criminal record has been established prior to entering drug court treatment. If that person remains in and then graduates from the treatment program, the court either will reduce the duration of the previously ordered sentence of incarceration or will change the sentence to require only probation and/or community service. In the postadjudication court, if the individual follows the above procedure but fails to graduate from the treatment program, the original sentence(s) will be fully implemented.

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