Drug Treatment Courts – Basic Principles

Canadian

Criminal Justice Association

Congress 2009

Marriott Harbour front Hotel

Halifax Nova Scotia

October 28-31, 2009

The Hon. Mr. Justice Kofi Barnes

Kofi.barnes@ocj-cjo.ca

A drug addict’s poem

A young woman caught in the deep depths of drug addiction and seemingly inextricably embedded in the unrelenting cycle of drug abuse, addiction and crime once wrote a poem about her addiction

A drug addict’s poem

This young woman is a graduate of the Durham Drug Treatment and Mental Health Court.

She called the poem “Breaking the Chains”

Breaking the chains

Facing this battle is accepting the fact I’m a cocaine addict, addicted to crack It’s nothing I’m proud of, this I swear There’s things I’ve done I can hardly

bare You’ll sell your possessions, your life,

your soul Just for another hit, it’s your only goal.

Breaking the chains

I still don’t understand how it got this bad

I’ve lost any sense or self worth I’ve ever had.

I’ve hurt people that I love so dear It’s been going on now for over a

year. Why I ever tried it I still don’t know. Why is it so hard to just say no?

The revolving door

It is this perpetual cycle of drug addiction and criminal behavior that Drug Treatment Courts were formed to solve.

The objective

Drug Treatment Courts were established from a desire to find a way to break the link between criminal behavior and crime and in so doing, save the lives of the persons caught in the unrelenting bondage of drug addiction and crime.

The objective

The objective is to do all of this without compromising public safety

The marriage of the criminal justice process and the substance abuse treatment process creates a Drug Treatment Court.

Where it began

The first court was born in Miami, Florida in 1989, since then, Drug Treatment Courts have sprung up all across the globe with the vast majority in the United States.

A new Canadian Experience Drug Treatment Courts are

relatively new in Canada. The first Drug Treatment Court was established by Judge Paul Bentley in Toronto in 1998..

We have eight

In 2001, the Drug Treatment Court of Vancouver was established.

Since 2006, additional Drug Treatment Courts have been established in Ottawa, Oshawa, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary and Edmonton

DTCs work

We have learned some lessons from Canada’s relatively short experience with Drug Treatment Courts.

We have learned that Drug Treatment Courts can save lives,

DTCs work

Drug Treatment Courts can increase public safety,

Help participants reduce or eliminate their drug use,

Help participants reduce or eliminate criminal behavior,

DTCs work

Drug Treatment courts help re- unite participants with their families,

Help participants become productive members of society and…

experience overall improvements in personal well being.

Just ask the graduates

………just ask Peter Lyle, Paulette Walker and Pamela Spurvey who are graduates of the Toronto and Edmonton Drug Treatment Courts

Just ask the graduates

…just ask the many Drug Treatment Court participants who have successfully completed the Drug Treatment Court programs in Canada’s eight Drug Treatment Courts

….just look at the some of the evaluation results below……

Benefits

Evaluation Results:In comparison to traditional criminal justice responses, Drug Treatment Courts were 14% more effective in reducing recidivism rates (Research and Statistics Division, Department of Justice 2006)

Benefits

57% of the participants in drug treatment courts were not charged with a new criminal offence compared to 43% of offenders within the control/comparison group. (Research and Statistics Division, Department of Justice, 2006)

Decrease In Criminal Recidivism*

95.5% of drug treatment court graduates attribute the cessation of their criminal activity to participation in the program.

59.5% of participants who were unable to complete the drug treatment court program attribute the reduction of their criminal activity to their participation in the program.

* “Toronto Drug Treatment Court Evaluation Project, Interim Evaluation Report, Executive Summary”, Gliksman, Newton-Taylor, Greenaway, Patra, Samant, December, 2003 p.1

Reduction or elimination of drug use*

95.8% of drug treatment court graduates attribute their elimination of substance abuse to the drug treatment court program.

59.5% of drug treatment participants who were unable to complete the program attribute the reduction in their substance abuse to the program.

*“Toronto Drug Treatment Court Evaluation Project, Interim Evaluation Report, Executive Summary, Gliksman, Newton-Taylor, Greenaway, Patra, Samant, December, 2003 p.9

Increase in the well being of participants

95.7% of Drug Treatment Court graduates say participation in the program improved their lives

Increase in the overall well being of participants*

Toronto study continued: 61.4% of Drug Treatment Court

participants who did not complete the program say the program improved their lives.

*Toronto Drug Treatment Court Evaluation Project, Interim Evaluation Report, Executive Summary”, Gliksman, Newton-Taylor, Greenaway, ,Patra, Samant, December, 2003 p.9

Drug Treatment Courts helps drug addicts stay in treatment*

Canadian Study continued: 95.7% of Drug Treatment Court

graduates say participation in the program helped them stay in treatment.

77.3% of Drug Treatment Court participants who did not complete the program say the program helped them stay in treatment.

* “Toronto Drug Treatment Court Evaluation Project, Interim Evaluation Report, Executive Summary”, Gliksman, Newton-Taylor, Greenaway, Patra, Samant, December, 2003 p.9

General Principles The general principles were

complied in relation to Drug Treatment Courts (United Nations Expert Working Group, 2000)

DTCs represent the most formalized application of these principles.

Key DTC Principles – “the list”*

Drug Treatment Courts reflect the following internationally recognized Drug Treatment Court principles, tailored to the needs of individual jurisdictions:

Drug Treatment Courts integrate addiction treatment services with justice system case processing.

*Source: United Nations Expert Working Group

Key DTC Principles – “the list” Using a non-adversarial approach,

prosecution and defence counsel promote public safety while protecting participants’ Charter rights;

Eligible participants are identified early and placed in the Drug Treatment Court program as promptly as possible.

Key DTC Principles – “the list” Drug Treatment Courts provide access

to a continuum of drug, alcohol and other related treatment and rehabilitative services;

Compliance is objectively monitored by frequent substance testing;

A coordinated strategy governs Drug Treatment Court response to participants’ compliance and non- compliance;

Key DTC Principles – “the list” Swift, certain and consistent sanctions or

rewards for non-compliance or compliance;

Ongoing judicial interaction with each Drug Treatment Court participant is essential;

Monitoring and evaluation processes measure the achievement of program goals and gauge effectiveness;

Key DTC Principles – “the list” Continuing interdisciplinary education

promotes effective Drug Treatment Court planning implementation, and operations;

Forging partnerships among courts, treatment and rehabilitation programs, public agencies and community based organizations generates local support and enhances program effectiveness;

Ongoing case management providing the social support necessary to achieve social reintegration;

Key DTC Principles – “the list” Appropriate flexibility in adjusting

program content, including incentives and sanctions to better achieve program results with particular groups such as women, indigenous people and minority ethnic groups;

In practical terms program content should continually be adjusted to meet the needs of all components of the target population

Lessons learned

We have also learned that successful Drug Treatment Courts do not operate in a vacuum..

Successful Drug Treatment Courts work in collaboration with various community services and agencies to provided specialized

Lessons learned

….these specialized services include: drug addiction treatment, psychiatric and medical treatment, job training, housing, employment etc.

It is clear that a holistic rehabilitative approach yields the best long term results

Lessons Learned

We have learned that to be successful, Drug Treatment Court programs must continually be flexible and innovative to ensure that their programs continue to address the needs of their targeted populations..

Lessons learned

We have also learned that effective Drug Treatment Court programs utilize Drug Treatment Court systems that are designed to obtain the best rehabilitative results without compromising public safety

A prerequisite for success In Canada’s short history with Drug

Treatment Courts, we have learned that adhering to the twelve key principles of Drug Treatment Courts is an essential ingredient of a successful Drug Treatment Court program

CADTCP

This is one of the reasons why the Canadian Association of Drug Treatment Court Professionals (CADTCP) was formed.

www.cadtc.org

CADTCP

The CADTCP is a non profit corporation made of judges, lawyers, substance abuse treatment providers, law enforcement officers, academics etc

DTC Training/Education

The CADTCP forms partnerships with governmental and non governmental organizations to provide ongoing training for Drug Treatment Court professionals and anyone interested in Drug Treatment Courts[1]. [1] To date, the Department of Justice of Canada has been the main government partner in this effort.

DTC Training/Education

The CADTCP provides a forum for the dissemination of technical assistance, using various media such as:

the CADTCP Electronic Bulletin, the CADTCP National Drug

Treatment Court conferences

DTC Training/Education

…and the CADTCP Drug Treatment Court practitioner focused workshops.

We have learned that effective adherence to the key DTC principles is an essential perquisite to a successful DTC program

We have learned that these principles should be tailored to address local circumstances and needs.

Effective Evaluation Processes We have learned that we need

effective and consistent Drug Treatment Court evaluation systems, which are preferably centered on the twelve key principles of Drug Treatment Courts.

Effective Evaluation Processes ….. These principles are the

building blocks of Drug Treatment Courts and are crucial to the success of any Drug Treatment Court.

Effective Evaluation Processes Developing process and outcome

evaluation bench marks, around the key principles of Drug Treatments Courts, is an effective way of measuring the varied and complex forms of participant successes Drug Treatment Court programs produce..

Effective Evaluation Processes Process evaluations developed in

this manner will also allow various Drug Treatment Court programs to evaluate their own processes against the crucial twelve key principles

Evaluation “Think Tank”

To that end, the CADTCP seeks to establish an Academic Review Committee, a” Think Tank “of academics and program evaluation experts, to help it achieve this objective.

A global challenge

Drug Treatment Courts are part of a global effort to find innovative solutions to the revolving door of drug addiction and criminal behavior.

The Drug Treatment Court method seeks to achieve this objective without compromising public safety.

Difficult but achievable

It is a difficult, challenging but exciting journey.

The goal is a challenging but achievable one.

Drug Treatment Courts are one of the innovative approaches that have shown tremendous promise in achieving this objective.