Obama Administration Pushes Drug Courts

[The Straight Story]

An unlikely bunch gathered just south of Washington, D.C., Monday at Maryland's National Harbor: White House Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske, actor Matthew Perry, and former crack and heroin addicts.

They were there to talk about drug courts – programs that provide nonviolent drug offenders with treatment instead of a jail sentence. The number of drug courts has exploded in recent years along with rising numbers of drug offenders. In 1989, just one drug court existed in the U.S.; today, there are over 2700.

It's a system that's been wholeheartedly embraced by the Obama administration, which says the combination of incentives and sanctions, drug testing and care helps more people kick their drug habit and avoid ending up behind bars. Research has shown that drug courts save taxpayer dollars, too.

"More and more people are realizing that they can turn their lives around," Kerlikowske said at Monday's conference, which was hosted by the National Association of Drug Court Professionals.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/07/16/obama-administration-pushes-drug-courts

[think]

1. How about court for REAL criminals? Wallstreet Grifters court

has a nice ring to it.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. I have worked with Drug Courts and they can be very effective.

They first came into being under that rubric around 1987 or so, I worked in one of the first ones in N.Fla.
and in Mobile, and in Rural Ala.
A lot depends on the judges willingness to apply the consequences.
Overall, I had good experience with the program's effecitveness.