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Treatment Courts Eyed as Weapon in War on Drugs

News Article

April 03, 2014

State lawmakers looking for ways to curb drug-related crime heard representatives of the Pennsylvania court system offer possible solutions.

A panel of judges, administrators and former offenders explained how a shift over the last decade in the way some drug defendants are handled in the courts has produced promising results for communities and individuals. More than 50 people were on hand at the state Capitol to hear the presentation to the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on crime and corrections.

The group told the committee that diverting certain non-violent defendants into drug treatment courts rather than jail has reduced crime by stemming the number of repeat offenders, has trimmed costly jail expenses and has restored families broken by addiction.

“Drug courts have been around for 25 years,” said Karen Blackburn, the AOPC’s problem-solving courts administrator. “They’ve lasted 25 years because they work.”

Pennsylvania’s first drug court was launched in Philadelphia in 1997, or eight years after the start of the nation’s first in Florida. Today there are about 2,400 drug courts around the country — and one in nearly half of Pennsylvania’s 67 judicial districts.

Lycoming County Judge Nancy Butts, York County Judge John Kennedy, Cumberland County Judge Al Masland and Dauphin County Judge John Cherry shared stories of treatment court successes in their communities. Matthew Schmonsees, coordinator for Philadelphia’s drug and DUI courts, and Stacy Dorman, Mifflin County drug court coordinator, explained how their programs work.

“If, from day one, I had the money I saved the state prison system, I could easily expand it tremendously and much more quickly,” Judge Kennedy said of York’s burgeoning jail-diversion program.

The hearing was one of three planned by the subcommittee to address what members said is a growing statewide problem with drug-related deaths and crime. Subcommittee Chair Tim Krieger of Westmoreland County told the panel that explanations and answers to date have been challenging.

“I do believe that drug courts have a great deal to do with those who do not come back into the (criminal justice) system,” Judge Cherry said.

A video clip from the drug court hearing is available here.