Partisan Discourse

The War On Drugs

Published by Al Adomite on June 3rd, 2008

The Post-Dispatch has an interesting editorial on Drug Courts today.  Actress Melanie Griffith is in town to meet with the National Association of Drug Court Professionals.  I thought the STLPD touched on some interesting statistics:

An independent audit of the first seven years of St. Louis’ adult felony drug court compared 219 of its “graduates” with 219 criminal defendants charged with comparable drug crimes who went through the ordinary probation process.

The drug court involved a bigger up-front investment — $7,793 per graduate compared to $6,344 for regular probationers. But over the next four years, the investment paid off big. Only about 11 percent of those who successfully completed drug court were charged with a subsequent drug offense. Forty-five percent of those who went through the usual probation process were charged with a subsequent offense.

Drug courts most commonly are used in big cities, but a study published in April by the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center estimated that, nationally, a roughly equal number of rural and suburban offenders would make good drug-court candidates. Only about 55,000 of the 1.4 million offenders who fit the profile of a good drug court candidate are being served.

I know retiring Circuit Judge Ed Ferguson founded one of the first drug courts in the state here in Madison County.  The national statistics cited certainly are positive.  I wonder what the local experience has been?

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