Drug Court Models

1. Drug Court Models
Presenters:
• Jo Ann Ferdinand, JD, Acting Justice, New York State
Supreme Court, Brooklyn Treatment Court
• Vanessa Price, Chair, Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board,
and Inspector (Retired), City of Oklahoma City Police
Department
Law Enforcement Track
Moderator: Connie M. Payne, Executive Officer, Department of
Specialty Courts, Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts,
and Member, Operation UNITE Board of Directors

2. Disclosures
Jo Ann Ferdinand, JD; Vanessa Price; and Connie
M. Payne have disclosed no relevant, real, or
apparent personal or professional financial
relationships with proprietary entities that
produce healthcare goods and services.

3. Disclosures
• All planners/managers hereby state that they or their
spouse/life partner do not have any financial
relationships or relationships to products or devices
with any commercial interest related to the content of
this activity of any amount during the past 12 months.
• The following planners/managers have the following to
disclose:
– John J. Dreyzehner, MD, MPH, FACOEM – Ownership
interest: Starfish Health (spouse)
– Robert DuPont – Employment: Bensinger, DuPont &
Associates-Prescription Drug Research Center

4. Learning Objectives
1. Explain the operation and benefits of Drug
Court programs.
2. Discuss how law enforcement officials can
make good use of Drug Court programs.
3. Identify best practices among Drug Court
programs.

5. The Drug Court Model
Where Compassion Meets Accountability
Honorable Judge Jo Ann Ferdinand
Presiding Judge, Brooklyn Treatment Court
Acting Justice Supreme Court, New York State

6. Disclosure Statement
Judge JoAnn Ferdinand, has disclosed no
relevant, real or apparent personal or
professional financial relationships with
proprietary entities that produce heath care
goods and services.

7. Approved Learning Objectives
1. Explain the operation and benefits of Drug Court
programs.
2. Discuss how law enforcement officials can make
good use of Drug Court programs.
3. Identify best practices among Drug Court
programs.

8. Why Substance Abuse Disorders
matter to the Criminal Justice System
• Why people use drugs
• Addition is a Brain Disease says Alan Leshner,
former Director, NIDA
• Using drugs repeatedly overtime changes brain
structure in fundamental and long lasting ways

9. Relationship between
Substance Abuse and Crime
• 50 to 70% of arrestees test positive for recent
drug use (Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring
Program -- ADAM II)
• Drug offenders in both Federal and State Prison
– Federal: 50% of population (59% of women)
– State: 16% of population (24% of women)
– Bureau of Justice Statistics (2015)

10. Drugs and Crime Relationship
Drug-defined Offenses Violation of laws prohibiting
or regulating
possession/distribution of
drugs
Possession, use, production,
sales
Drug-related Offenses which are
motivated by the
pharmacologic effects, need
for money, and offenses
related to drug distribution
Violent behavior, stealing,
violence against drug dealers
Drug-using lifestyle Drug use and crime are part
of lifestyle, likely to not
participate in the legitimate
economy, exposed to
situations which encourage
crime
Emphasis on short-term
goals supported by illegal
activities, criminal skills
learned from other offenders

11. Traditional Responses DON’T work!
Traditional criminal justice responses don’t
work!
• Addiction involves compulsive drug seeking
and drug using behaviors
• In spite of negative consequences, traditional
penal punishments have minimal effect

12. Traditional methods of Jurisprudence…
Traditional methods of Jurisprudence are ill
suited to dealing effectively with Addicts
• Despite increased penalties and mandatory
sentences drug use persists

13. Recidivism
• National Statistics on Recidivism
(Bureau of Justice Statistics)
– Within 3 years of release about 2/3 (67.8%) of
released prisoners were rearrested
– 76.9% of drug offenders are rearrested for a new
crime

14. Why Drug Court?
• Use the authority of the court to reduce drug use and
crime by changing defendant’s drug using behavior
• Legal coercion effective in getting people to enter
treatment and enhancing retention and compliance
• Procedural Fairness and Proportionality provide an
alternative to incarceration
• Drug courts work: outcome studies of retention and
recidivism rates

15. Key Components and
Best Practices
• Maximize opportunities to connect people to treatment upon first
contact with law enforcement (arrest as crisis)
• Early identification and prompt referral to appropriate services
• Universal screening for level of need, including risk, substance use
and mental health
• Resolve cases in way which promotes recovery from drug abuse and
encourages drug addicts to accept responsibility for their addiction
by completing a court supervised treatment mandate

16. Key Components and
Best Practices
• Ensure services and supervision are individualized and evidence-
based
• Use a team approach including police, prosecution, defense,
treatment providers, and court to enhance likelihood of successful
outcomes
• On-going judicial supervision to monitor participation and
abstinence, and to respond to compliance with sanctions and
rewards
• Assist with vocational, educational and employment
• Provide opportunities for sober recreational activities and
strengthen family ties

17. RX Drug and Heroin Abuse

18. RX Drug and Heroin Abuse
• Increasing numbers of
arrestees test positive for
opiates since 2000 including
illegal prescription drugs
(ADAM II 2013 Report)
• Heroin use has increased
– Rates of prescription drug
abuse has risen
– overdose deaths are climbing
• Deaths related to drugs occur
within weeks of release from
prison

19. RX Drug and Heroin Abuse
• Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT)
– Use of methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone
– Treatment given before release from prison increases
treatment retention and reduces drug use
– NADCP Resolution requires drug court to permit use of
MAT based on the needs of the individual participant

20. Outcomes
Drug courts reduce crime
• Recidivism studies show
recidivism for Drug Court
Graduates between 4%
and 29%
• Compared to 48% for
those who do not graduate
• BTC Recidivism less than
10%
Drug courts save money
• Cost of treatment
compared to jail
• Savings in health costs
• Graduates work and pay
taxes

21. Resources
Carey et al. (2012). What works? The 10 Key Components of Drug Courts:
Research based best practices. Drug court Review, 8, 6-42.
Leshner A. I. (1997). Addiction is a Brain Disease, and it matters. National
Academy of Sciences Magazine, 278.
Shaffer (2010). Looking inside the black box of Drug Courts: A meta-analytic
review. Justice Quarterly, 28 (3), 493-521.
http://www.american.edu/spa/jpo/initiatives/drug-court/
http://samhsa.gov/gains-center

22. DRUG COURT MODEL
Vanessa Price, BA
Chair – Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board
Inspector (Retired) – Oklahoma City Police Department

23. Operation and Benefits
in
Specialty Courts
23

24. The Ten Key Components
1. Justice and Treatment
Integration
2. Non-adversarial Approach
3. Early Identification
4. Continuum of services
5. Drug Testing
6. Coordinated Strategy
7. Judicial Supervision
8. Monitoring and Evaluation
9. Interdisciplinary Education
10. Forging Partnerships
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25. Early Signs
• Often legal complications begin during the
early stages of substance abuse, before
addiction has actually developed. Informed
and concerned law enforcement officers can
play a major role in prevention of substance
abuse, and addiction, as well as in bringing
addicts into recovery programs.
Read more: Role of Law Enforcement in Substance Treatment | eHow.com
http://www.ehow.com/about_5087706_role-law-enforcement-substance-treatment.html#ixzz1SPslbGYt
25

26. Prevention
• Law enforcement officers, and programs, can
be effective as agents of prevention of alcohol
and other drug abuse
Read more: Role of Law Enforcement in Substance Treatment | eHow.com
http://www.ehow.com/about_5087706_role-law-enforcement-substance-treatment.html#ixzz1SPt23TcT
26

27. Domestic Violence
• While substance abuse is not the direct cause
of, nor an excuse for domestic violence, there
is a documented, strong relationship between
the two.
Read more: Role of Law Enforcement in Substance Treatment | eHow.com
http://www.ehow.com/about_5087706_role-law-enforcement-substance-treatment.html#ixzz1SPtG1jTj
27

28. • Collaborative approach to treating substance
abusing offenders in the community
• Program Participants receive:
– Frequent drug and alcohol testing
– Intensive supervision by local or state probation
agencies
– Appropriate levels of treatment for substance
abuse disorders
– Regular contact with the supervising judge
The Drug Court Model
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29. • Drug courts are designed to provide intensive
treatment for substance abusing offenders in
the community.
• Program participants are supervised rigorously
and held accountable for their actions by the
court.
• The target population for drug courts is
individuals with high risk and need factors.
Benefits
29

30. • The drug court process requires collaboration and
early identification of potential participants.
• The program itself has phases with descending
levels of program requirements as participants
progress through the drug court.
• Candidates for the drug court programs should be
those who present with significant substance
abuse treatment needs and are at high risk of
continuing their criminal behaviors.
Benefits
30

31. How Law Enforcement
Can Make Good Use
Of
Drug Court Involvement
31

32. • “Adult Drug Courts are not designed to treat
all drug-involved offenders” (Marlowe, 2012).
• Drug Courts can serve offenders with a variety
of criminal offenses, even non drug-related
offenses.
• Assessment is critical when determining drug
court eligibility.
Targeting the Right Population
32

33. • Additionally, those with high levels of prognostic
risk are well suited for this intervention.
• Prognostic risk refers to the “likelihood that an
offender will not succeed on standard supervision
and will continue to engage in the same pattern
of behavior that got him or her into trouble in the
first place” (Marlowe, 2012).
• This is NOT necessarily a risk of violence measure.
High Prognostic Risk
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34. • Age
• Age of onset of criminality
• Age of onset of substance use/abuse.
• Seriousness of criminal history.
• Psychopathy
• Antisocial personality disorders
• Criminal associations
• Family history
Risk Factors
34

35. • Individuals that present with high levels of
needs related to substance abuse are
appropriate for this intervention.
• Needs refer to personal issues that can be
treated to reduce further criminogenic
behavior.
Criminogenic Needs
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36. • Major psychiatric disorders
• Trauma or brain injury
• Lack of living or employment skills
Criminogenic Needs
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37. Prescription Drugs
TREATMENT AND SPECIALTY COURT
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38. Prescription Drug Epidemic
Emerging Challenges in the
Drug Court Setting
Changing trend in substance
abuse that
MUST BE CONSIDERED
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39. Best Practice Standards
Volume 1
1. Target Population
2. Historically
Disadvantaged Groups
3. Roles and
Responsibilities of Judge
4. Incentives, Sanctions
and Therapeutic
Adjustments
5. Substance Abuse
Treatment
Volume 2
6. Complimentary
Treatment and Social
Service
7. Drug and Alcohol Testing
8. Multi-Disciplinary Team
9. Census and Caseload
10. Monitoring and
evaluation

40. Drug Court Models
Presenters:
• Jo Ann Ferdinand, JD, Acting Justice, New York State
Supreme Court, Brooklyn Treatment Court
• Vanessa Price, Chair, Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board,
and Inspector (Retired), City of Oklahoma City Police
Department
Law Enforcement Track
Moderator: Connie M. Payne, Executive Officer, Department of
Specialty Courts, Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts,
and Member, Operation UNITE Board of Directors