As Penalties Ease, Drug Courts Lose Business
California's drug courts' participation decreased statewide by 67 percent between 2014 and 2018. In contrast, a Pennsylvania program offering treatment instead of charges for drug offenses is gaining traction.
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Participation in California’s drug courts decreased statewide by 67 percent between 2014 and 2018. In contrast, a Pennsylvania program offering treatment instead of charges for drug offenses is gaining traction.
In California, aignificantly fewer people are choosing to go to drug court, in part because the penalties for drug possession were reduced by the passage of Proposition 47 in 2014, reports KPVI.
A 2020 paper from the New York-based Center for Court Innovation surveying California drug courts finding participation decreased statewide by 67 percent between 2014 and 2018.
Participation in Yolo County’s drug court is down 86 percent since 2014, with data provided by the county showing that fewer than 12 percent of people referred to the county’s Health and Human Services Agency answered an initial phone call to establish a treatment plan in the first six months of 2021.
In addition, funding for collaborative courts dropped significantly after 2011, when prison realignment resulted in money being given straight to county behavioral health departments.
Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, the Daily Local News reports that the Law Enforcement Treatment Initiative (LETI), a program of the state Attorney General’s Office, the state Health Department, and treatment centers for drug and alcohol addicts, is allowing residents seeking addiction treatment to use their local law enforcement as a resource to contact participating treatment partners without the threat of arrest or conviction.
Individual officers can offer drug users they come in contact with the option of completing treatment in exchange for not filing charges or later having them dropped. Or users can reach out to those in law enforcement for a referral. Only those who are accused of low-level, non-violent misdemeanors are eligible.
