Drug Court Restorative Justice

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Pages: 5

Introduction Restorative Justice is often seen as something that has no lasting impact on the offender themselves; however, drug court appears to be an exception. An accurate definition of drug court is a “way to enable judges to provide close oversight of people who are on probation after being convicted of crimes involving drug abuse” (Clear, 2015, p.99). This way of treating offenders offers direct paths to change the offender directly with treatments and counseling of the offenders and their habits. The effectiveness of drug courts everywhere is questioned to see if they work, yet the results these courts put out prove otherwise.
Background
Drug courts started appearing in Miami Florida in 1989 (Jones, 2013, p. 1) out of the necessity
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(Jones, 2013, p. 1).
A study titled Multi Site Adult Drug Court Evaluation Executive (MADCE) Summary has found that “drug courts produce significant reflections in drug relapse” (Rossman, 2009, p. 5). This study was conducted over an 18-month period where offenders reported for interviews where they were asked about drug use in the time prior to their incarceration and parole. With treatments and counseling offenders were gradually able to wean themselves off of their addictions and report clean results to the parole
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4). Drug courts are designed for hardcore users and offenders who are addicted and who would most likely go through severe withdraws.
By design, drug court participation takes up a considerable amount of time. Clients must attend counseling sessions several times per week, meet regularly with a case manager, attend status hearings, and deliver random weekly urine samples. This may be beneficial for many clients because it fills their days with drug-incompatible activities and limits exposure to drug related stimuli. However, these requirements may compete with clients’ legitimate responsibilities, such as work, which puts them in a tough spot. (DeMatteo, 2006, p.