"Drug Court Offers Offenders Rehabilitation Instead of Jail Time"

Source Link:
http://wrvo.org/post/drug-court-offers-offenders-rehabilitation-instead-jail-time

Summary:

In the article Chanatry tells us about the fairly new Drug Court in Oneida county New York.  He states that "Drug courts are in every county of the state of New York now due to their success."  Chanatry also interviews Judge John Balzano. The process Judge Balzano uses is a set of guidelines and rules offenders must follow, or they get jail time.  "The guidelines are there will be random drug screenings, offenders must be clean for a year, must attend every court date, must live in a safe structured enviroment, must be active in a job or schooling, must be off any kinds of welfare, must do 60 hours of community service, and avoid certain people." ("John Balzano") It is a very tedious demanding process, but in my opinion it is more then a fair trade off for breaking the law.  "Some participants choose to do this process instead of jail time." Scott McNamara says, "The rehab programs save money because a lot of these people get 10 to 20 convictions if they are not treated properly." This is good news for tax payers because the public is paying for the same inmate over and over again.  If a prisoner stays out of jail they can also pay taxes, and no one will have to pay for his or her livelihood in jail every time they go back.  Chanatry even interviews a prisoner.  "This woman was locked up for continuing to satisfy her heroin  addiction, but now she is drug free about to finish the rehab program." ("Dave Chanatry")  At first she did not want the treatment, because she felt nothing was wrong with her.  Now she is grateful for the opportunity to get cleaned.  "Numerous studies indicate the courts significantly reduce crime and drug use, and half the adults in adult drug courts finish the program." ("Dave Chanatry") The results are different in some other rehabilitation programs though.  If more states and counties take strides for rehabilitation like New York has. Maybe crime rates will start falling, and second time offender rates will fall as well.

Quality:
The good thing about the article is that it is only a year old. Chanatry  gives a very detailed interview on the way Oneida County New York rehabilitates drug offenders instead of incarcerating them. He uses great people to interview like District Attorney Scott McNamara, William Virkler, Judge John Balzano, and a female prison inmate.  You can also listen or read the interview, which can be convenient.

Issues:

 The bad thing is there isn't any sources to back up the people he interviewed, although  some of the people he interviewed are considered credible resources.

Key Words and Phrases:
Oneida County New York, drug offenders, rehab, Drug Court, community service, public assistance, addiction, treatment, recidivism

Quotes:
"I think the measure of a good justice is to take a fact pattern and be harsh when it's time to be harsh, and be lenient when it's time to be lenient," William Virkler

Works Cited:
Dave Chanatry “Drug Court Offers Offenders Rehabilitation Instead of Jail Time” Interviews With, District Attorney Scott McNamara,William Virkler Sitting Town Justice and Professor of Criminal Justice at Utica College,Unknown Female Inmate, and Judge John Balzano: May 30, 2014.