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Are drug courts effective?

On Behalf of | Aug 23, 2017 | Blog |

If you are like many Pennsylvanians facing drug-related charges, you may also be combatting a drug addiction that might have played a role in your initial crime. Often, drug addiction leads addicts to act in ways they otherwise would not, and drug courts seek to give addicts alternatives to imprisonment that may also help them kick their addictions for good.

While they are not yet available everywhere, drug courts not only keep drug offenders out of prison, but they also all but force accountability because they typically involve regular appearances before a judge in conjunction with regular drug testing. Depending on the details of your crime and your criminal history, you may receive an invitation to take part in drug court. If so, you may ask yourself – does it work? The simple answer is yes, and there are plenty of statistics and numbers to back up this assertion. More specifically, drug courts are effective when it comes to:

Keeping you in treatment

If you enroll in drug court, the National Association of Drug Court Professionals reports that you are six times more likely to remain in drug treatment long enough for you to actually get better and beat your addiction. Drug offenders who are not held to the same level of accountability leave treatment early in 70 percent of all cases.

Reducing the odds you will reoffend

When compared with more traditional criminal penalties, such as jail sentences, drug courts are about 45 percent better at reducing crime. Furthermore, three-quarters of drug court graduates have not been rearrested two years after program completion.

Combatting methamphetamine addiction

Methamphetamine is a particularly difficult drug to quit, but if you suffer from a meth addiction, a drug court program may help you beat it. Statistics show that drug court graduates stay off meth four times longer than graduates of eight other types of programs.

Now that you know that drug courts have many positive effects, you may want to find out if such a program is available to you. In addition to keeping you out of jail, it may help you get your life back on track.

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