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• DRUG ATTORNEY IN BERGEN, PASSAIC AND MORRIS COUNTIES:MANDATORY EXTENDED TERM FOR CERTAIN REPEAT DRUG OFFENERS
• DRUG LAWYER IN BERGEN, PASSAIC AND MORRIS COUNTIES: MONEY LAUNDERING IN THE DRUG DISTRIBUTION INDUSTRY
• DRUG LAWYER IN BERGEN, PASSAIC AND MORRIS COUNTIES: PLEA NEGOTIATIONS IN FEDERAL PROSECUTIONS
• DRUG ATTORNEY IN BERGEN, PASSAIC AND MORRIS COUNTIES: THE SIXTH AMENDMENT RIGHT TO COUNSEL AND THE PROSPECTS OF DEPORTATION
• DRUG ATTORNEY IN BERGEN, PASSAIC AND MORRIS COUNTIES: NEGOTIATED SENTENCES

New Jersey's Drug Court: A Brave New World

In the summer of 2002, the Administrative Office of the Court’s published the "Manual for Operation of Adult Drug Courts in New Jersey." The document begins with a rather auspicious introduction that says:

A revolution has occurred in the criminal justice system during the past ten years. It began at the grassroots level with a few people who realized that the old approach of incarceration of the drug-using offender and increasing incarceration wasn’t working.

The end-result of this long-awaited declaration of reality was the creation of the New Jersey Drug Court, which is a forum specifically designed to practically and intelligently approach the evils of drug-dependent criminal-offenders.

Historically, drug courts in this country began to proliferate in the mid 1990s. They were motivated by research that established, among other things, that:

• a successful drug court graduate was a lot less likely to return to the criminal justice system as a repeat offender;

• drug courts were cheaper than the cost of incarceration;

• 78% of drug court graduates retained employment; and

a high percentage of drug court graduates regained custody of their children and/or resumed child-support payments.

In 1997, the federal government provided a grant to Camden and Essex Counties to begin a drug court program. Two years later, the program extended to Union and Passaic Counties. In 2000, a judicial panel recommended statewide access to drug courts. Shortly, thereafter, that initiative was enacted into legislation. Statistically, the incidents of success in New Jersey seem to mimic the results posted nationwide.

I. Standard for Admission

Criminal offenders may be eligible for sentencing to a drug court if they fall within the parameters of the so-called special probation statute or are otherwise eligible under other sections of New Jersey’s Criminal Code.

A. Admission Under the Special Probation Statute

This statute allows drug-dependent offenders who have been convicted of a first or second degree criminal offense ¹, as well as other offenses that requiring a mandatory prison term, to participate in an intensive probationary program. (Program).

1. Eligibility Criteria

The threshold standards for the Program are rather extensive. They include whether:

• a court appointed professional can affirm the nature and extent of the candidate’s drug or alcohol dependency;

• the Program can benefit the candidate;

• the offense was committed while the candidate was under the influence of an intoxicant or if the offense was committed to acquire money to sustain the dependency;

• treatment will assist the substance dependent and reduce the likelihood of the candidate’s committing another offense;

• firearm was used in the offenses involving the candidate or whether the candidate has a history of firearm use;

• the candidate had not been convicted of two or more separate other crimes of first, second or third degree or one prior conviction involving some of the more serious criminal offenses like manslaughter, robbery, kidnapping, aggravated assault, sexual assault;

• the candidate can be accepted into an appropriate treatment facility; and,

• the candidate presents a danger to the community.

In most instances, the prosecutor must consent to the candidate’s application to enter the Program. If the prosecutor objects to the application, the court may place a candidate in a special probationary program over the objection of the prosecutor only upon a finding that the objection was a based upon a gross and patent abuse of prosecutorial discretion, which is a very difficult standard for a candidate to establish.

In addition, there are certain criminal offenses that act as an absolute disqualifier for admission into the Program, including murder, manslaughter, robbery, kidnapping, aggravated assault and certain sexual offenses.

2. Basic Requirements

If accepted into the Program, the candidate must participate in a term of probation not to exceed 5 years. In addition, the candidate must complete an inpatient drug/alcohol rehabilitation program for a minimum of six months or until the court, with the assistance of a court-appointed professional, determines that the person has successfully completed the residential treatment program, whichever is later. Under some circumstances, a candidate can be discharged from an inpatient drug rehabilitation program earlier than six months.

After the inpatient treatment program has been completed, the drug court will require the candidate to continue with aftercare treatment, along with other requirements as the court may determine, including regular appearances before the drug court judge, a probation officer and mandatory urine monitoring.

B. Admission Under Other Provisions of the Code of Criminal Justice

Apart from the Program, there are other provisions in New Jersey’s sentencing statute that allows for prison-bound and non-prison-bound offenders to participate in the drug court if certain eligibility criteria are met. In general, those criteria are:

• the drug court’s appointed professional determines that the candidate has a drug or alcohol dependency and that monitoring of that drug dependency will benefit the candidate;

• the candidate has not been previously convicted of some of the more serious offenses that include the Program exclusions which are identified above;

• the candidate did not possess a firearm at the time of the offense and has no history of firearm possession during criminal activity.

• the candidate presents no danger to the community.

Unlike the Program, a candidate is not eligible for admission into the drug court under other sections of the sentencing statute if charged with a first or second degree crime. Notably, however, an offender who has been terminated from a Pre-Trial Intervention Program or convicted of violating probation is eligible for the drug court under the statute.

1. Eligibility Criteria

Participation in a drug court for a candidate under this option requires, to some extent, the same responsibilities as under the Program, including participation in a term of probation not to exceed 5 years; six months inpatient drug/alcohol rehabilitation and aftercare treatment, as well as strict probationary supervision.

The prosecutor has the same veto power to reject a candidate as afforded him/her under the Program. In making that decision, however, the prosecutor should consider the following:

• whether the candidate is a danger to the community;

• the statutory criteria;

• the nature of the criminal complaint and associated investigative information;

• the candidate’s prior conviction record;

• the candidate’s pre-sentence investigative reports and other sources of the candidate’s criminal history.

The process through the drug court consists of four phases or steps. Graduation from one phase to the next is influenced by the candidate’s ability to master the requirements of each phase of the process. Some drug courts require a formal application be made to the drug court judge for movement into the next phase. The specific phases of the process follow:

• Phase I: Stabilization:

This phase requires the candidate to participate in an inpatient drug rehabilitation facility with an intensive outpatient aftercare system that requires, among other things, three treatment contacts every week, two weekly contacts with Probation, a drug court appearance once a week; and, two weekly random urine analyses.

• Phase II: Positive Change:

The compliance responsibility under this phase of the drug court includes two treatment contacts every week, a weekly court appearance; two weekly contacts with Probation; and, one weekly urine analysis.

• Phase III: Release Prevention:

In this phase of the drug court program, the candidate is required to focus on his/her need to resolve personal and family issues to secure a better foundation to prevent relapse. Under this step, the candidate is required weekly to make: one treatment contact; one court appearance; two contacts with a probation officer; and provide one urine sample for analysis.

• Phase IV: Commencement

The minimum amount of time spent in the drug court before graduation is 18 months after sentencing. If qualified to leave this phase, the candidate would ordinarily be referred to standard probationary supervision, along with other conditions the court may think necessary, to prevent a relapse.

III.

A failure to comply with the treatment responsibilities in the various phases of the drug court can result in the imposition of sanctions. Those sanctions include:

• a period of incarceration;

• "incarceration" in the drug court courtroom for a period of hours or days;

• house arrest;

• a curfew;

• phase demotion;

• increased reporting responsibilities to the court, probation and substance abuse counselors;

• increased number of meetings with Alcohol Anonymous and/or /Narcotics Anonymous

IV. Conclusion

Ever since Richard Nixon’s declaration of the war against drugs, this country has spent an enormous amount of money to interdict, prosecute and incarcerate drug offenders. Some experts project the cost of placing a drug dealer behind bars at approximately $450,000, with a presumed mandatory prison term of five years. In the first 8 months of 2007, the federal and state governments spent over $33 billion dollars in their efforts to detect and prosecute drug-related offenses. During that time, over 1 million people were arrested for drug-related offenses, which equates to one arrest every thirty seconds.

By all accounts, the "war on drugs" has been a dismal failure. In 2003, a collection of 116 countries congregated in Vienna to review an anti-drug policy sponsored by the United Nation’s General Assembly and concluded that America’s War on Drugs was a "war that America cannot win."

New Jersey’s Drug Court is an obvious recognition of the futility and waste associated with the "war on drugs" by allowing our criminal justice system to provide an exciting opportunity to address criminal behavior motivated by substance abuse by focusing its energy and attention on rehabilitation, not retribution.

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