 | | Judge Robert E. Rancourt |
KEYNOTE SPEAKER at
SCRAM-CON 2013
The Honorable Robert E. Rancourt
With
The National Association of Drug Court Professionals
Judge Rancourt says challenges that face the addict are enormous. By way of health issues, family issues, housing and employment issues and the lack of resources there are to address them. He said, "I know first hand. I have a family member who is an addict. He started when he was fifteen years of age and is now thirty years old. He is finally over it. I know the cost of what it does to families and the trauma involved. I feel obligated as a Judge when people come before me to give them the best tools available and to give them the opportunity to have success and recovery. That is my duty as a Judge and my moral obligation."
Judge Rancourt says the effectiveness of Drug Courts is clear. The scientific community has put drug treatment courts under a microscope and has concluded that they work better than jail or prison, better than probation or treatment alone and are cost effective. Studies show drug treatment court costs on average $306.8 million dollars annually compared to $60 billion in nation wide expenditures just on correction costs alone. Drug courts have shown to reduce substance abuse by more than thirty-five percent and have reduced crime by more than fifty percent. More than 75% of drug court graduates remain arrest free at least two years after graduation. He stated, "Quite frankly a drug court graduation is one of the most touching things you can go to."
According to Rancourt Fred Cheesman PhD senior court research associate and Victor Flango PhD with the National Center for State Courts say that the research is pointing to 24/7 monitoring and in preliminary findings have found people are less likely to drink or engage in recidivism while wearing a SCRAMx bracelet. In one particular study out of 114 people wearing a SCRAM bracelet only two committed a new offense while wearing the bracelet. The research further found that the offenders should remain on the SCRAM bracelet a minimum of 90 days to allow treatment to have an impact. SCRAM is a promising alternative because it allows for the possibility to change offender behavior. Findings further concluded that SCRAM is very effective with the hardcore drunk driver and 24/7 monitoring shows a greater protection to society than does random testing.
We have 2.3 million people behind bars representing one of every 100 adult Americans. Approximately eighty percent of inmates have a history of substance abuse and one half is addicted to drugs or alcohol. Interestingly more than one quarter of them was not incarcerated for a violent offense, nor did they have a history of violence. The US Dept Of Justice identified 1.2 million people in our Criminal Justice System that could best be served by a drug court setting if funding were available to expand capacity. There are currently 120,000 participants in our specialty courts today.
Judge Rancourt ended by saying that we all get discouraged but we need to continue doing what we do. It does make an impact. He said I am reminded from time to time what former Senator Robert Kennedy once said "Let no one be discouraged by the belief there is nothing one person can do against the enormous array of the worlds ills, misery, ignorance and violence. Few will have the greatness of that history but each of us can work to change a small portion of events."
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Intercept is a PROUD member of
The National Association of Drug Court Professionals
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NADCP 19th annual conference is July 14th-17th 2013
To become a member or for more information go to www.nadcp.org
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Special shout out to
Judge Howard: Fresh Start program
Judge Barbara McCarthy: AOD Court
Judge Dorothy Nash-Holmes: Cod Court, Train court and Dui/Drug Specialty Court
District Court Judge Archie Blake: Drug Court
District Court Judge Peter Breen: Drug Court
Judge Linda Sloven: Superior Court Of Nevada County and DUI/Specialty Court
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