Drug Court Considered by 15th Judicial District Officials
Article reprinted courtesy of The Yell County Record
Officials with the 15th Judicial District and the Arkansas Department of Community Correction (DCC) plan to ask the Arkansas General Assembly in 2007 for funds to establish two drug courts in the four-county judicial district. Circuit Judge Paul Danielson of Booneville, district court officials and county sheriffs met with DCC officials about the idea last Thursday in Morrilton.
Currently drug courts operate only in seven of the state’s 23 judicial districts. The 15th Judicial District comprises Yell and Conway Counties (which would be an Eastern Drug Court District) and Logan and Scott Counties (Western Drug Court District).
A drug court is established to hear charges, usually against first offenders, DCC officials said. The purpose of the court is to “deal with substance abuse by treating the problem rather than just locking them up,” according to Lisa K. Ray, area manager for treatment for the DCC. Toward that end, drug court defendants, if found guilty, are ordered into an outpatient drug treatment program after they are placed on probation, Ray said. “The first year of their probation is the treatment program,” Ray said. An offender in drug court probation must report to one of the drug court officials four days a week during the first year. “It’s pretty intensive outpatient treatment.” The drug court effort marks a “major shift away from punishment in the di-rection of treatment,” Judge Danielson said. He continued, “This program is directed to rehabilitation instead of punishment.”
Prosecutor Thomas Tatum of Danville, first questioned the DDC Drug Court program, but later agreed that the drug court would help the district. After asking questions at the meeting, Tatum said, “I wanted to make sure the prosecutor’s office did not give up any authority in our decisions on which criminal cases would be transferred to drug court. The final decision would still rest with the prosecutor’s office.” Sheriff Bill Gilkey, who also attended the meeting, said this program would offer some help to drug offenders. “Jail space will be a problem in 2007. A drug rehabilitation program could help.”
Other court officials said implementation of the idea would help alleviate jail overcrowding and crowded court dockets. “It’s being done almost because of so much pressure on our jails and the court system,” Danielson said. “It’s being done almost out of necessity.”
Initially, the DCC said they would ask only for one drug court for the 15th judicial district, which would be staffed by a counselor, probation officer and intake officer. However, after the meeting last Thursday, Judge Danielson said he met with Prosecuting Attorney Thomas Tatum II and discussed the drug court idea with three of the four sheriffs in the judicial district and a consensus of those officials liked the idea of asking the legislature for two drug court districts instead of one for the district. “They have expressed an interest in having this operate,” Danielson said.
Judge Danielson said if a drug court is established in the district, he felt that the court would be held following the regular docket now held in criminal court. “We would have to work out those details with the other judges, prosecutor’s office and other officials in the criminal judicial system, providing the legislature funds the program.” Judge Danielson said the percentage of cases transferred to drug court could be significant within the four-county area. It is estimated that each drug court could handle approximately 50 to 60 cases each year with the rehabilitation program in place. Officials stated that by taking out these cases in regular criminal court, it would help the law enforcement officers and prosecutor establish more time to prosecute the serious drug criminal cases.