MANSFIELD, Ohio – The successes of Richland County’s Drug Court will be celebrated next month with the proclamation of May as National Drug Court Month, as well as the program’s 16th annual graduation ceremony.
Richland County’s commissioners met on Thursday to officially proclaim May as National Drug Court Month, an honor accepted by Judge Brent Robinson, who took over Drug Court after the retirement of Judge James Henson in 2014.
“Drug courts combine judicial accountability and evidence based treatment to effectively intervene against substance abuse and related crime,” read Commissioner Tim Wert. “Results of more than 100 program evaluations and at least three experimental studies have yielded definitive evidence that drug courts increase treatments, retention and reduce substance abuse and crime among drug involved adult offenders.”
Drug Courts nationwide grew from an original 12 courts in 1994 to more than 2,840 operational Drug Courts today, with Richland County starting one of the first Drug Courts in the county and state in 1997. Robinson stated the Drug Court has sustained a 70 percent success rate for programs lasting 18 to 24 months.
“Drug court lasts that long because it’s been shown that drugs affect the brain chemistry and for you to get that back on track it usually takes that long. So it takes a while for addiction to come out of your system, you might say,” said Chief Probation Officer Dave Leitenberger.
“They are in this program long enough to make a difference for behavior modification,” added Wert. “These programs aren’t a two-week thing, it’s a long-term commitment with sanctions put in place…they’ve got to toe the line.”
Leitenberger said 70 percent of the people coming in to Drug Court are diversionary, in lieu of treatment, and as they graduate they can come out with an option that the judge will expunge their record. Robinson explained individuals will plead “no contest” and he will not make a finding on their plea, then for those who successfully complete the Drug Court program their case is dismissed.
“Then they don’t have a felony conviction, which is very helpful for future employment,” said Robinson. “One statistic that’s really important to me is failure by new crime rate; we only had one case last year of a person who got kicked out of drug court because they committed a new crime. That’s one thing I emphasize very strongly, if you’re going to be in my drug court you better not be out there victimizing the community. They know if they commit a new crime the result is immediate incarceration.
Robinson highlighted a number of treatment programs in Richland County that partner with Drug Court, including Three C Counseling, Family Life, Catalyst, New Beginnings, Mansfield Volunteers of America, UMADOP, Reformers Unanimous and Alcoholics Anonymous.
“It’s important for families to know you all are a support system for the families, too,” added Commissioner Marilyn John. “There are a lot of families who don’t know what to do or where to go. They don’t know how to handle their loved one. You’re providing a support system for their loved ones, too.”
John also pointed out the Drug Court is almost completely self-sustaining. Offenders are responsible for a supervision fee to defray the administrative costs of the program, and pay for all their own drug tests. Robinson stated Drug Court costs an average of about $3,200 per offender per year, as opposed to approximately $12,000 per offender in jail and $24,000 per offender in prison.
Currently 68 people are in Richland County’s Drug Court, with a handful expected to graduate at the 16th annual Richland County Drug Court Graduation on May 14. The ceremony will begin at 3:30 p.m. at the Life Celebration Reception Center in Mansfield.
“We can give them all the tools to stop, but they still have to make that free will choice to say they’re not going to do this,” said Robinson. “They have to ultimately want to change. You can give them all the programming you want but until they’re ready to make that decision…but sometimes you can wear them down.”
