JEFFERSON CITY – The start of a new year brings a sense of new beginnings and hope for many of us. Maybe you are like me and are vowing to give up a bad habit. Mine is cutting back on eating too many desserts!
But others ̶ including our family members, friends and neighbors ̶ are trying to overcome serious addictions that result in criminal behavior, landing them in our courts.
The good news is that Missouri courts do much more than just send people to prison, dissolve families and hold people responsible for monetary judgments. For the last three decades, court staff and other professionals have been doing amazing work helping rehabilitate individuals with substance abuse issues so they do not have to go to prison and leave their family broken.
Treatment courts ̶ originally called drug courts ̶ started in Missouri in 1993 in Jackson County. They were available for offenders whose addictions to drugs led them into a revolving door of crime and punishment. The voluntary program was designed to help offenders beat the addiction contributing to their criminal behavior in the first place. As a result, less time in jail or prison not only allowed offenders to stay at home and employed but also saved taxpayers the cost of their incarceration and even foster care for their children.
Today, we have a wide variety of treatment court programs available in the vast majority of Missouri counties. These include treatment courts serving the unique needs of adults, juveniles, families and veterans, as well as DWI courts.
Treatment courts give participants an opportunity to be diverted from jail or prison while they work through rigorous programs designed to help them beat their substance use abuse or “co-occurring disorder” (a substance use disorder coupled with another mental health disorder). These programs involve a variety of local professionals – the judge, prosecutor, defense counsel and treatment professionals – and are designed to balance public safety with the goal of reducing a participant’s risk of falling back into bad habits or reoffending.
Going through treatment court is no cakewalk. Some offenders opt for incarceration because they are not ready to do the hard work treatment courts demand. Participants are required to work or go to school, pay taxes, care for their families, pay child support and engage fully in the recommended treatment. They check in regularly with the court. The programs average 18 to 24 months to complete. Participants who fail to complete the program successfully are placed back into the criminal justice system for appropriate punishment for their crimes.
During the last year alone, we had approximately 6,000 active treatment court participants. New participants ranged in age from 17 to 75 years old at the time of admission. As of the end of December, we have had nearly 28,600 successful treatment court graduates and – as an added bonus – more than 1,200 babies have been born drug-free to women participating in our treatment courts.
This year, we are continuing to work with our partners in the legislature to help expand our treatment court programs to provide services to those with mental health disorders as well. We know how effective these models are, and we look forward to the potential of serving many more offenders for whom a treatment court model provides a better longterm outcome than incarceration.
For participants who complete the program, the treatment court holds a graduation ceremony to celebrate their success. I have attended a number of treatment court graduations. I learned early to bring several tissues, because the graduates often share their stories at the event. They describe having been at the lowest point in their lives, disowned by their families, unemployed and homeless. They explain how they have overcome their addictions, become employed and have been welcomed back to their families. Their stories leave few dry eyes in the room.
I am proud of their hard work to beat their addictions and become loving members of their families, and productive members of our society. I am also proud of all the people in our communities working alongside the participants every day to help them on their journey, giving them encouragement while holding their feet to the fire and keeping them accountable.
Treatment court graduates’ stories are great examples of the resolve and new beginnings we so often associate with the start of each new year. If you have a chance to attend a local treatment court graduation, I hope you do. Just don’t forget the tissues.