Drug Court Observations

It was the first time I visited a drug court. Compared to a regular court, drug court was totally different. Instead of inflicting punishment for those who have a drug addiction, drug court provides them treatment. The way of holding a court was also special. I will discuss about the comparison of drug court and regular court, the clients, and my reaction to visiting the drug court.

I went to visit both a regular court and drug court. First of all, the big difference between regular court and drug court was the way to hold a court. In regular court, there is a judge, a lawyer, a defendant, and a court officer. Then the Judge delivered judgment to the defendant. In contrast, drug court didn’t have a lawyer. There was a judge and the clients who were arrested because of drug use. They were sitting in the visitors’ seats and waiting for the Judge to call their names. It was also different from regular court. Then the Judge calls each person, and asks questions about his or her physical or mental condition. Some clients were given assignments, such as writing reports. If they do well in the rehabilitation program and get negative drug screen, the Judge sentences them to graduate from the Drug Court. Another difference was the Judge’s role. When I visited the regular court, most of the time the Judge was listening to what the lawyer said. On the other hand, in the Drug Court, most of the time he asked the questions to the clients and communicated with them. Also, the way of his speaking was different. In the regular court, he spoke strictly and he looked serious, but in the Drug Court, he spoke softly and he looked friendly. He encouraged the clients too. In addition, the atmosphere in the Drug Courtroom was less strict than regular courtroom.

Second of all, Drug Court had a variety of clients. The time I visited the Drug Court, there were about fifteen clients. The number of the men and the women was almost equal. A few clients were African American, but most of them were white people. The unexpected thing for me was that most of them were young adults or middle age people. Before visiting the Drug Court, I expected that the clients were younger than that. Their problems were not only drug addictions but also alcoholism. They looked inactive and had a lack of confidence. All of the clients received treatment or assigned a rehabilitation program. They will be trying to get in better condition. Most of them are doing well on the rehabilitation program, but some are still not ready to graduate from the Drug Court, which means that they cannot return to the society yet. On the other hand, only one client finally graduated from the Drug Court. They have already obtained their own jobs, of course, produced negative drug screens, and are in better condition.

My reaction to visiting drug court was everything was new for me because my country, Japan, doesn’t have drug court, or rehabilitation program. I think drug court is a very good system for the people who have a drug addiction or are alcoholics, because it is hard for them to return to the society. In addition, there are so many people in the U.S. who use drugs compared with people in Japan. People also can get drugs so easily here.

All in all, drug court was a different system from regular court. Drug court gives clients the opportunity to cure drug addiction or alcoholism. Also, the rehabilitation program encourages clients and saves their lives. In my opinion, it is better to give them treatment rather than put them in jail, because drug addiction or alcoholism is an illness.

Oct. 16, 2000