The Drug Treatment Court Concept : The Jamaican Drug Courts
The Drug Treatment Court (DTC) model was conceived out of the need to solve the numerous and intractable problems that drug related cases create for court systems. A DTC is generally seen as a court that deals specifically with offenders who have c...
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| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/01/17682901/drug-treatment-court-concept-jamaican-drug-courts http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16609 |
| Summary: | The Drug Treatment Court (DTC) model was
conceived out of the need to solve the numerous and
intractable problems that drug related cases create for
court systems. A DTC is generally seen as a court that deals
specifically with offenders who have committed offenses
while under the influence of drugs and provides an
alternative to incarceration. DTCs make use of a
multidisciplinary team involving judges, prosecutors,
defense attorneys, probation officers, treatment providers,
police officers, and educational and vocational experts. The
criminal justice and health service systems join to provide
drug-dependent offenders with the mechanisms to recover from
drug addiction and lead a productive and crime-free life.
The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of DTCs.
After providing an overview of the origins of the DTC,
looking at its roots in the United States and Canada, the
paper examines the foundation and present-day experiences of
DTCs in Jamaica. It also refers to some efforts among
various countries in the Western Hemisphere to monitor DTCs
and evaluate their effectiveness. The paper concludes with a
return to the achievements of DTCs in Jamaica and a brief
look at the future of the DTC program worldwide. |
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