Past record and the defendant's amenability to enter treatment are critical factors in determining eligibility. Violent offenders are not eligible, and in most programs, the defendant has to be willing to plead guilty. That's important because it causes a person to accept responsibility for a crime, which is integral to their treatment. Treatment usually lasts two years, and defendants who fail or drop out of treatment must serve their sentence. After completion of treatment, a graduation ceremony is held and the individual is then officially no longer in the criminal justice system.
Drug court does work.
The evaluation, by the center's Edward J. Latessa, PhD, found that offenders who received treatment through the county drug court were less likely to be rearrested than those who did not. And those who were rearrested had a longer time between first offense and rearrest. Meghan Wheeler, drug court supervisor for the Ohio State Supreme Court, tells WebMD a more complete evaluation of the Hamilton County experience, and that of other drug courts in the state, will be available next month. All rights reserved. All rights reserved.