Drug Courts – an Update
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Queensland Parliamentary Library Drug Courts – An Update This Research Brief provides an overview of the operation of the Queensland Drug Court pilot program since its inception in June 2000 and of Drug Courts in New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia. Evaluations of these Drug Courts have been carried out and will be considered. Amendments to the Drug Court Act 2000 (Qld), introduced by the recently enacted Drug Legislation Amendment Act 2006 (Qld), will be included in the discussion. Nicolee Dixon Research Brief No 2006/17 Queensland Parliamentary Library Research Publications and Resources Section Ms Karen Sampford, Director (07) 3406 7116 Mrs Nicolee Dixon, Senior Parliamentary Research Officer (07) 3406 7409 Ms Renee Giskes, Parliamentary Research Officer (07) 3406 7241 Research Publications are compiled for Members of the Queensland Parliament, for use in parliamentary debates and for related parliamentary purposes. Information in publications is current to the date of publication. Information on legislation, case law or legal policy issues does not constitute legal advice. Research Publications on Bills reflect the legislation as introduced and should not be considered complete guides to the legislation. To determine whether a Bill has been enacted, or whether amendments have been made to a Bill during consideration in detail, the Queensland Legislation Annotations, prepared by the Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel, or the Bills Update, produced by the Table Office of the Queensland Parliament, should be consulted. Readers should also refer to the relevant Alert Digest of the Scrutiny of Legislation Committee of the Queensland Parliament. © Queensland Parliamentary Library, 2006 ISSN 1443-7902 ISBN 1 921056 33 9 APRIL 2006 Copyright protects this publication. Except for purposes permitted by the Copyright Act 1968, reproduction by whatever means is prohibited, other than by Members of the Queensland Parliament in the course of their official duties, without the prior written permission of the Clerk of the Parliament on behalf of the Parliament of Queensland. Inquiries should be addressed to: Director, Research Publications & Resources Queensland Parliamentary Library Parliament House George Street, Brisbane QLD 4000 Ms Karen Sampford. (Tel: 07 3406 7116) Email: [email protected] Information about Research Publications can be found on the Internet at: www.parliament.qld.gov.au/publications CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................. 1 2 BACKGROUND................................................................................................ 1 3 BACKGROUND TO THE QUEENSLAND DRUG COURT ...................... 4 4 QUEENSLAND DRUG COURTS................................................................... 5 4.1 DRUG COURT MAGISTRATES......................................................................... 7 4.2 ELIGIBILITY AND REFERRAL FOR ASSESSMENT FOR INTENSIVE DRUG REHABILITATION PROGRAM ......................................................................... 8 4.3 INTENSIVE DRUG REHABILITATION ORDER ................................................. 11 4.4 PROGRAM GRADUATION AND TERMINATION............................................... 15 5 ASSESSMENT OF QUEENSLAND DRUG COURTS............................... 17 6 OPERATION AND ASSESSMENT OF DRUG COURTS IN OTHER JURISDICTIONS ........................................................................................... 22 6.1 NEW SOUTH WALES .................................................................................... 22 6.1.1 Adult Drug Court ................................................................................. 22 6.1.2 Youth Drug and Alcohol Court ........................................................... 27 6.2 VICTORIA .................................................................................................... 30 6.2.1 Evaluations of the Victorian Drug Court............................................. 32 6.3 WESTERN AUSTRALIA ................................................................................. 34 6.3.1 Evaluation of the Western Australian Drug Court............................... 35 6.4 SOUTH AUSTRALIA...................................................................................... 37 6.4.1 Evaluation of the South Australian Drug Court................................... 38 APPENDIX A – MINISTERIAL MEDIA STATEMENT................................. 41 RECENT QPL RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS 2006 ....................................... 43 Drug Courts – An Update EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This Research Brief provides an overview of the operation of the Queensland Drug Court program since its inception in June 2000 and of Drug Courts in other Australian jurisdictions. It updates previous Queensland Parliamentary Library publications on this issue and discusses evaluations of the various Drug Courts: page 1. The premise of a Drug Court program is that many crimes committed by drug dependent offenders are related to their drug dependency and that traditional punishments, such as custodial sanctions, do not address that core problem. The traditional justice system approach has not appeared to have much impact on breaking the cycle of offending, incarceration and re-offending. The Drug Court concept seeks to break the cycle by bringing together the criminal justice system – which focuses on protecting the community – and drug treatment and other support mechanisms – which adopt a therapeutic interventionist approach – to devise a rehabilitation program tailored to the individual needs of drug dependent offenders. Breach of the program requirements may result in the offender having to serve a similar prison term to that which would have otherwise been imposed had he or she not entered the program. The first Drug Court was established in Florida in the United States in the 1980s and they have spread to many other countries, including Australia: pages 1-2. Outcome evaluations of the effectiveness of the Drug Courts in reducing recidivism and in improving the health and well-being of participants have been undertaken in Queensland and in other jurisdictions in which they operate. However, the short time in which Drug Courts have been operating produces a significant limitation on most evaluation studies. There have also been shortcomings in the study design of some evaluations, particularly when it has not been possible to construct a comparison group against which to measure Drug Court participants. Thus, while some benefits of successful completion of Drug Court programs have been observed, the results of the studies must be viewed with some caution: pages 2-4. The Queensland Drug Court pilot program was set up under the Drug Rehabilitation (Court Diversion) Act 2000 (Qld) (DRCD Act) and commenced operation on 13 June 2000. In November 2002, the Drug Court program was extended to North Queensland and necessary amendments to the DRCD Act were made to facilitate this expansion. Following evaluations of the programs by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) and a Report by the first Drug Court magistrate, Mr John Constanzo, the Drug Legislation Amendment Bill 2005 (Qld) was introduced into the Queensland Parliament to give permanent status to the Drug Court and to amend the DRCD Act. The legislation (containing the 2006 amendments to the DRCD Act) was passed on 8 March 2006 and the DRCD Act was renamed the Drug Court Act 2000: pages 4-6. An overview of the Queensland Drug Court program is set out on pages 6-7. Details about the role of the Drug Court magistrate, eligibility criteria for participation in a program, the assessment process, the making of an Intensive Queensland Parliamentary Library Drug Rehabilitation Order (IDRO), and the operation of, and participation in, the Drug Court are provided on pages 7-17. Where relevant, the 2006 amendments to the Drug Court Act are noted. The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) has completed two evaluations of the Drug Court pilot program in Queensland – the Final Report on the South-East Queensland Drug Court in July 2003 and the Final Report on the North Queensland Drug Court in 2005. Taking into account the limitations of the small sample of graduates and short follow-up period, the South-East Queensland Drug Court Report found that 9% of graduates from the Drug Court had re-offended compared with 32% of offenders terminated from the program; 61% of those who refused to participate; and 47% of a prisoner comparison group. The North Queensland Drug Court Report did not have a prisoner comparison group but it found that 29% of graduates had re-offended post-program: pages 17-22. This Research Brief then considers the operation of Drug Courts in other Australian jurisdictions together with any evaluations carried out on them to date: page 22. It must be pointed out that the evaluations and, in some cases, the findings of them are not directly comparable. Numbers of participants and graduates and comparison groups vary between jurisdictions. Study design problems and other limitations present in many studies are noted where relevant. Also, unlike the Queensland evaluations which look at recidivism and other impacts of the Drug Court program while undertaking the program separately from post-program, many of the interstate evaluations consider both periods together,