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Drug Courts in the Americas

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Drug Courts in the Americas SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL | MARCH 2018 DSD Drugs, Security and Democracy Program DRUG COURTS IN THE AMERICAS A report by the Drugs, Security and Democracy Program PROJECT COORDINATOR Carol Watson Williams is a social policy analyst and research- Cleia Noia er, with special interest in applying rights based approach to social policy issues. She has worked for over two decades on a PROJECT ADVISOR range of social policy issues, and has a special interest in how Coletta Youngers effective policies and programs, grounded in data, can drive improvements the lives of citizens. EDITORIAL TEAM Lisa Ferraro Parmelee ABOUT THE SSRC Clare McGranahan The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is an independent, international, nonprofit organization founded in 1923. The REPORT DESIGN SSRC fosters innovative research, nurtures new generations of Beth Post social scientists, deepens how inquiry is practiced within and ABOUT THE AUTHORS across disciplines, and mobilizes necessary knowledge on im- Rebecca Schleifer is an expert consultant with the UN Devel- portant public issues. opment Program’s HIV, Health and Development Group and a ABOUT THE DSD PROGRAM visiting fellow with Yale University’s Global Health Justice Part- The Drugs, Security and Democracy (DSD) Program supports nership. Her work has focused on the human rights of mar- research on drugs in Latin America and the Caribbean with a ginalized and criminalized populations (people who use drugs, goal of producing evidence-based knowledge to inform drug sex workers, LGBT persons), people with disabilities, and older policy in the region and beyond. The program seeks to foster persons, and on human rights and drug control policy. She has a global interdisciplinary network of researchers engaged with a bachelor’s degree from Harvard-Radcliffe College and a law drug policy, committed to policy-relevant outcomes, and able degree and a master’s degree in public health from the Univer- to communicate their findings to relevant audiences. sity of California, Berkeley. Tania Tlacaelelt Ramírez Hernández is the Drug Policy Program ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Director for MUCD – México Unido Contra la Delincuencia. We would like to thank Catherine Austin, Sergio Chaparro, Ramírez collaborated for several years with the Drug Policy Alejandro Corda, Ernesto Cortes, Corina Giacomello, Isabel Program and the Right to Health Program, both at CIDE. Since Pereira, Diego Piñol, Anna Meg Sampietro, and Denise Tomas- 2014, she has focused her research on the analysis of drug ini-Joshi for their invaluable input and support. We would also courts in Mexico and Latin America. She has an LLM in Global like to express our appreciation for the contributions made by Health Law from Georgetown University. participants of two discussion meetings held in New York in June 2016 and in Santo Domingo in October 2016. Elizabeth Ward is a consultant with the Institute of Criminal Justice, University of the West Indies and Chair of Board of Di- SUGGESTED CITATION rectors of the Violence Prevention Alliance Jamaica. Ward is a DSD Program, Drug Courts in the Americas, New York: Social medical epidemiologist with years of public health experience Science Research Council, March 2018. in the Jamaican government health system. Experienced in This research project was funded by the Open Society Founda- research and data analysis, she has published papers with a tions (OSF). The content of this report is the sole responsibility particular focus on the areas of crime and violence prevention, of its authors and of the DSD Program, and does not necessar- healthy lifestyles, HIV/STI and design and evaluation of public ily reflect the position of the SSRC or OSF. health prevention programs. TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 INTRODUCTION 9 Origins of Drug Courts in the United States 9 Drug Courts as an Export Policy Model 15 Methodology 16 DRUGS COURTS IN THE UNITED STATES: LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE US EXPERIENCE 18 Cost Implication of Drug Courts 18 Impact on Recidivism 23 Reduction of Incarceration Time 24 The Treatment Component 26 Outcomes for Youth, Women, and Minorities 32 General Comments 36 DRUG COURTS IN LATIN AMERICA: AN ADEQUATE RESPONSE? 38 Chile 39 Mexico 50 Costa Rica 59 Argentina 64 Panama 67 Dominican Republic 69 Colombia 69 Other Countries 71 General Comments 72 DRUG COURTS IN THE CARIBBEAN: A BRIEF OVERVIEW 77 Bermuda 79 Jamaica 89 Cayman Islands 98 Trinidad and Tobago 103 Barbados 106 Belize 108 Other Countries 109 General Comments 109 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 113 Recommendations 115 Executive Summary of information for countries in Latin America and the Carib- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY bean that have either established, or are looking to estab- lish, drug courts. This report also presents a brief overview of where and how drug courts have been implemented in Latin Drug courts in the United States are presented as an alter- America and the Caribbean in order to identify, to the extent native to incarceration for people arrested for minor drug possible, the different experiences and challenges faced by offenses where drug use is considered an underlying cause those countries. One main difficulty in this exercise is the of the crime, thus theoretically serving as a tool for reducing limited availability of data that would allow strong parallels prison and jail populations. The US has nearly 30 years of ex- to be drawn. As is the case with the United States, with rare perience with these courts, which have spread to all 50 states exceptions, drug courts in Latin America and Caribbean are as well as US territories. not independently monitored and evaluated, and most have been established relatively recently. Nevertheless, we have Many countries have looked to the US experience with drug found that the information available points to fundamental courts as a model to be adopted, and the US government problems with the implementation of drug courts as an alter- has also promoted them abroad as a potential alternative native to incarceration, and thus the findings from the United to incarceration. While the United States drug court model States experience could, at the very least, offer insight about has been embraced by other countries around the world, whether and in what circumstances drug courts provide an perhaps the most organized efforts to expand this policy are alternative that is more desirable than incarceration. those currently underway in Latin America and the Caribbe- an. The considerable influence of the United States in the re- The US section is based on review of the existing research on gion’s drug control policies has certainly encouraged many drug courts and treatment for substance use disorders and Latin American and Caribbean countries to view drug courts evaluations of drug court efficacy conducted and published as an alternative to incarceration, and the growing number by the US government, major research institutions, advoca- of countries implementing them signals that these efforts are cy organizations, and leading scholars whose work focuses moving ahead with full force in the region. The Canadian gov- on drug courts specifically or on criminal justice, substance ernment has also worked to support the expansion of drug use disorders, drug treatment, and drug policy more broad- courts, particularly in the Caribbean, but this report has not ly. The Latin America and Caribbean sections are based on a focused on reviewing their drug court model. literature review of the available information on drug courts (which is significantly limited when compared to the vast lit- Drug court proponents assert that drug courts are cost-ef- erature available in the United States) and research on crim- fective, reduce recidivism as well as time spent in detention inal justice, incarceration, drug treatment, and drug policy, (prison or jail), and offer drug treatment as an alternative to responses to requests for information, and interviews. Also incarceration for people whose drug use fuels their criminal reviewed for each country were laws, official documents (in- activity. In order to evaluate these assertions, this report re- cluding memoranda of understanding, government docu- views key findings from the United States’ experience with ments and web pages, judiciary reports, PowerPoint presen- drug courts that may be useful to inform debates in other tations made by authorities, and international organization countries about drug courts and other alternatives to incar- documents, among others), studies and evaluations (when ceration for low-level drug crimes. Although major institu- available), and, in a few cases, news reports. tional, legal, and cultural differences exist, the United States’ long experience with drug courts offers an important source 1 Drug Courts in the Americas The substantial diversity among drug court models compli- terms. What is often not considered is that most courts do not cates efforts to evaluate their impact on problems they aim to meet this definition. address, but our review of the existing evidence shows that the claim that drug courts provide an alternative to incarceration is More importantly, we must remember that drug dependence debatable. Drawing from the extensive literature around drug treatment is a type of medical care. People who are dependent courts in the United States, we have found that drug courts, on drugs have a right, under international human rights law, as implemented in that country, are a costly, cumbersome in- to drug health-care services that are available, physically and tervention that has limited, if any, impact on reducing incar- economically accessible without discrimination, gender appro- ceration. Indeed, for many it may have the opposite effect: priate, culturally and ethically acceptable, designed to respect increasing criminal justice supervision and subjecting partici- confidentiality, scientifically and medically appropriate, and of pants who fail to graduate to harsher penalties than they may good quality. By mediating treatment through the criminal jus- have otherwise received, thus becoming an adjunct and not tice system, drug courts aggressively insert the penal system an alternative to incarceration.
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