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Drug Court for Youth Offenders: A View from the Bench
The Drug Court model was initiated about twenty years ago because an incredibly high percentage of criminal acts track back in some way to substance abuse and addiction. The defendants referred to Drug Courts are committing crimes because they have the disease of addiction. Drug Courts have taken the model used in many addiction treatment centers and added criminal justice-related structure and the leverage of potential sanctions. Most treatment programs say to the addicts they treat, “Here are the tools that will help you recover and learn how to live without using mind- and/or mood-altering substances,” and if clients don’t cooperate and use these tools, the program can say, “See you later. You are out of the facility.” But in the courts we say, “Here are the tools, and if you don’t use the tools, we take your freedom away because we not only have to protect you, but we have to protect the community from your actions.”
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The court I preside over is the Youth Offender (YO) Court, which is part of the Las Vegas Municipal Court. Municipal Court handles misdemeanors within the cities of Las Vegas, Henderson, and North Las Vegas. District Court handles civil cases, gross misdemeanors, and felonies. When you are in the District Court Drug Court, you go to prison if you fail to comply with court requirements. When you are in the Municipal Court and you fail to comply, the biggest hammer I have is six months in city jail.
Launched in July of 2010, YO Court is a specialty Drug Court for defendants between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four. YO Court was follows an intensive supervision Drug Court model with a focus on treatment and family participation to address the root cause of addiction, and holds young offenders with substance abuse issues and their parent figures accountable, rather than just punishing them.
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