You asked for background information about drug courts in Connecticut, including their location, caseload, and cost.

SUMMARY

There are three “drug courts” currently operating in Connecticut; one each in Bridgeport, one in New Haven, and one in Danielson. None of these are separate courts, with separate staff and facilities. Rather, they are separate drug dockets where one judge handles the docket, with special contracts or arrangements with drug treatment service providers. The Judicial Department calls this the Drug Intervention Program. It provides treatment, supervision, and judicial monitoring. It also expands the treatment options available to drug-dependant defendants at all stages of a criminal case. The Judicial Department has limited this program to non-violent drug dependant offenders.

Maureen Derbacker, a drug court expert serving as a court management specialist for the Judicial Department, provided us with the information about these courts that is contained in this report. Bridgeport currently has 20 in-patient slots and at least 30 out-patient treatment slots contracted for. Danielson has 3 in-patient slots and 30 out-patient slots. New Haven has 60 in-patient slots. New Haven also has reserved 10 in-patient slots but unlike the other two locations, no Judicial Department funds are available for these in-patient slots. Instead, funding from private insurance, public assistance, or some other source must be used. The annual budget for treatment providers is about $ 750,000 in Bridgeport, $ 250,000 in Danielson; and $ 140,000 in New Haven. The Bridgeport drug docket has been operating for about two years, while the New Haven and Danielson dockets have been operating for about one year. No studies have been done regarding the effectiveness of these “drug courts”.

Fifty two people were referred to Danielson's drug docket from November 2004 to December 2005; 57 were referred to Bridgeport's drug docket from January 2005 to December 2005, and 177 were referred to New Haven's drug docket from November 2004 to December 2005. As of January 5, 2006, 1)Danielson has a case load of 26 people; 22 are out-patient and four are in-patient; 2) Bridgeport has a case load of 31 clients; 12 are out-patient and 19 are in-patient; and 3) New Haven has a case load of 92 clients; 57 out-patient and 37 in-patient.

Before the Judicial Department implemented the current drug dockets, it had operated several drug courts from around 1996 to 2001. These drug courts operated in New Haven, Bridgeport, Waterbury, and Hartford. The Hartford drug court was available for juveniles only. These drug courts had separate staff, and operated as a separate court. According to Derbacker these courts were very labor intensive with daily meetings between the judge, prosecutor, public defender, and other staff. The Judicial Department decided to terminate the courts in 2002 to save money. At that time the chief court administrator asked Derbacker to study the issue and make recommendations on how something like a drug court could be operated more efficiently and economically. After studying the issue for several months, Derbacker proposed the current system, which uses the regular court staff instead of using specially designated staff. (A copy of her recommendation is enclosed in Attachment 1).

The main difference between the old drug courts and the current drug dockets is that the dockets do not require separate additional staff, but rely on the existing staff and procedures. For example, instead of having special meetings each day to discuss the cases, the judge uses the existing procedure of a pretrial conference to discuss the case with the appropriate parties.

We have enclosed three OLR reports that provide background information about drug courts (94-R-1011, 95-R-1338, and 97-R-0806). We have also enclosed a study of the effectiveness of the New Haven drug

court from July 1, 1996 to June 30, 1999 conducted by TWR Consuting. The study concluded that drug court was more effective than probation with respect to recidivism

CURRENT STATUTORY AUTHORITY FOR DRUG COURTS

The law authorizes the chief court administrator to establish in any court location or juvenile matters court location a docket separate from other criminal or juvenile matters for hearing criminal or juvenile matters in which a defendant is a drug-dependent person. The docket must be available to offenders who could benefit from placement in a substance abuse treatment program (CGS §51-181b(a)).

The law requires the chief court administrator to establish, within the appropriations designated in public act 03-1 of the June 30 special session, one or more drug courts for the hearing of criminal or juvenile matters in which a defendant is a drug-dependent person, who could benefit from placement in a substance abuse treatment program (CGS §51-181b(b)).

The law does not define the difference between a drug court and a drug docket.

Origin of Drug Courts in Connecticut

The drug courts in Connecticut were established pursuant to 1995 legislation (PA 95-131, An Act Concerning a Drug Docket). It established a pilot drug court program for drug-dependent criminal defendants, including 16-to 21-year-olds who could benefit from placement in a substance abuse treatment program. The chief court administrator was required to (1) designate a court location, (2) establish policies and procedures to implement the program, and (3) report program expansion recommendations to the Judiciary Committee by January 1, 1997.

Legislation adopted in 1997 altered the law in several ways (PA 97-248, An Act Concerning Substance Abuse Education And Treatment Programs And Establishing A Connecticut Alcohol And Drug Policy Council). It allowed the chief court administrator to establish a separate docket in all geographical area and juvenile courts for criminal or juvenile cases involving defendants who are drug-dependent. The act defined "drug dependence" as a "psychoactive substance dependence on drugs" as defined in the most recent edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

The act also allowed a court accepting a person for the pretrial AR program to transfer him to the supervision of a drug court, in lieu of the Office of Adult Probation's (OAP's) custody. The transferring court had to impose conditions for the transfer and, presumably, the supervision period. Once the person satisfactorily completes the supervision period, the drug court had to release him to OAP's custody under conditions the court orders, or dismiss the criminal charges.

Legislation adopted in 2003 makes the drug docket available to all offenders instead of just to offenders who were 16 to 21 years of age (PA 03- June 30 Special Session; Public Act No. 03-6, An Act Concerning General Budget And Revenue Implementation Provisions). It also requires the Chief Court Administrator to establish, within the appropriations designated in Public Act 03-1 of the June 30 Special Session for said purpose, one or more drug courts.

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