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New York may offer drug users alternative to jail

Betts
Elizabeth Betts says a treatment court saved her life  

June 26, 2000
Web posted at: 11:11 p.m. EDT (0311 GMT)

NEW YORK (CNN) -- New York's Chief Judge Judith Kaye wants to make her state the first to systematically offer non-violent drug users the opportunity to get clean rather than go to prison

Kaye hopes to make available statewide the so-called "treatment courts" that have been implemented ad hoc in some the state's jurisdictions.

Jurists, treatment experts and district attorneys hope the innovative courts will reduce re-arrest rates and end up costing fewer tax dollars than incarceration.

"I think the evidence is overwhelming that if you send someone to prison and they come out addicted, they're going to be right back committing more crimes," said Robert Fiske Jr., chairman of the state Commission on Drugs and the Courts. "This way, people are cured of the addiction and crime is reduced.

Elizabeth Betts of Brooklyn said her life was saved by a treatment court.

  MESSAGE BOARD
 

Today she works two jobs, has an apartment, and is optimistic about life. That's a far cry from a woman who once lived on the street, scrounging for food and shelter, living only for the high provided by crack cocaine.

"I would be in the rain, I would be in the snow. I would really be so cold," she said. "And I would just say 'God, please could you please just get me out of this street?'"

She says her prayer was answered by, of all things, her arrest.

Arraigned in 1997 on narcotics charges, she spent a frightening 24 hours at New York's Riker's Island jail.

She eventually ended up in the Brooklyn treatment court, where she was given a choice. She could serve a one-year jail sentence at Riker's or she could enter a residential treatment program for 12 to 18 months.

She chose the treatment. She's been clean ever since.

The statewide program would identify non-violent defendants eligible for treatment. They would receive in-depth assessments, drug testing and, ultimately, treatment instead of jail time.

But critics say the approach is flawed because the defendant must plead guilty to get the benefit of treatment.

"People shouldn't have to choose between (drug) treatment and fair treatment in the courts," says Charles Adler of the New York Bar Association. "People will have to give up their right to defend the case, even if innocent, in order to accept the opportunity for treatment."

But Betts says the Brooklyn court gave her a second chance. "I didn't get arrested. I got rescued, because they saved my life."



RELATED STORIES:
Court officials announce program for nonviolent drug addicts
June 23, 2000
More than 200 arrested as Mexican heroin ring is busted, U.S. officials say
June 15, 2000
Middle-class, teen-age heroin addicts testify before Senate
May 9, 2000
Narcotics seized, arrests made in 'large scale drug bust' in Hawaii
May 5, 2000

RELATED SITES:
Drug Enforcement Agency
Office of the Attorney General
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)

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