Addiction to alcohol and other drugs is behind so much of the crime in countries such as New Zealand that a specialist court for addicts could radically change our system of criminal justice. Two such courts will be set up in Auckland this year on an experimental basis for four to five years. The results will be watched with interest.
They will aim to cure addicted offenders rather than simply punish them, which is a fine objective but so is justice. At a conference in Auckland last week our judges, lawyers and drug treatment agencies heard from their counterparts in the United States where specialist drug courts have been operating for 20 years and appear to have produced a decline in repeat offences. A key to their success, the visitors said, was dispensing with the adversarial positions of prosecutor and defender. Both sides would join forces with the judge to arrange a rehabilitation programme.
Adversarial procedure is much maligned in discussion of justice these days but it exists to deal with the inevitable conflict between the interests of the wrongdoer and the wronged. Courts that bring all parties around a table to focus on the problems of the offender run the risk that victims will have no effective voice, the offence will be diminished and society will not see justice being done.
Specialist problem-solving courts such as youth courts are already well established in this country though they are not well known. How many were aware we have specialist Maori and Pasifika youth courts, and even a special court for the homeless?
Drug courts would absorb much more of the work of general courts. Between 80 and 90 per cent of crime in New Zealand is said to have been committed under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. Obviously not all such cases would be suitable for diversion to a drug court. The offender would have to be genuinely seeking help. A guilty plea would be a promising start. Then it would be the court's task to assess whether guilt was admitted merely to avoid a prison sentence.
