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Youth Court judges are quietly revolutionising the way they deal with drug offenders, making changes which could soon be emulated in adult courts.
Instead of simply sentencing young addicts to be punished for crimes such as stealing, judges are adjourning their cases while the youths attend treatment programmes and then talking to them every week or fortnight to keep them on track.
In two local experiments - a specialist Youth Drug Court in Christchurch and an "intensive monitoring group" in Auckland - the youngsters are brought into court every fortnight to tell judges how their treatment is going.
In other cases, judges are making weekly telephone conference calls with young addicts and their lawyers, therapists, social workers, police youth aid officers and anyone else involved in their rehabilitation.
"If a significant factor in their offending has been drug dependency, and if they are in agreement about undertaking treatment for it, I have said the court and the team that works with the court will encourage them and monitor them every step of the way," says Principal Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft.
Specialist "therapeutic courts" like this are seen by many as the way of the future, and not only for drug-related crimes or for the Youth Court's clientele of 14- to 16-year-olds.
Family Violence Courts in Auckland and Wellington already encourage adult offenders to attend anti-violence courses before being sentenced.
Drug consultant Mike Sabin says the United States has more than 2000 drug courts. Almost all are adult courts.
In New Zealand, Judge John Walker started searching for an answer to addiction problems soon after being appointed to the district court in Nelson in 1994.
"When you sit there day in and day out, particularly in a provincial court, you see people coming back time and time again with the same underlying cause," he says. "For 80 per cent of the people you see, it's alcohol or other drug dependency or abuse which is underlying their offending.
"Of that 80 per cent, 80 per cent, conservatively, would be alcohol. That is our major presenting drug."
He travelled to Melbourne to see a therapeutic court in operation, and lobbied to get a pilot project here.
A pilot finally started in 2002. It was in the Youth Court, "because there was already a team approach in the Youth Court", and it was in Christchurch because it had a single Youth Court for the whole city and a specialist youth drug and alcohol service.
For the first three or four years, Judge Walker flew to Christchurch every second Thursday to make sure young people in the programme saw the same judge every time - an essential feature of a therapeutic court.
"He made an enormous personal sacrifice to get that Drug Court up and running," says Judge Becroft.
Auckland Youth Court judge Tony Fitzgerald broadened the idea in 2007. His Intensive Monitoring Group (IMG) takes 10 young offenders at a time with either drug and alcohol or mental health problems, also bringing them back to the same judge and the same support team every fortnight.
Judge Becroft says all Youth Court judges decided last year to "mainstream" the idea for any young people needing ongoing treatment. He personally rings two young offenders every week.
The results so far are equivocal. A 2006 evaluation of the Christchurch pilot found that 70 per cent of the youths who went through the specialist Drug Court reoffended within a year, compared with 68 per cent of comparable offenders in the normal Youth Court.
Preliminary results of a study by Massey University doctoral student Nick Mooney have also found no significant differences in reoffending between Auckland's IMG participants and a control group.
However, Mr Mooney's study has found that IMG participants are significantly less likely to reoffend based on tests of their personality and circumstances, and Judge Becroft says the Christchurch evaluation was too early and needs to be repeated.
Mr Sabin cites findings in the US that adult drug courts reduce reoffending by 7 to 14 per cent.
Judge Becroft says there is nothing to stop judges in adult courts using remand dates to create effective therapeutic courts. "As in many areas of the New Zealand justice system, what has been pioneered in the Youth Court has often subsequently been introduced to the adult courts," he says.
"I would think that, as night follows day, it's likely that a Drug Court approach will be introduced in the adult court."
THERAPEUTIC COURTS
* Get offenders into treatment quickly.
* Use bail conditions to enforce treatment.
* Use regular remands to keep the offender in touch with a judge and professional team.
* Ensure the same judge talks to the offender from beginning to end.
* Reward successful treatment with reduced sentence or discharge.
* Ensure follow-up support.
