Posted: Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Community leaders and area residents gathered at the Carlton County Courthouse today to celebrate the opening of the recently-established Carlton County Drug Court program. The event featured remarks by judges and justice system partners involved in the program, as well as comments from two recent drug court participants who spoke to the impact their participation in the program had on their recovery and ability to avoid further criminal charges.

“Drug courts are a proven tool that help break the cycle of drug addiction and crime that have captured so many offenders in our criminal justice system,” said Sixth Judicial District Judge Leslie Beiers, who serves as lead judge of the Carlton County Drug Court. “By holding offenders accountable and focusing on their recovery, drug courts help protect the public’s safety while improving the lives of those struggling with addiction. We are so pleased to be able to bring this valuable program to Carlton County, and today’s event was a great opportunity to share this exciting development with the community.”

The Carlton County Drug Court is a specialized, problem-solving court program that targets non-violent criminal offenders who suffer from addiction to alcohol or other drugs. The program is operated through Minnesota’s Sixth Judicial District in partnership with the Carlton County Attorney’s Office, district public defenders, Arrowhead Regional Corrections, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and regional treatment centers.

In lieu of incarceration, drug courts use a treatment-based approach coupled with intensive supervision and judicial oversight to help chemically-dependent offenders maintain sobriety. Offenders enter the program for at least a year, during which time they are expected to complete treatment and remain accountable to probation through providing random urinalysis tests and complying with random home visits.

The Carlton County Drug Court is one of 50 drug court programs currently in operation in Minnesota.

In 2012, the Minnesota Judicial Branch released the first comprehensive evaluation of the effectiveness of Minnesota’s drug courts. The groundbreaking study, which compared 535 drug court participants to similar offenders who experienced traditional court processes over two-and-a-half years, found that drug courts significantly reduced recidivism, improved community outcomes, and reduced incarceration and related costs for drug court participants.

Earlier this month, the Minnesota Judicial Branch released a follow-up to that 2012 evaluation, which tracked the progress of the same drug court participants and similar offenders over an additional year-and-a-half. The new evaluation found that drug court participants – now four years removed from their entry into a drug court program – continued to show significantly lower recidivism rates and reduced incarceration costs.

“Drug courts are easily one of the best studied and most highly-evaluated tools we have in the criminal justice system,” said Sixth Judicial District Chief Judge Shaun Floerke, co-chair of the Drug Court Initiative Advisory Committee. “Time and time again, we see the same finding in these studies: drug courts work. Drug courts reduce recidivism, help those struggling with serious addictions, and save costs within our justice system.”

The Carlton County Drug Court began serving participants in September and, to date, 18 offenders have entered the program. The program received funding through a 2013 legislative appropriation aimed at expanding access to drug court programs in Minnesota. The program also receives support from Carlton County, along with resource commitments from justice system and other program partners.

Today’s event featured remarks by:

• Sixth Judicial District Chief Judge Shaun Floerke, co-chair of the Minnesota Drug Court Initiative Advisory Committee;
• Sixth Judicial District Judge Leslie Beiers, lead judge of the Carlton County Drug Court;
• Jill Eichenwald, Managing Attorney of the Northeastern Minnesota Public Defender's Office;
• Thom Pertler, Carlton County Attorney;
• Amy Turnquist, Carlton County Court Administrator; and
• Two Duluth Drug Court participants.