Program turning lives around

Young mum Cecilia lied and cheated to hide her addiction and keep on using drugs.

When she hit rock bottom and was handed a nine-month jail term for drug-related offending, she was given the option to instead go to a drug court.

It was a second chance, but Cecilia initially thought it was a “get out jail free card”.

“I thought … I’ll be able to beat the system. I can do this. I’ll still be able to use (drugs) and be home with my kids,” she said.

“But that didn’t work, it just made it worse for me, it made me lie about my use because I was embarrassed to be honest that I had used.”

Like Cecilia, Jodi – a mature-aged man – spiralled into uncontrollable drug use, criminal associations and an escalating pattern of offending.

After escaping police custody, Jodi went on the run “ducking down alleys and weaving through crowed streets” whenever police closed in.

When Jodi was rearrested, charged and facing court he sat sobbing and hopeless in the dock as he recalled what he once had in his life, according to a report on his case.

A veteran police sergeant took him aside, told him about the drug court option and the opportunity it might provide to turn his life around.

Cecilia and Jodi are two of the success stories of the drug courts every year that are now operating in every state and territory for nonviolent offenders.

And new research conducted jby the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research and the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre shows that treating drug-related offenders is far more effective than sending them to prison.

The researchers compared reoffending rates among drug court participants with offenders deemed eligible but not placed on it. Offenders were followed up over an average period of 13.5 years.

Participants were found to have a 17 per cent lower reoffending rate than those not in the program. They also took 22 per cent longer to commit another offence.