NCJ Number
139498
Journal
State Government News Volume: 35 Issue: 11 Dated: (November 1992) Pages: 30-34
Date Published
1992
Length
5 pages
Annotation
The key to a successful California drug program is bypassing bureaucracy and treating addicts while they are still in shock over their arrest.
Abstract
Alameda County's FIRST Diversion Program is available only to those who have been arrested for the first time on a drug possession charge. Compared with the more traditional prison diversion program it replaced, FIRST has shown a 50-percent decline in the rearrest rate of participants and a 94-percent increase in the number of people completing the first year of diversion. Already, 750 have graduated from FIRST, many testing free of drugs for the first time in years. Supporters also credit FIRST, in part, with the unusually low occupancy rate at the Alameda County jail and say the program has saved thousands of dollars in arrests, bookings, and prison costs. A crucial component of the FIRST program is a written contract that spells out what has to occur before records are expunged. The contract is significant because most drug addicts distrust the legal system; the contract provides them with enough certainty and incentive to try. If drug offenders fail the program, criminal proceedings will be reinstated, and they will be bound over to Superior Court. Not all judges support FIRST because the program can mean giving up some control over their courtrooms. The success of FIRST is based on close working relationships between judges and probation and parole officers.