How Drug Courts Work

A drug court has responsibility for handling cases involving drug-using offenders using judicial leadership and a collaborating team of criminal justice, treatment and other systems specialists.  The drug court strategy includes multiple incentives and graduated sanctions, when necessary, to encourage participants to focus on recovery from substance addiction through adjustment to a sober, crime-free lifestyle.

Drug courts currently serve thousands of offenders in 2,016 courts nationwide.

A Brief History of the Greater Cleveland Drug Court

On March 2, 1998, with grant funding from the U.S. Department of Justice, Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Larry A. Jones implemented the adult drug court in Cuyahoga County.  Judge Jones’ Drug Court, now entering its tenth year, has served 1,221 individuals including 638 graduates – a 52.2% success rate!

Cuyahoga County agency collaborators include:

• the Public Defender’s Office,
• Cleveland Police,
• the Prosecutor’s Office,
• Common Pleas Court,
• the Department of Justice Affairs,
• and the Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board (ADASBCC). 

Since 1999, the Greater Cleveland Drug Court (GCDC) has received annual funding from the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services (ODADAS).

Participants are drug and crime-free for a minimum of 90 days prior to graduation.  Over the past twelve months, participants submitted a total of 5,212 drug tests of which 92% were drug free.

As part of a three-year federally funded GCDC enhancement project, the University of Akron found that just 19.1% (7.1% felony, 12% misdemeanor) of participants had been rearrested within one year of program admission.  The results were compared to 50 eligible candidates who were referred but chose not to enter GCDC: they had been rearrested at a rate of 35.2% (25.9% felony, 12.9% misdemeanor) (2006) .

On the strength of these and other positive outcomes, the Prosecutor’s Office has given $100,000 and the county’s Department of Justice Affairs $50,000 to provide treatment services for additional program participants.  Furthermore, the ADASBCC obtained Board of Cuyahoga County Commissioner funding for 2006 and 2007 to locally sustain the federal enhancement project, which expired in 2006.

An expansion of the Greater Cleveland Drug Court is needed to provide the Drug Court program to additional drug-involved adults in the community.  Funding is being sought at this time to support additional treatment services for a countywide program.