Legislature(2003 - 2004)
04/21/2004 08:05 AM Senate JUD
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HCR 29am-SUPPORT THERAPEUTIC COURTS
MR. JOHN BITTNER, staff to Representative Cheryl Heinze, sponsor of
HCR 29, gave the following summary of the resolution.
Alcoholism in Alaska is a serious and immediate problem.
Conventional methods of dealing with repeat offenders under
the influence of alcohol are not effective and are
prohibitively expensive. Alcoholism is a mental as well as
a physical disease and it needs to be treated as such if we
are to have any hope of rehabilitating people with drug and
alcohol problems effectively and with the minimum burden to
the state and its citizens.
The daily cost of the wellness court is about $22 a day,
which works out to around $11,000 over the 18-month
treatment period. Out of this the state pays around $6,100
on average. The rest of the cost is paid for by the person
receiving treatment. The average cost of traditional
incarceration is over $60,000 for 18 months, or roughly
$113 per day. Traditionally, alcoholics who are
incarcerated tend not to receive effective treatment for
their addictions while they are in jail. While the percent
of alcohol and drug abusers who have been incarcerated and
subsequently rearrested after their release is somewhere
around 67 percent nationwide, the percentage of wellness
court graduates rearrested after their release is around 25
percent.
This disparity in success rate is attributed to the use of
maltrexon, a drug that inhibits alcohol cravings, coupled
with community based treatment programs and cognitive
behavioral therapy. People with substance abuse problems
aren't going to be helped by locking them away with few, if
any, treatment options and then releasing them after they
have served their time. The best way we have of treating
people with addictions is the therapeutic courts.
HCR 29 asks the legislature to show its support for
therapeutic courts and reducing DUI crimes. It also asks
the Department of Law and the Public Defender Agency to
actually participate in the start-up of therapeutic courts
in areas with high incidences of DUI offenders and local
support for therapeutic courts. They are effective,
inexpensive, and easy to implement. Thank you.
CHAIR SEEKINS asked if the legislature recently passed legislation
that extended funding for therapeutic courts.
SENATOR FRENCH said it passed legislation that extends the sunset
date of the therapeutic court to make sure the legislature gets a
final report before making a decision on whether to continue the
program.
CHAIR SEEKINS said he has heard no opposition to therapeutic courts.
SENATOR OGAN asked why specific communities for new therapeutic
courts are listed on page 2, line 5.
MR. BITTNER said he believes that Fairbanks and Ketchikan were
included because of their sizes. Juneau and several other cities
already have therapeutic courts or are actively establishing them.
The plan is to put the courts in areas with the highest incidence of
DUI crimes.
SENATOR OGAN said he was under the impression that the existing
therapeutic courts are a pilot program so it might be schizophrenic
for the legislature to support more of them before the report about
whether or not the program has been successful is completed. He
suggested requiring such a report before allowing new courts to be
established.
SENATOR ELLIS joined the committee.
SENATOR OGAN expressed concern that HCR 29am is inconsistent with the
legislature's prior actions.
CHAIR SEEKINS said the resolution would provide support but no
funding.
MS. JANET McCABE, speaking for Partners for Progress, stated support
for HCR 29am. She explained:
There are therapeutic courts at the Superior Court felony
level, and those are the ones that of course you recently
funded. Then there's Judge Wanamacher's court and the
courts at the misdemeanor level and Ketchikan has started
and is underway and Fairbanks is very interested and with
the court system's assistance, we are applying for a
national highway safety grant to fund those courts so I
hope that clarifies the finance question...
This resolution supports the development, particularly of
Fairbanks, Ketchikan, and Juneau, because those are places
that have been strongly interested and Juneau is underway -
and Ketchikan. And then it talks about other communities
where there's a large population of DUI offenders, and
where there's a lot of support for therapeutic courts. The
resolution asks the district attorneys, public defenders,
and relevant agencies to assist in therapeutic court
development and it notes that there are grant funds that
have been applied for these DUI courts through the National
Institute for Transportation Safety.
Regarding data, for the wellness court we now have three
years of solid data from Judge Wanamacher's wellness court
in Anchorage and this is data prepared and put together by
an impartial source, the University of Alaska, and it's
based on court records so it's not anecdotal. It shows that
therapeutic courts have been at least three times as
effective as incarceration in preventing repeat alcohol
crimes. Jailing alcoholic criminals is an expensive
revolving door. Seventy-five percent of repeat alcoholic
offenders get out of jail and reoffend again, and that also
is solid data.
Therapeutic courts stop this cycle by a process that Judge
Wanamacher describes as quote, getting the alcohol out of
the alcoholic. People spend 18 months in the court program
where they are required to be employed, they are monitored
for sobriety, they undergo intensive treatment, including
medical treatments - there's a medicine now that quells the
intense craving that alcohol addicts have for alcohol. They
are also required to visit the same judge repeatedly. They
are applauded for success or put back in jail for a relapse
for a few days. But basically, they're required to be
responsible for themselves and they're monitored while they
live successfully and work in the community. And when they
finish the 18-month program, they are truly changed people.
Our data shows that this is a lasting change.
Therapeutic courts save money and prevent public harm. We
urge you to pass this resolution, which encourages the
development of therapeutic courts where there is both the
need and a public interest.
CHAIR SEEKINS referred to the language on page 2, line 2, and page 1,
line 11, and suggested adding "for which federal funds are
available". He asked Mr. Bittner if the intent is to use federal
funds for the start-up of those programs.
MR. BITTNER said it is.
CHAIR SEEKINS noted that using federal funds for those projects would
be consistent with the legislature's intent for the pilot program.
SENATOR FRENCH pointed out that language pertaining to federal funds
is already included in the third "whereas" clause.
SENATOR OGAN moved HCR 29am from committee with individual
recommendations and its attached fiscal note.
CHAIR SEEKINS announced that without objection, the motion carried.
He then adjourned the meeting.
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