Domestic Violence court offers alternatives, hope for future

Kentucky is rethinking its penal system for dealing with drug offenders and has shown success in reducing recidivism and relapse rates. Instead of leaving addicts to languish in the typical jailhouse environment of "extortion, violence and tedium," more than two dozen of the state's county jails have created separate units devoted to full-time addiction treatment and support-services for prisoners that involve peer-policing.

The drug crisis has reached new extremes in many parts of the country, as meth and opioids continue to tear families apart and funnel even more children into an already-strapped foster care system. In rural Montana, law enforcement and communities are trying a new approach to battling drug addiction, focusing on supportive family counseling and "drug courts" to help treat - rather than imprison - those struggling with addiction. In Lake County, Family Drug Treatment Courts are working to divert addicts from the vicious cycle and keep more families together.

In one year, the drug overdoses in Roanoke, VA have taken 12 lives and another 76 have overdosed but survived. The police department developed a new program called the Roanoke Valley Hope Initiative, designed to provide rehabilitation without arrest for those who seek it. The program simulates the successful national effort to help drug abusers instead of incarcerating them.

Merging accountability with treatment promotes recovery for those charged with drug possession. In Franklin County, Ohio, the municipal court system operates a program called Helping Achieve Recovery Together. The court recovery program provides a two-year track for participants to receive mental health support from peers and the courts, with the goal of moving them from the criminal justice system and into treatment.

When military veterans get charged with crimes, more than 350 courts nationwide exist to try to keep them out of jail, with rehabilitation as the chief goal. Boston Veterans Court provides people with social workers, outreach specialists, access to therapy, and help in going to school, finding a job, and dealing with life's stresses. Many people in this system come home from war struggling with anger, trauma, and substance abuse problems. Some studies have quantified veterans courts' success rates for helping people overcoming mental illness and staying out of criminal trouble.

Across the country, prisons are incorporating “therapeutic communities” to help incarcerated individuals find the residential treatment they need. Substance abuse continues to be strongly linked to recidivism, and in an attempt to break that cycle, these therapeutic communities provide people with structured rehabilitation, counseling, and support as an alternative to traditional prison. Many are federally funded, but considering they’ve only recently gained traction, they still face issues like buy-in and capacity.

Opioid overdose is a rising problem that is taking more and more lives, including Holly's. Holly's mother started 'Holly's Song of Hope' to help educate the public about drugs and addiction, to provide a support group where people can ask questions and support one another online, and to help make legislative changes.

The rampant opioid epidemic tearing through communities across the United States is exacerbated by a rigid court system that fails to address individual needs and a severe lack of comprehensive treatment options, even for those who want to get clean. Family Treatment Court, like the one in Chautauqua County, N.Y., provides parents who are addicts an innovative intervention program that includes a broad range of custom-tailored services to permanently quit their drug use and keep their families together.

Montana saw the rise of child abuse and neglect cases due to parental substance abuse, particularly with those using methamphetamine. Family drug courts are reversing this trend due to a more holistic approach striving for permanency through rewards and sanctions program, frequent testing, and treatment.

During the last 12 years, the number of minors in Alaska sentenced to time in correctional facilities because of drug or alcohol charges has been steadily reduced, from 730 in 2003 to 395 in 2014. A big contributing factor behind that improvement has come with the department’s progress in, firstly, assessing what kids need treatment and, secondly, getting them into the right treatment programs.