For some, Anchorage Wellness Court offers a road to redemption

South Dakota’s “24/7 Sobriety” initiative breathalyzers tens of thousands of people every day in an effort to curb drunk driving. Rather than legislation that takes penalizes offenders by taking away their license, the state addresses the behavioral issue instead. In counties that use the “24/7 Sobriety,” they’ve seen a 12% decrease in repeat drunken-driving arrests.

Non-violent offenders arrested during mental health episodes in Davidson County are sent to Mental Health Court rather than criminal court. Through this court, they are connected to safety net services such as housing, medication assistance, and therapy.

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.

In Philadelphia, people facing felony drug charges can opt for a yearlong program in a treatment court where their progress is monitored to ensure they avoid substance use, get treatment and stay in contact with their case managers. Judges presiding over the court work with those who miss those goals to help them reflect on how they can graduate, even if there are stumbles along the way. Those who successfully complete the program can work to get the felonies expunged from their records.

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.

The Ohio Reformatory for Women is a prison that offers inmates a chance to enroll in Tapestry, an inpatient drug treatment program that tries to delve into the deeper causes women turn to drugs. It also believes in connecting women who are addicts with one another because “on the outside there’s not enough support.” The 18 month program is “about healing mind, body and spirit.”

In Seattle, the over-policing of drug users has been extensive and frequently racially biased. Looking for a new solution, the LEAD (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion) program, driven by a harm reduction philosophy, is connecting users with key social services rather than punishment.

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.

How to break a cycle of recidivism? Individual ex-prisoners share their own stories of how they have recovered from addiction and lives of crime, gotten their lives on track, and ultimately broken the cycle and stayed out of prison.

U.S. courts are offering war veterans who face jail time the choice of rehabilitation. This helps them adjust to civilian life and reduces repeat offences.