Expand drug courts
The New Jersey Star Ledger Reader Forum
3/14/07
New Jersey Families Against Mandatory Minimums applauds the New Jersey Commission to Review Criminal Sentencing's recommendation that the Legislature expand drug courts to alleviate prison overcrowding and reduce state spending on housing prisoners. National surveys show recidivism rates for those who graduate from drug courts are far lower than for drug- and alcohol-dependent people simply released from prison.
In 2005, our state Corrections Department spent $34,218 to incarcerate a prisoner for one year compared with $19,800 to send someone to drug court, including six months of residential treatment.
The commission's recommendation to expand drug courts is consistent with the findings in a survey by the Eagleton Institute of Politics Center for Public Interest Polling on behalf of our organization that found 73 percent of New Jerseyans favor the use of drug courts. The expansion of drug courts makes sense and is a viable alternative to incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders that restores lives, saves taxpayer dollars and increases public safety by reducing recidivism.
— Joseph J. Greer, Plainsboro
The writer is campaign director of New Jersey Families Against Mandatory Minimums.