READING, Pa.- May is National Treatment Court Month. Advocates say treatment courts are an important alternative to incarceration for people struggling with addiction, mental health disorders or trauma.
Treatment courts started with an adult drug court in 1989 in Miami. Now there are around 4,000 around the country, including juvenile drug court, veterans drug court, and other types.
“As we know, so many people with addiction and mental health disorders get involved in the criminal justice system and we want to provide a rehabilitative service to them,” said John Gallagher, an Alvernia University Associate professor of Criminal Justice. “We want to treat them in the hopes that they’ll achieve recovery and hence stay out of the system.”
Gallagher is also a researcher. He says treatment courts are distinctly different than traditional probation or incarceration and involve intensive supervision.
“I think the key components of it that work is that they see the judge weekly, they do drug testing two, sometimes three times a week on a random basis and they are court ordered into treatment,” explained Gallagher. “So, they must engage in addiction and mental health counseling.”
He says this model of treatment is designed for the high risk, high need offender and it aims to interrupt the cycle, treat the underlying issues and cut down on recidivism.
“When it comes to addiction, trauma and other mental health disorders, the one thing that we know without a doubt is that incarceration does not work,” Gallagher said. “It makes it worse. Good quality treatment, coupled with intensive community supervision. Protecting the public and treating the individual works.”
Berks County does have a treatment court. Gallagher says he hopes to see this area of criminal justice reform continue to expand in the future.