Nsw Drug Court Case Study
NSW Drug Court: Is it an effective addition to the legal system?
The Drug Court of New South Wales was introduced in February 1999 as a 2-year-pilot program under the Drug Court Act 1998 (NSW). After various evaluations it was decided to extend the pilot-program until 2004, with amendments being made to the Drug Court Act 1998 (NSW) in December 2002.
The Drug Court’s main objectives are:
to reduce the drug dependency of eligible persons to promote the re-integration of such drug dependent persons into the community, and to reduce the need for such drug dependent persons to resort to criminal activity to support their drug dependencies.
But is the Drug Court effective in achieving these objectives?
There are two main points of view on this.
But to be able …show more content…
It is recommended that the Departments of Juvenile Justice, Attorney-General’s and the Police Service work together with the YDC Registry and the Judicial Commission to develop a more effective, unified data system for this purpose.
− The Departments involved in the YDC should consider whether better coordination and management might be achieved if a single manager could be appointed with overall responsibility for the program, especially if the program is expanded.
− There were also a number of areas in which stakeholders felt the program could be doing more to meet its original aims. These included sensitivity to cultural issues, avoiding further criminalisation of young people through sanctions, assistance for young people with a range of special needs, and involving participants’ families.
To conclude, the question we need to ask is do the points of effectiveness weigh out the points of ineffectiveness? In other words is it effective or is it
The Drug Court of New South Wales was introduced in February 1999 as a 2-year-pilot program under the Drug Court Act 1998 (NSW). After various evaluations it was decided to extend the pilot-program until 2004, with amendments being made to the Drug Court Act 1998 (NSW) in December 2002.
The Drug Court’s main objectives are:
to reduce the drug dependency of eligible persons to promote the re-integration of such drug dependent persons into the community, and to reduce the need for such drug dependent persons to resort to criminal activity to support their drug dependencies.
But is the Drug Court effective in achieving these objectives?
There are two main points of view on this.
But to be able …show more content…
It is recommended that the Departments of Juvenile Justice, Attorney-General’s and the Police Service work together with the YDC Registry and the Judicial Commission to develop a more effective, unified data system for this purpose.
− The Departments involved in the YDC should consider whether better coordination and management might be achieved if a single manager could be appointed with overall responsibility for the program, especially if the program is expanded.
− There were also a number of areas in which stakeholders felt the program could be doing more to meet its original aims. These included sensitivity to cultural issues, avoiding further criminalisation of young people through sanctions, assistance for young people with a range of special needs, and involving participants’ families.
To conclude, the question we need to ask is do the points of effectiveness weigh out the points of ineffectiveness? In other words is it effective or is it