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1. Who Moved The ?
Transforming the Justice
System

2. A Short History of Florida’s Drug
Courts
• Established in 1989 in Dade County
• Replicated in Broward County in 1991
• Became Mandatory for each Circuit in 2000
• Became Voluntary in 2006 after Art. V, Rev. 7
• Expanded by Stimulus Dollars and Legislative
Initiative in 2009
• Glitch Bill 2011
• Perhaps Reentry in 2012

3. ARTICLE V
Revision 7
• Deleted the state mandate of a drug court in each
circuit
• Added option of a drug court in each county
• HOWEVER, included drug court coordinators in
case management – essential to the courts

4. The Growth of Drug Courts
120 112
110 108
102
100 92
89
90 79
80
69
70
60 55
50 42
40 32 34
30
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

5. Senate Bill 1726 (2009)
• Lists factors to be Considered in Placement of
Offenders in Post-adjudicatory Drug Court
▫ Assessment of Defendant’s Criminal History
▫ Substance Abuse Screening Outcome
▫ Amenability to the Services of Program
▫ Total Sentencing Points
▫ Recommendation of the Prosecutor & Victim, if
any
▫ Defendant’s Agreement to Enter Program

6. Eligibility
• Non-violent third degree felony or
any other felony offense that is not a
forcible felony as defined in section
776.08
• 52 Points or Less
• Substance Abuse Disorder
• Probation Violation

7. Expansion of
Pre-Trial Drug Court
 Non-violent third degree felony or any other
felony offense that is not a forcible felony as
defined in section 776.08
 Identified as Having Substance Abuse
Problem
 No Prior Felony Conviction
 Deleted Prior PTI Admission as an Exclusion

8. Expansion of Drug
Offender Probation
Added non-violent third degree
felony under chapter 810 or any
other felony offense that is not a
forcible felony as defined in
section 776.08 with 52 Points or
less

9. FUNDING
 $825,000 to OSCA for data collection
 $175,000 to OSCA for administration and
data collection
 $750,000 to Public Defenders for Expansion
 $1.5 million to State Attorneys for Expansion
 $17,633,222 for treatment, case
management, and drug testing
◦ All Stimulus Dollars

10. GOAL
• Provide the State with 5 to 1+ return on its
investment of $20,883,223
▫ Target 4,000 non-violent, third-degree or
other non-forcible felony offenders with scores
of 52 or less for post-adjudicatory drug courts
▫ Anticipate 2,000 successful completions (a
50% failure rate as indicated by the OPPAGA
study)
▫ Anticipate 1,600 successful completers will not
reenter Florida’s prison system (80 % success
as indicated by the OPPAGA study)

11. 5:1+ RETURN ON INVESTMENT
 Reduce prison building by $100
million = one prison (1,200 offenders)
 1,600 offenders diverted from prison
 Plus yearly operational costs of $32
million over multiple years
 BONUS: Enhanced Public Safety by
Reduction in Recidivism and
associated costs

12. MEANS TO THE END
Prioritize the nine counties that send the most
offenders in the targeted population to Florida
prisons:
2. Hillsborough 1,224
3. Duval 1,170
4. Broward 995
5. Polk 874
6. Pinellas 768
7. Orange 720
8. Marion 631
9. Volusia 585
10. Escambia 506

13. BASELINE TREATMENT AND DRUG
TESTING COSTS
 $3,500 per offender
 This baseline takes into account:
› Not all offenders will need the same amount
of treatment
› Minimum of 50% of targeted offenders will
complete treatment
› Offenders will contribute to treatment costs
› Communities will contribute to overall
services

14. TOTALS – Annual and Two Year
Projection
 Treatment and Drug Testing $ 7,000,000
 Case Management – Supervision 750,139
 Case Management – Courts 665,477
 Indirect Costs (Counties/OSCA) 387,729
 Travel and Administrative Costs 13,366
TOTAL ANNUAL EXPENSE 8,816,611
Two Year Projection $17,633,222
 Statewide Data System $1,000,000
Development

15. Expansion Admissions
• As of early September 13, 2011, 1,160 are
participating in the expansion programs.
• Hillsborough and Broward lead the admissions.
• Broward has had 259 admissions with 41
terminations, which leads the State in overall
participation
• Hillsborough leads the State in successful
completions
• All Good News

16. Challenges:
Enter the Glitch Bill
 Confusion with new post-adjudicatory
eligibility criteria
 Eligibility criteria is too restrictive
◦ Increase eligibility criteria to all
technical violations of probation rather
than limiting them to just failed drug test
violations
◦ Consider increasing sentencing point
threshold above 60 points

17. 2011 Glitch Bill
• Clarify eligibility criteria for post-adjudicatory
drug court programs.
• Expand criteria to allow more non-violent
offenders to participate.
• This was all accomplished with 2011 legislation
championed by Rep. Rousson. All
recommendations for expanding eligibility was
accomplished.

18. SUCCESS: This an opportunity for
drug courts and substance abuse
treatment to stake its claim.
▫ Enhance Public Safety
▫ Reduce Recidivism
▫ Save $100M+ Dollars
▫ Restore Productive Citizens

19. Drug Court
Reentry Program
▫ The DOC will identify eligible offenders convicted of
non-violent third degree felonies.
▫ After the offender has completed at least one half of
his prison sentence, the DOC will recommend the
offender’s participation to the sentencing judge.
▫ The State has the opportunity to object.
▫ If accepted, the offender will participate in the in-
custody reentry program for 120 days.
▫ Upon successful completion, the sentencing judge will
modify the offender’s sentence to drug offender
probation.

20. • The offender will step-down into an appropriate
community-based treatment program (work
release, residential treatment, half-way house,
day treatment, out-patient therapy).
• The local drug court will monitor the offender’s
participation.
• Failure will return the offender to finish the
initial sentence with forfeiture of any gain time.

21. HB 177
• Sponsored by Senator Ellyn Bogdonoff and
Representative Ari Porth
• Previously supported by Tax Watch, Associated
Industries of Florida, The Coalition for Smart
Justice, FADAA, FADCP, and many other
treatment wise groups.
• Your support is needed.

22. WHY?
Because of YOU!

23. The Cheese Has Moved!
• Now, I don’t have to explain what a drug court
is.
• Now, the State wants to know how drug courts
can improve the criminal justice system and save
dollars.
• Now, the OSCA fully supports drug courts.
• Now, the Senate Criminal Justice Committee
asks for presentations on drug courts.
• Now, it’s drug court’s time to shine, but not
without pulling its own weight.

24. A Great Big Thank You!
• Without the Commission on Substance Abuse,
our drug courts would not exist, could not
expand, could not survive!
• Without the Commission, Broward County
would not lead the State in: Prevention
Diversion
Intervention
Reentry

25. The Cheese Has Moved!