DRUG COURT MAY STAGE COMEBACK

Denver's drug court - once considered a national model - has been
virtually eliminated, causing inmates to stack up in city jails,
delaying treatment for addicts and postponing resolution of cases,
critics contend.

In 1994, Denver created one of the country's first drug courts. Other
communities rushed to copy the concept, which emphasized a
carrot-and-stick approach to get drug defendants out of cells and into
treatment.

But Denver has scaled back and scattered its program to the point that
critics argue it no longer exists. They are pushing to reinstate a
centralized system to help relieve jail crowding.

"At one time Denver had the largest drug court in the country," said
Douglas Marlowe, an associate professor at the University of
Pennsylvania who studies the effectiveness of drug-court programs. "It
once was one of the places people from around the country went to
learn about how to run a drug court. It's one of the heartbreak
stories, frankly."

The dismantling of Denver's drug court comes at a time when drug
courts are increasing in popularity. Denver created the 12th drug
court in the nation 11 years ago. There are now more than 1,400.

Treatment Instead of Jail

Under the drug-court model, a single judge handles all drug cases to
develop a consistent approach. Lower-level offenders avoid prison by
enrolling in drug treatment. If they fail treatment, the judge imposes
harsher penalties to encourage compliance.

"There are a lot of people who believe drug court was very effective,"
said Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey, who is crafting a plan
to reinstate a centralized drug court. "We've lost some ability to get
inmates into the treatment track quickly."

Detractors question the effectiveness of drug courts and the
involvement of judges in treatment decisions. Judges should stick to
the law, they say.

The issue could reopen a schism among the local judiciary that has
since played out in national legal journals.

As that debate again escalates in Denver, there are few solid facts to
guide public officials. No comprehensive study has been done on
Denver's drug court, which handled about 40 percent of the district
courts' criminal cases.

Some say that drug offenders are more likely to get prison sentences
now than under the old drug-court model, a fact supported for at least
higher-level offenders, according to a review of data by The Denver
Post.

Chief District Judge Jeff Bayless said an overwhelmed court docket
forced the judges to do away with the one-judge drug court in 2002.

"The decision the judges made was we needed that other judge," Bayless
said. "The need was greater in the regular criminal division."

The drug cases were then spread among seven criminal court judges.
Three magistrates, two of whom work part time, were charged with
overseeing probation of drug offenders.

This summer, Morrissey disbanded a nine-member drug prosecution unit,
saying the scattered cases created a scheduling and workload nightmare.

"Drug court in Denver died a slow, painful death," said Adam Brickner,
a former drug-court coordinator in Denver who left to run a
substance-abuse program in Baltimore.

The demise of Denver drug court comes as the federal government is
promoting the system's benefits. The federal Government Accountability
Office evaluated seven drug courts this year and found their
defendants were less likely to reoffend.

More Getting Prison Time

A 1999 study of Denver's drug court found that 81 percent of those
sentenced in Denver's drug court stayed in a treatment program for six
months.

But since the dismantling of the drug court, a greater percentage of
serious drug cases resulted in prison time, The Post analysis of
Denver District Court drug data found. In 1998, when the drug court
was in its heyday, 36.2 percent of those cases resulted in a prison
sentence. So far this year, 49.2 percent of those cases have resulted
in prison. It is possible prosecutors plea-bargained some cases down
to a lower felony status.

It also is possible that drug cases in general are getting less
priority as the number of such cases moving through the system overall
has declined significantly. Since 1998, the number of drug sentences
overall declined by about 30 percent, down to 2,650 in major
sentencing categories. Sentences for serious drug crimes had an even
steeper decline, by about 75 percent, to 157.

Meanwhile, misdemeanor drug offenders getting probation jumped
significantly under the seven-judge system, from 36 in 1998 to 413 in
2004. But that increase could be driven by a 2003 state law that
allowed drug offenders charged with less serious felony offenses to
plead to a misdemeanor. The change in state law also appeared to push
an increase in the number of lower-level felony drug cases in general.

Defendants Stacking Up

Policing patterns could have affected all of the numbers, however.
Insiders say the real impact is the time it takes low-level offenders
to get their charges resolved, meaning the defendants are stacking up
in the city's jails.

"The waiting time for disposition has increased dramatically," said
Loren Miller, Denver's drug probation supervisor.

Low-level offenders now can wait 45 to 90 days to get out of jail and
into treatment. Under the one-judge system, an offender could be
bonded out of jail and get into treatment in 72 hours, he said.

Members of the Crime Prevention and Control Commission, studying ways
to unclog city jails, are dusting off the concept of drug court,
Morrissey said.

"The effective part of a drug court is that close supervision, that
hands-on supervision by the judge," he said.

The issue once generated a split between two local judges.

Former District Judge William G. Meyer, who helped create Denver's
drug court, became a leading proponent. He is now senior judicial
fellow for the National Drug Court Institute.

But Denver District Court Judge Morris Hoffman blasted drug courts as
ineffective.

In a 2000 article, he said drug courts were driven by "fuzzy-headed
notions about 'restorative justice' and 'therapeutic jurisprudence,'
and by the bureaucrats' universal fear of being the last on the block
to have the latest administrative gimmick."

Hoffman, who declined to be interviewed, criticized the emphasis on
treatment, saying that most people don't believe drug use is the
"involuntary product of a disease mechanism."

Ironically, some of the loudest proponents of a return to the
one-judge drug court are police, who were initially among the most
skeptical.

"I know what happened before drug court was created, and I saw what
happened after it was created," said Denver police Sgt. John Spezze.
"It made a huge difference in the neighborhoods and in the lives of
the people who were arrested."

Meyer, who retired as a judge in 2000, said Denver's drug court will
suffer until another judge decides to do it full time.

"It really takes a very much team approach, and at the current time it
appears there is not someone on the bench who wants to take on this
unique way of problem-solving," Meyer said.