Drug Abuse and the Court

Abstract

Three Massachusetts district courts, the states's lowest courts with criminal jurisdiction, are examined as to their processing of drug offenses and the use of treatment resources available to their probation officers. In one court, the East Boston District Court, drug probationers were generally supervised by one probation officer who saw them regularly, knew their problems, and had special experience in the drug field and familiarity with available treatment resources. Twelve of the eighty-four drug probationers attended a nearby independent city clinic which provided methadone detoxification, methadone maintenance, and counseling. The East Boston drug probationer most fre quently was not more than twenty-five years old, a high school graduate, no stranger to the correctional system, and acquainted with heroin, barbiturates, and, to a lesser extent, marijuana. In the second court surveyed there were twice as many drug offenses as in East Boston but fewer heroin violations. None of its probation officers was particularly knowledgeable about drugs or drug rehabilitation efforts, and no drug offender had been referred for treatment. The third district court had a full-time psychiatrist to whom its probation officers referred some drug probationers. Of the three courts, it had the smallest number of recorded drug offens es, possibly because of protective families and schools in that community. Probationers were younger and violations generally involved marijuana. As courts and their probation staffs begin to work more closely with the multiple community-based treatment programs that are now emerging, probation officers should receive special training in the supervision of drug offenders.