Abstract
BackgroundIn 2009, New York reformed its “Rockefeller Drug Laws”, terminating mandatory imprisonment for many drug charges and expanding the availability of treatment alternatives to incarceration. The reforms occurred in an environment characterized by high incarceration rates, racial/ethnic disparities in drug convictions and incarceration rates, and expanded use of alternatives to incarceration. Early administrative data show a large impact on the criminal justice system. Few studies have considered the reforms from the providers’ perspective and none have sought to understand how providers are experiencing the reforms in their everyday practice.MethodsTo provide a providers’ perspective, we use a qualitative, case-study approach entailing in-depth interviews with drug treatment program leaders and staff in six of the leading New York City drug programs, all with extensive experience treating court-mandated clients. Our goal was to assess treatment providers’ experiences during the reforms’ first years in effect.ResultsThe providers’ reports indicate that no new administrative structures or processes have been developed to foster a changed relationship between the treatment system and the criminal justice system; that the reforms failed to establish an enhanced role for treatment providers in the courts; and that client assessment, decisions on choice of treatment modalities, and program length for mandated clients continue to be dominated by criminal justice rather than clinical concerns. The providers also report some improvements in their communications and relationships with court employees involved in court-mandated cases.ConclusionDespite some positive changes, implementation issues are potentially limiting the reforms’ ability to capitalize fully on the potential cost-savings and improvements in public health and safety that can result from the appropriate use of drug treatment as an alternative to incarceration. What appears to be occurring alongside the evolving shift from punishment to treatment under the terms of the reforms is a growing demand for treatment providers to meet the requirements of the powerful criminal justice system.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/2194-7899-2-10) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
In an era in which state budgets across the United States have been strained by high incarceration rates, policy makers have grown increasingly receptive to the utilization of substance abuse treatment as an alternative to incarceration (ATI) for drug-using individuals charged with certain drug offenses
The data we present here are based on a set of cases comprising consultations and interviews with treatment experts and in-depth, semi-structured interviews with ten individuals employed by six different substance abuse treatment provider organizations in New York City
Our research identified three key categories that represent important aspects of how treatment providers in New York City (NYC) are experiencing the implementation of the Drug Law Reform Act of 2009 (DLRA)
Summary
In an era in which state budgets across the United States have been strained by high incarceration rates, policy makers have grown increasingly receptive to the utilization of substance abuse treatment as an alternative to incarceration (ATI) for drug-using individuals charged with certain drug offenses. From the creation and expansion of drug treatment courts to changes in sentencing structures, the Perhaps no state policy change has more starkly evidenced an official move away from punishment and toward treatment than recent reforms to New York State’s “Rockefeller Drug Laws”. In 2009, New York reformed its “Rockefeller Drug Laws”, terminating mandatory imprisonment for many drug charges and expanding the availability of treatment alternatives to incarceration. New York State’s “Rockefeller Drug Laws”, passed in 1973, were the first state laws to mandate lengthy prison sentences for many drug offenders. This approach to sentencing drug offenders spread to many other states and Federal jurisdictions in subsequent years (Maggio 2006). Of the growing number of individuals incarcerated for drug offenses nationally, 58 percent are non-violent and have no history of high-level drug charges (King and Mauer 2002)
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