Drug Court Program in NJ Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Drug Court Program in NJ - Term Paper Example The thesis statement which has been used in this paper is that: There is an immediate need to expand the drug court programs and the expansion should be in terms of program structure, underlying ideas, the area of jurisdiction, and manpower. The existing Drug Court Program, though very well structured, has not been very successful. The program started in 1996-97 and by 1999, it got well structured and the number of such courts reached 472 (Franco 2010 p.5). Drug courts started a societal shift toward therapeutic jurisprudence. The focus moved to the person rather than the crime. Frequent personal interactions with the professionals of the drug court team have helped people to recover to some extent. Though the program created more productive people for the society, in creating a healthy society it has not been very successful. In the year 2010-11, the percentage of employed people entering the program is 29%. Upon graduating the number rose to 84% (New Jersey Courts, 2011, p. 24). Now there can be some discrepancies in those numbers. The real scenario can be seen from the health benefits data. Upon entering the program, 15% of the people were considered healthy; but while graduating, only 48% of the people were labeled a s healthy. Though 33% rise is very attractive, the percentage of unhealthy people is quite substantial at 52% (New Jersey Courts, 2011, p.24). This staggering percentage is a clear indicator of the fact that the program, though very rigorous, is not very effective to create people of sound mind and body. It seems like a short time fix which is more evident from the 2009-10 annual report. Here the health benefits increased from 17% to 53% upon graduating (New Jersey Courts, 2010, p.20).