At least one of West Virginia's newly elected county prosecutors isn't interested in taking part in West Virginia's ongoing drug court experiment, The Register-Herald of Beckley reports.
County and circuit court officials, with help from the Legislature, have pursued "an alternative sentencing setup aimed at getting non-violent offenders unhooked and back into society as productive citizens while sparing taxpayers money normally routed to regional jails to pay for their upkeep," the article explains.
But Raleigh County's prosecutor-elect, Kristen Keller, told that county's commission that she opposes the concept, the newspaper reports.
“There is not a uniform belief that the therapeutic approach to criminal behavior is the appropriate approach or the approach that people who are victimized by criminals would appreciate,” Keller is quoted as saying.
She instead wants the commission to investigate the region's day reporting center for drug offenders, by auditing its books and checking the credentials of its staff.
03 December 2008
Pushback on W.Va. Drug Courts
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4 comments:
There is also a drug court in Wood County.
Perhaps Ms. Keller should read the scholarly research on drug courts.
Perhaps Ms. Keller should read the scholarly research on the effectiveness of drug courts.
Ms. Keller seems to not understand that non-violent drug offenders are the main target of drug courts. (which, Anon, exist in a number of WV circuit court districts) Therapy is cheaper than jail, and allows the person receiving treatment to live their life without being a convict. Allsaid, if she wants to work to get rid of it, then we all get a before and after comparison of the outcomes of a drug court.
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