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Program Procedures
B.1. Research Informing
the Design
The design of DTAP is based on scientifically tested drug
treatment principles.
DTAP is distinguished by its use of legal pressure
for coerced treatment, choice of lengthy residential
treatment, readmission of qualified failures, and emphasis
on job counseling and placement.
These program features have been identified by the
National Institute on Drug Abuse as proven attributes of
effective treatment.[8]
To monitor the continuing efficacy of these program
features, DTAP has its own research unit assessing daily
operations. The
DTAP program has also been closely reviewed by independent
evaluators, such as the Vera Institute of Justice and the
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia
University.
This verified ongoing research consistently shows that the
DTAP model works.
B.2. Identification of
Potentially Eligible Cases
To be considered as a possible DTAP candidate who should be
screened, the defendant must meet certain basic criteria.
The defendant must (1) be at least 18 years old; (2)
be currently charged with a felony; and (3) have at least
one prior felony conviction.
In addition, there must be some indication that the
defendant is drug-addicted and that the defendant’s crime
was motivated by that addiction.
Identification of potentially eligible defendants
most regularly occurs at the defendant’s arraignment on the
felony complaint, but it may also occur at a later
pre-indictment date or even post indictment.
Identification is often made by those assistant
district attorneys staffing the arraignment and
pre-indictment court parts and by assistant district
attorneys in the Narcotics Bureau of the District Attorney’s
Office.
However, assistant district attorneys throughout the Kings
County District Attorney’s Office are well aware of the DTAP
program and its criteria and they regularly forward cases to
DTAP personnel in the office’s Alternative Programs Bureau.
Additionally, defense attorneys, judges, treatment
specialists working in the city jail, and defendants’
families or friends all, on occasion, directly contact the
Alternative Programs Bureau to suggest the review of
potentially eligible cases.
In 2003, the New York State Office of Court
Administration, in collaboration with the Kings
County District Attorney’s Office and the defense
bar, launched the Enhanced Drug Screening Project,
by which court personnel began assisting in the
identification of potentially eligible cases based
on the pending charges and the offender’s criminal
history (i.e., “rap sheet”) and started
directing those cases to two centralized court parts
(Brooklyn Treatment Court [BTC] and the Screening
and Treatment Enhancement Part [STEP]) immediately
after arraignment.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys appearing
in those court parts, as well as the judges
presiding over them, report that the wide majority
of cases forwarded to these court parts have been
correctly identified as potential DTAP cases.
This faster identification of potential cases
has meant that defendants can be more quickly
screened and evaluated and can begin getting
treatment, if found program eligible, at a time when
the crisis moment of their arrest is still fresh in
their minds.
Faster treatment delivery also means that
jail costs are reduced.
After a defendant is identified as potentially DTAP
eligible, the defendant then undergoes a
collaborative screening process in which six
criminal justice players lend their expertise and
authority to identify hardcore drug-abusing felons
suitable for long-term residential treatment.
B.2.1. The Assistant District Attorney:
Assistant district attorneys assigned to the
Alternative Programs Bureau screen all cases,
identified as described above, for program
eligibility.
Additionally, they staff the court parts in
which diverted cases are adjudicated and monitored.
To
determine program eligibility, the assistant
district attorney reviews the defendant’s criminal
history and scrutinizes the facts of the case.
Narcotics sale, narcotics possession, and
theft-related cases are the types of cases most
commonly evaluated.
Cases that will not be prosecuted as felonies
are ruled out from DTAP consideration, because these
defendants will not fall within the defined targeted
population of defendants who face mandatory prison
sentences upon conviction.
For that same reason, defendants who have no
prior felony convictions are also not eligible for
DTAP.[9]
Rejections following screening by the
assistant district attorney most often include cases
that involve defendants who are major drug
traffickers and those who have significant histories
of violence.
Defendants who meet the screener’s eligibility
criteria then receive a clinical assessment by
Treatment Alternatives for a Safer Community (TASC),
a not-for-profit criminal justice case management
organization.
Next, defendants are reviewed by DTAP’s
enforcement team.
Final acceptance decisions are then made by
the Alternative Programs Bureau of the District
Attorney’s Office after a careful review of all of
the screening information on a candidate.
If the
defendant is offered DTAP and agrees to participate
in the program, then the Alternative Programs Bureau
assistant district attorney, through regular contact
with the TASC case manager, carefully monitors the
defendant’s progression through treatment.
The assistant district attorney consults with
the court regarding appropriate sanctions and
rewards.
Finally, once a defendant appears to have
successfully finished all phases of the drug
treatment plan and to have fulfilled other criteria
for graduation, TASC, in consultation with the
treatment provider, will make a recommendation to
the District Attorney’s Office that the defendant be
considered as having completed DTAP.
The decision of whether the defendant has
completed DTAP is then made by the office’s
Alternative Programs Bureau.
B.2.2. Treatment Alternatives for a Safer
Community:
TASC performs clinical screening and
assessment of all defendants who are
initially identified by the assistant
district attorney in the Alternative
Programs Bureau as potential DTAP
candidates.
TASC performs a psychosocial
assessment, verifies substance abuse
history, and matches defendants to the most
appropriate treatment facility.
Once a defendant is accepted into
DTAP, TASC arranges for a defendant’s
placement and then performs case management
functions that include site visits and
monthly reports to the court, assistant
district attorney, and defense counsel
regarding the defendant’s progress.
There is daily contact between TASC
and the Alternative Programs Bureau to
discuss potential program candidates and
enrolled participants.
Defendants rejected by TASC include
defendants who do not present substance
abuse problems and those who choose not to
participate in the evaluation process.
Once a
defendant successfully completes the
residential portion of treatment, TASC
monitors the defendant’s aftercare and
re-entry process, including the defendant’s
employment, housing, and compliance with a
drug-free lifestyle.
TASC conducts this function until the
defendant’s graduation from DTAP.
B.2.3. The
District Attorney's Warrant Enforcement Team:
The District
Attorney’s Warrant Enforcement Team conducts
a field investigation of each DTAP
candidate.
This investigation entails interviews
with a candidate’s family members and
friends with an emphasis on verifying
community ties and determining whether the
prospective participant has characteristics
that might make placement into treatment
inappropriate.
Individuals who exhibit violent
tendencies or an unwillingness to
participate in treatment, or who do not have
any roots in the community are not diverted
into a treatment setting.
The objective of the investigation is
to protect public safety and to ensure that
in the event that the defendant absconds
from the treatment facility, he or she can
be easily located and quickly returned to
court.
Due to the stringent criteria imposed by the
District Attorney’s Enforcement Team,
90 percent of all program absconders have
been returned to court in a median time of
22
days, for imposition of the prison sentence
previously agreed-upon at the guilty plea.
The background investigation also serves
additional purposes.
By speaking directly with an addicted
offender’s family and friends, investigators
enlist their
support in convincing the offender to enter
and stay in treatment.
Further, this positive contact with
the detective investigators enhances the
relationship in general between criminal
justice personnel and community members.
Finally, because a DTAP participant
is aware that the Enforcement Team has
checked his or her contact information and
is therefore ready to swiftly return any
absconder to court, the participant
perceives an increased pressure to stay in
and complete treatment.
Researchers have posited that
dedicated warrant enforcement squads such as
DTAP’s Enforcement Team can boost retention
rates.[10]
B.2.4.
Probation and Parole:
Because DTAP targets second felony
offenders, many of the candidates are under
the supervision of the New York City
Department of Probation or the New York
State Division of Parole at the time of
their arrest.
These individuals are eligible for
DTAP consideration on the new arrest, if the
supervising agency grants its approval and
violations are cleared prior to the
defendant’s admission into the program.
Prior substance abuse treatment
opportunities are reviewed with these
agencies.
B.2.5. The
Defense Attorney:
Defense attorneys play a crucial role in
explaining to their clients the
ramifications of becoming a DTAP
participant.
The defense attorney, who often has a
particular insight into the defendant’s
character, personal history, and family
situation, sets out for the defendant both
the challenges of entering treatment in lieu
of incarceration and the personal rewards
that completing DTAP might bring to the
defendant.
Additionally, defense attorneys are
important in advocating on their clients’
behalf.
If an addicted offender has been
arrested for a non-violent, non-drug crime,
such as larceny, it is often the defense
attorney who will alert the assistant
district attorney to the offender’s
potential suitability for DTAP, as the
history of drug abuse may not be evident
from the charges, arrest history, or other
paperwork in the case file.
Likewise, if a DTAP participant
relapses while in treatment or drops out of
treatment for a period of time before
returning to court, it is the defense
attorney who will discuss with the defendant
the possibility of readmission into DTAP and
will set out for the assistant district
attorney and the court the reasons why the
defendant deserves a second chance at
treatment.
B.2.6. The Presiding Judge: The
judiciary is a very important component of
the DTAP program.
All DTAP candidates must obtain the
approval of the presiding judge prior to
admission into the program and entry of the
guilty plea.
Although it
is extremely rare, a judge may refuse to
allow a particular defendant to be diverted
into the DTAP program.
Once a defendant enters DTAP, the presiding
judge monitors compliance with the treatment
mandate and applies sanctions and rewards
designed to shape and change the defendant’s
behavior.
This function is vital to both the
success of an individual defendant and to
the program as a whole.
B.3. Treatment Modality
When drug addiction causes an individual to
have multiple contacts with the criminal
justice system, an assumption can be made
that the extent of personal, familial, and
societal damage is profound. Offenders with
extensive drug histories who engage in
criminal activities to finance their drug
habits require intensive intervention and
rehabilitation to support their
reintegration into society. This is the
essence of long-term residential treatment.
Referred to as a Therapeutic Community (TC),
this mode of treatment is a highly
structured and supervised community-based
residential environment with an emphasis on
self-help through the use of a peer
community where individuals go through
successive stages of rehabilitation.[11]
B.3.1. Orientation:
During the first three months of treatment,
defendants go through induction to
assimilate into the therapeutic community.
During this time, they learn the
policies and procedures of the program.
They also gain crucial insight into
the core issues of their drug addiction and
the demands for recovery.
B.3.2. Primary Treatment:
After acquiring such a foundation during the
first three months, defendants then focus on
resolving personal and relationship problems
through individual, group, and family
counseling in the latter part of their first
year (4-18 months).
During this phase, defendants undergo
vocational training, develop job skills, and
gain work experience.
They are provided with assistance in
finding housing and employment as they
prepare to return to the community.
The residential facilities have rules and
regulations with which all the clients must
comply.
The rules are enforced not only to
maintain order at the facility, but also
to instill new values and to enable client
to internalize models of productive social
behavior.[12]
B.3.3. Re-entry:
Once a defendant secures a job and
appropriate living arrangements, the
defendant’s gradual re-entry into the
community begins.
The focus of treatment shifts to
maintaining sobriety, preventing relapse,
and adjusting to independent living.
[8]
See National Institute on Drug
Abuse, 1999, Principles
of Drug Addiction Treatment: A Research-Based Guide.
Rockville, MD: NIDA. National Institute on Drug
Abuse, 2007, Principles
of Drug Addiction Treatment: A Research-Based Guide.
Rockville, MD: NIDA.
[9]
Drug-addicted
offenders facing misdemeanor charges or
their first felony charges, although not
eligible for DTAP, are eligible to be
diverted into treatment through the
court-run programs in Brooklyn’s three drug
court parts: Misdemeanor Brooklyn Treatment
Court, Brooklyn Treatment Court, and the
Screening and Treatment Enhancement Part.
[10]
See Young, Douglas & Steven Belenko,
Program Retention and Perceived
Coercion in Three Models of
Mandatory Drug Treatment, 32 J.
Drug Issues 297, 321 (2002).
[11]
See De Leon, George, 2000, The Therapeutic
Community: Theory Model and Method. New
York: Springer.
[12]
See Hung-En Sung et al.,
Predicting Treatment Noncompliance among Criminal
Justice-Mandated Clients:
A
Theoretical and Empirical Exploration, 26 J.
Substance Abuse Treatment 315, 315 (2004).
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