When the Big Island Drug Court was established in 2002 under the leadership of retired Chief Judge Ronald Ibarra, I, like almost every other Hawaii County prosecutor at the time, was skeptical of the drug court concept. As prosecutors, our highest priority was public safety. Whenever a probationer tested positive for drugs or alcohol, our first response was to revoke probation and send that person to jail or prison. We thought the Drug Court was just a slap on the wrist.
This is a view held by many people in our community even today. I understand it. After all, when a person who is already convicted of one or more crimes is out of jail and trusted with the privilege of probation but knowingly breaks the law again by using drugs or alcohol, shouldn’t he or she be more severely punished?
As both a former prosecutor and a now as a judge, I’ve changed my mind. I’ve seen that Drug Court works. It awakens people to the fact that they can be successful in their lives.
If you’ve been told your whole life you’re bad, that you can’t succeed at anything, it can be hard to see yourself in any other way. Within the intensive rigor of the Drug Court program, as participants are held accountable for their actions and receive treatment, counseling, and support to help them succeed, they gain a whole new view of themselves and their chances in life – and that changes things.
Upon entering Drug Court, many participants have burned all their bridges. That’s why seeing a Drug Court graduation ceremony where a family gets their father, daughter, mother, son, or aunty back again can be so very emotional.
For 16 years the Big Island Drug Court has been dealing with many of the most troubled, most addicted offenders on supervision. Nearly 300 people have graduated from the program, and more than 90 percent of those individuals have not been convicted of new felonies for up to three years after graduation from the program.
In applying the Drug Court model, we find that with every one participant who succeeds, a snowballing effect takes place as more and more people experience benefits of these changes. Individuals are restored, families are reunited, and the children break the cycle of physical and emotional trauma that sets so many on their own path to substance abuse and a life in the criminal justice system.
The community at large benefits from these changes, too. Family, friends, and neighbors are spared the suffering and loss that accompany addiction-related burglaries, thefts, criminal property damage, domestic violence, automobile fatalities, and homicides. Employers and the business community are also relieved of the impacts of these crimes, and the strains on our over-burdened public safety and health care systems are reduced.
Moreover, Drug Court helps decrease overcrowding in Hawaii Island jails and state prisons, and eases the social costs of incarceration. Unemployment, a recognizable commonality in many drug-related crimes, is reduced, as Drug Court requires all participants to be employed, paying taxes and maintaining payments toward their restitution and fines. This further prevents the loss of state taxes that results from incarcerating working-aged individuals.
All these important gains are achieved at significantly lower costs than long-term incarceration. While it costs $140 per day to incarcerate an inmate in Hawaii, it takes less than $16.44 per day to treat and supervise a drug court client.
Finally, the methodologies that led to successful outcomes in drug courts, have, in turn, given us juvenile drug courts, and our veterans treatment courts, providing new ways to deal with some of our most urgent social problems.
The theme of National Drug Court Month 2018 is “Justice For All,” an appropriate depiction of the benefits drug court brings to our community through the dedication and hard work of many.
My sincere thanks to our Big Island Drug Court teams in both Hilo and Kona, which includes the Hawaii County Prosecutor’s Office, the State of Hawaii Office of the Public Defender, the private defense bar, the Hawaii Police Department, probation officers, court staff, substance abuse treatment and other community-based treatment providers, as well as family members of clients, supporters, employers who provide job opportunities to Drug Court participants, landlords, medical facilities, community groups, and the sponsors who support these programs.
The Honorable Melvin H. Fujino is a Circuit Court Judge of the 3rd Circuit Court and presiding judge of the Big Island Drug Court in Kona.