Cleveland County's Drug Court is a success which saves taxpayers millions of dollars per year, a county judge said Friday.
Speaking at the Cleveland County Democrats' Tyner Cornbread and Beans luncheon Friday, District Judge Tom Lucas said the county's drug court has graduated 151 participants and saved taxpayers almost $16 million since its inception in 2000.
"I've heard that some political people don't think drug courts work," Lucas said. "But I think that's wrong."
In fact, he said, Cleveland County's Drug Court was named the state's best in 2007.
An attorney for more than 30 years, Lucas said before he was involved with the county's Drug Court program, he considered himself a "law and order" judge.
"I used to laugh with the deputies about the number of people we locked up," he said. "We'd joke about filling up another cell block."
A short time later, he said, he "re-educated himself" and began to look for alternative ways to sentence offenders.
"When we started, I thought if we can help just one person out of 10 it will be worth while."
And while he acknowledged the state's Drug Courts are, at times, controversial, Lucas said they are worth the investment. "Yeah, a lot of judges and prosecutors are opposed because they call them social courts. But these courts are successful."
In Cleveland County, Lucas said the Drug Court has the support of District Attorney Greg Mashburn's office.
"The district attorney's office supports the Drug Court program, very much," he said. "Without the DAs office, we would not have a Drug Court program."
Mashburn's office, he said, "acts as the gatekeeper" of the program.
"I have something to say about who gets out, but they are the gatekeeper," he said. "I don't have anything to say about who gets in."
Citing statistics which show more than 85 percent of prisoners in state prisons are there because they committed a drug offense or were high on drugs or alcohol when they committed their crime, Lucas said the state has to do "something about prison overcrowding besides building more prisons."
Drug Courts work, he said, because of the dedication of their staffs, the work done by the participants, and because Drug Courts "micromanage people's lives."
"Coerced treatment is better than voluntary treatment," he said. "Because voluntary treatment is just that -- voluntary. Coerced treatment is you take the treatment you have to in order not to go to state prison. That's how you change a person's behavior."
M. Scott Carter 366-3545 scarter@normantranscript.com
Local news
Drug court a success, Lucas says
- Local news
-
-
Theater’s the scene for Norman marketing director
Nancy Coggins landed a job with a prestigious Oklahoma City advertising agency before the ink dried on her OU journalism diploma. The job was a first rung on her career ladder and she admits that it didn’t call for her creative talents. ...
-
New jail to install curtains
The F. DeWayne Beggs Detention Center, though still in its infancy, is getting a facelift: new curtains....
-
Businesses go the extra mile for Valentine’s Day
Among the various images the phrase “Valentine’s Day” might conjure in one’s mind, probably the most immediate is the iconic dozen roses and heart-shaped box of chocolates....
-
New rehabilitation, skilled care center will be next to HealthPlex
StoneGate Senior Living President and CEO John F. Taylor announced Friday that his company has completed the purchase of approximately 6.7 acres of land in the Norman Regional Health System’s Medical Park West project at NW 36th Avenueand ...
-
Mystery performance provides theatrical fatal attraction
James Briggs has a pretty steady day job with the city parks department, doesn’t live anywhere near Little River and probably never owned or slept in a hatchback. He doesn’t usually wear sport coats that are two sizes too small, either ...
-
'Get the Lead Out' annual children's art festival enters 10th year
Longfellow Middle School had a special “GLO” about it Saturday morning....
-
County prisoners moved to new jail
Cleveland County sheriff’s deputies began moving prisoners from the detention center adjacent to the courthouse to the new F. DeWayne Beggs Detention Center at Franklin Road and U.S. 77 early Saturday morning....
-
School board elections Tuesday
Voters go to the polls Tuesday in four Cleveland County school districts. Cleveland County Election Board Secretary Jim Williams said this will be the first election using the new voting system. Polls will open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on ...
-
Identity theft crackdown sweeps nation
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service and the Justice Department recently announced a national sweep cracking down on suspected identity theft perpetrators as part of a stepped-up effort against refund fraud and identity theft....
-
Darry Stacy seeking county commission seat
Darry Stacy, a fifth generation Oklahoman and lifelong resident of Cleveland County, announced Friday that he will be a Republican candidate for the District 2 Cleveland County commissioner seat....
- More Local news Headlines
-
Theater’s the scene for Norman marketing director
