From The Associated Press:
…many criminal justice experts are critical of such programs.
“Drug courts are typically a pretrial diversion program,” said Jillian Snider, a former New York City police officer and now policy director for the criminal justice and civil liberties program at R Street, a center-right, free-market think tank based in Washington.
Snider described the ideal design as “almost like an outpatient program” focused on professional counseling and skills training, with some job responsibilities that include wages. Programs based more on work than on rehabilitation and skills training, Snider said, are “unique mostly to Southern states. It’s just not something you see in the northeast and in the West…”
…“If you’re working full-time in a chicken facility, you don’t have enough hours in the day to complete a full program,” said Snider, explaining that “talking to professional counselors” and “being set up with real educational advancement opportunities and skills training” must be included. “There’s a lot more components than working 12 hours a day cleaning chickens,” she said.
