Study: More in NYC sent to treatment after drug law reforms
More New York City residents arrested on felony drug charges are being sent to treatment instead of jail and prison since harsh state drug laws were reformed in 2009, but still only one in five eligible defendants is actually enrolled in a program, according to a new study released Tuesday.
Researchers at the nonprofit Vera Institute of Justice compared cases of people arrested on felony drug charges in 2008, before the laws were repealed, to similar cases in 2010. They found that while there was a 35 percent rise in the diversion rate after judges were freed from dolling out mandatory minimum sentences for certain felony drug charges, courts in the five boroughs still varied wildly in how well they screened eligible defendants for treatment instead of incarceration.
“To the extent that treatment’s been expanded it’s moving in the right direction,” said Vera’s Jim Parsons, the lead author of the federally funded study. “But only one in five of this eligible group is enrolling … and it seems like there can be an expansion.”