PRI: Drug courts get even tougher

Drug courts take non-violent offenders whose crimes are caused by their drug addiction, and instead of prison time, give them court supervised drug treatment. But as drug courts become more of a standard part of the criminal justice system, they are becoming more punitive, and more controlling, says Steven Belenko, a professor of criminal justice at Temple. "You have judges who are put into drug court who …aren't trained or invested in this model. So I think they take with them the more typical judicial responses of, 'If you violate this judicial order, you'll be punished,'" he said.
March 25, 2011 | Public Radio International's "This American Life"