Washington - In a five-year span, Candice Singer went from being a respected juvenile defence lawyer to a homeless meth

addict who once broke into a house just to take a shower.

By the time she was arrested, Singer was charged with 24

separate burglaries and with cooking meth in her

mother's house. She could have spent at least five years

in prison, but her lawyer was able to steer her to a New Jersey drug court that kept her in treatment instead of behind bars.

"I credit drug court with saving my life,"

Singer, 49, said. If I had gone to prison, I would have continued to use drugs when I got out. I would probably be

dead."

It's been 20 years since the first US drug court was

established in Miami as an innovative way of getting nonviolent offenders out of the criminal justice system and

into court-supervised drug rehabilitation programs. Since

then more than 2 300 drug courts have blossomed around the

country, credited with reducing crime and saving the cost of

locking people up.

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I honestly don't see how drug influence should let a criminal of the hook when using drugs in the first place is a crime. She broke into 27 houses and all she gets is a bit of rehab, any criminal could just take drugs and commit crime just to avoid jailtime. It's as if the law just softer and softer, and crime higher and higher with our world leaders remaining completely oblivious to all of this namely Obama whose using Drug Courts as a means of job creation.

Full story: http://m.24.com/content/FullArticle.aspx?a...ld&sh=World

 

I honestly don't see how drug influence should let a criminal of the hook when using drugs in the first place is a crime. She broke into 27 houses and all she gets is a bit of rehab, any criminal could just take drugs and commit crime just to avoid jailtime. It's as if the law just softer and softer, and crime higher and higher with our world leaders remaining completely oblivious to all of this namely Obama whose using Drug Courts as a means of job creation.

 

it depends on whether or not you think that 'soft' crimes should be punished with a jail sentance or whether the individual should be helped to break the habit and get back on their feet. this person appears to have committed 'nuisance' crimes, would jailing them get them back on their feet ? or would mixing with hardened criminals be the best option?...

it depends on whether or not you think that 'soft' crimes should be punished with a jail sentance or whether the individual should be helped to break the habit and get back on their feet. this person appears to have committed 'nuisance' crimes, would jailing them get them back on their feet ? or would mixing with hardened criminals be the best option?...

What's going to stop her from going back to drugs and becoming a large-scale burglar after rehab, she's getting no punishment my word committing 26 burglaries and dealing/using drugs doesn't deserve punishment? :o She doesn't have a problem, she is the problem. A crime is a crime and if she's going to change she needs to learn the hard way like everyone else does.

Drug courts could even be used opportunistically to avoid jailtime, a criminal can just force herself/himself to get hooked on drugs a few weeks before her/his court appearance and voila only a few months in rehab and I can go back to my life of crime.

People know the difference between right and wrong, it was her choice to take drugs and it was her choice to burgle houses so ethically she should be punished the right way.

What's going to stop her from going back to drugs and becoming a large-scale burglar after rehab, she's getting no punishment my word committing 26 burglaries and dealing/using drugs doesn't deserve punishment? :o She doesn't have a problem, she is the problem. A crime is a crime and if she's going to change she needs to learn the hard way like everyone else does.

Drug courts could even be used opportunistically to avoid jailtime, a criminal can just force herself/himself to get hooked on drugs a few weeks before her/his court appearance and voila only a few months in rehab and I can go back to my life of crime.

People know the difference between right and wrong, it was her choice to take drugs and it was her choice to burgle houses so ethically she should be punished the right way.

 

i thought compassion, understanding, helping the afflicted, and trying to give people with problems a helping hand to get out of their situation were christian values.... ok if they throw it back in your face then fair dos, but i believe EVERYONE who has committed an offence should be offered the chance of redemption, to find out the reasons why they commit a crime and try to stop/prevent the cause at source instead of punitive treatment of the result.