Drug crimes may be handled differently in the future, District Judge Daniel Creitz told Allen County commissioners Tuesday morning.
Instead of slapping perpetrators in jail, an intensive form of probation with emphasis on treatment may be more productive, Creitz said, noting a recent feasibility study funded by a $16,641 grant from the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City.
County Counselor Alan Weber said such drug courts have proven successful across the nation and result in fewer repeat offenders.
Creitz and several others recently spent a day in Emporia to see how Lyon County applies diversion to defendants charged with drug-related crimes.
In diversion — for any criminal charge — the county attorney agrees not to prosecute in exchange for the defendant’s agreement to pay restitution and other costs and meet conditions imposed within what essentially is pre-conviction probation, Weber said. If conditions are not met, the defendant goes to prison, he said.
Substantial study will be required before a local drug court is put in place, Creitz said.
An alternative to jail time is to send those convicted to a boot camp, with successful completion negating prison time.
Whatever is done here would be limited to cases originating in Allen County and not in the other three counties of the 31st Judicial District, Woodson, Wilson and Neosho, because funding for the feasibility study was directed to Allen County.
“The bottom line is we have all of 2011 for due diligence, to look into all that is available before we decide to put something into place,” Creitz said.
Mainly, Creitz said he and others examining options were eager to find a fit for Allen County that is affordable and one that would promise long-term continuity.
Also, he said the program would be for drug cases only — about 90 percent involve methamphetamine — and none involving alcohol.
AN ASIDE is that administration of the feasibility program grant is being done by EnVisage Consulting, Manhattan, which has a 1987 Iola High School graduate, Connie (Coltrane) Satzler, at the helm.
