be moved to the Superior Court and the statewide coordinator will work with the team to
ensure a robust program develops.
In order to maintain a consistent, effective and efficient system of drug courts
throughout the state, a more unified approach must be taken to ensure that all programs
are adhering to the national standards and following evidence based practices. Many
States across the country have such a model that includes staff to support drug courts.
The Governor's Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Treatment
and Recovery developed a 5 year plan in 2012 to address issues of substance abuse.
The Commission identified two core goals for the next five years: (1) to reduce the
percentage of New Hampshire residents misusing alcohol and other drugs and (2) to
increase the percentage of individuals with substance use disorders receiving treatment
and recovery support services. Drug courts support both of these goals.
Although not fully addressed in this report, New Hope Probation is another
strategy that successfully manages in the community offenders who are at risk of
reoffending but who have less significant drug abuse challenges than the drug court
participant. New Hope is designed to provide intensive supervision and short, swift,
immediate sanctions for violations of probation as a way to change offender behavior.
This strategy is targeted at offenders who may be able to stop using drugs and/or
alcohol without the intensive services of drug court, and will respond to immediate
sanctions for every violation of probation.
Currently, offenders on probation report twice monthly and are drug tested ona
predictable schedule. As a result, they are able to use drugs around the scheduled
drug test. In addition, offenders are not necessarily arrested for every violation and
instead are given “chances” to change their behavior. Finally, when an offender does
receive a violation, a hearing is not scheduled for 45 ~ 60 days after the violation
occurs. The offender may be held in jail pending a violation hearing, or the offender
may be in the community continuing to reoffend. New Hope completely changes the
current probation model.
In New Hope, the offender is intensely supervised, and is subject to random drug
tests at least twice weekly. In addition, the offender is arrested for every violation,
brought to court within two days, and receives a short, swift sanction in jail. This
program has been in place in Hawaii for many years and has proven successful at
reducing recidivism more successfully than traditional probation. Currently,
Hillsborough North is operating New Hope probation under a federal grant that will
analyze outcomes and provide information on recidivism rates. Several other counties
operate smaller versions of New Hope. While drug courts and New Hope are targeted
at different types of offenders depending on an assessment of the offender’s risk and
need, each are proven strategies to more effectively target scarce resources and
reduce crime.
