WINFIELD - The Putnam County Adult Drug Court will hold its second graduation ceremony July 15 in Circuit Judge Joseph K. Reeder's courtroom in the Putnam County Judicial Building.
The ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. and three people will graduate from the program, bringing the total number of people who successfully completed the program to eight.
Rigorous evaluation and research has demonstrated that, where adult drug courts are implemented consistent with models and procedures developed based on objective studies, they significantly reduce recidivism and substance abuse among high-risk substance abusing offenders.
Properly implemented adult drug courts increase the likelihood of successful rehabilitation while simultaneously reducing the cost to the public below the historic costs of addressing these problems in the criminal justice system.
There are currently 24 adult drug court programs serving 37 counties and 16 juvenile drug court programs serving 20 counties.
The goal of juvenile drug court is to intervene early in the life of a young person and to use the drug court model to prevent future involvement of that young person in the court system.
In 2009 and 2011 respectively, the West Virginia Legislature enacted legislation which codified adult and juvenile drug courts in West Virginia under the administration, control and responsibility of the Supreme Court.
As part of the Justice Reinvestment Act passed in 2014, adult drug courts should be established in all of West Virginia’s counties by July 1, 2016.