Drug Courts Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Drug Courts - Research Proposal Example A recent research done in 1999 by College on Problems of Drug Dependence reported that, drug courts are continually providing a highly recommendable and effective control over substance-abusing offenders criminology and substance use, through court jurisdiction (p.1118). This research reported that, the rate of recidivism raged between 4% -29% for the graduates from drug court program, as compared to 48% of the substance--abusers who do not go through the drug court program. The ultimate plan of drug courts is to assist drug-using offenders to recover from drug dependency, change morally, and become a responsible citizen, who is keen enough to avoid criminal acts. The court is not focused on the punishment of the criminal offenders. Successful accomplishment of the drug court's treatment is the noble mission of the drug courts, which culminates to the dismissal of the drug charge, shortening of the sentence period, or suspension of the charge (Hennessy, & Nathaniel, 2001, p.117). On the other hand, Mental health can be defined as the situation whereby a person is affected psychologically and hence either having a level of cognitive or emotional depression. In most of the cases, mental health usually leads to inability of a person to get a balance between life activities and psychological resilience therefore being unable to enjoy life due to mental disorder/abnormality. According to the world health organization (WHO), they defined mental health as a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community. (Calhoun, C. 2002, pg 23). On the other hand, mental illness can be defined as a the state whereby a person is mentally sick and hence this are usually medical conditions which do disrupt a person's thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others, and daily functioning (Calhoun, C. 2002, pg 2 3). Mental illness is just a form of illness which affects the brains of a person just like the way the pancreas is affected by disorder of diabetes. Due to the fact that mental health cases are usually culturally subjected, I believe there is a need of engaging traditional healers and practitioners in treatment of this disorders since in most of the occasion, the disorders are caused by some form of traditional beliefs or some spiritual belief and hence by including all the different professionals in this field will have some impacts on the methodology applied during treatment (Babbie, E. 2003, pg 40). Abstract: This research topic is about the outcomes of the special criminal courts application of diversionary programs on the victims of drug use and those faced with mental health and mental illness (American Psychological Association, 1995, p.185). most of the courts which deals with drugs and mental health have been used as treatment