Judge wants tough drug court similar to US

A judge has called for the introduction of American-style drug courts in the
Territory.

Territory Supreme Court Justice Dean Mildren said he was impressed with the drug
court system he observed on a recent trip to Washington DC _ a city with one of
the worst drug problems in the US.

He said the US system operated on four principles _ there had to be a plea of
guilty, the offence had to be of a minor matter within the jurisdiction of the
drug court, the offender must not be a serious recidivist and the offender must
not be in breach of a suspended sentence.

Justice Mildren said the US model was markedly different - and probably better -
than the system recently introduced in the Territory.

``I assumed wrongly that the matters in the drug court (in the NT) were only
minor matters,'' he said.

``I am amazed that matters of the gravity of aggravated unlawful entry carrying
maximum penalties outside of the sentencing powers of the Court of Summary
Jurisdiction were being dealt with by the drug court.

``I am not against the drug court but in my opinion serious matters cannot be
dealt with in this way.''

The judge said he sat in on the Washington DC drug court proceedings.

``The way it operated there was that the defendants came in on a regular basis
each month,'' he said.

``The judge had before her_ it was a lady judge _ a summary of what the case was
all about and she knew each case individually and she got a report from the
prosecutor and also from the defendant as to what was happening.

``If the matter was proceeding appropriately then the matter continued in that
jurisdiction. If the matter was not proceeding appropriately, then the matter
would be transferred to another court for sentence.

``I commend that system to the NT because it is obvious that it is an appropriate way of dealing with drug matters.''

Justice Mildren made his comments while sentencing an 18-year-old with drug problems to 12 years' jail for more than 40 criminal charges.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: 9th April 2004
Source: Northern Territory News
Author: Rajiv Maharaj
Url: http://www.ntnews.com.au
Email: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
Copyright: 2004 Northern Territory News