Recently, the Georgia Council of Accountability Court Judges issue a Recidivism Analysis Report for accountability courts across the State. For the Alcovy Circuit, we received the reports for the Newton County Felony Drug Court (which allows Walton County residents), the Newton County Resource Court, and Walton County Resource Court. These reports were issued earlier this year and show the data for the five year period of 2016 through 2021.
According to District Attorney Randy McGinley, "These reports show that individuals that successfully complete these programs are very likely to not commit further crimes, but instead be great members of our community and great family members. As you can see, each the average participant has a criminal history of multiple arrests including multiple arrests for violations of probation."
"Those that complete our Drug or Resource Court programs are extremely less likely to be rearrested for a new offense in the 24 and 36 months that follow their graduation than those that are terminated from the program. Of note, the percentage of graduates from these programs that have a new arrest within 24 months of their completion is only 8% for Drug Court, 5% for Walton County Resource Court, and 0% for Newton County Resource Court. Compare that to 53%, 50%, and 55% respectively for those Courts for individuals that were terminated from the program."
"I want to highlight the hard work and dedication of the prosecutors that have been a part of these Courts. Chief Assistant District Attorney Amber Dally (pictured on the right) has handled Drug Court responsibilities for years, while Deputy Chief Assistant Jillian Hall (pictured on the left) has handled Resource Court in both Counties. They both have a large caseload of other cases, including murders and other serious felonies, but they also spend countless hours every week working with these Accountability Courts."
Our Drug Court "is designed to coordinate substance abuse intervention with judicial support through an immediate sanctions and incentives process." The primary goal of the Court is "to reduce recidivism through substance abuse intervention with immediate judicial review that supports addressing the offender's substance abuse problem"
Our Resource Courts are designed to "address the needs of individuals diagnosed with a severe and persistent mental illness who have committed criminal act(s)…. The Resource Court provides treatment to court participants in conjunction with community supervision by the Sheriff's Department and Probation Officers and drug testing to address the underlying causes of criminal activity and recidivism."
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