Introduction to Drug Night Court

摘要

This assessment of the feasibility of establishing night courts for narcotics cases drew heavily on the experience of Cook County, Illinois, Circuit Court. To summarize the findings: Night operations can be quite efficient. Coincident with setting up its drug night courts, Cook County cut processing time for narcotics cases dramatically. Those wishing to set up drug night courts need to be vigilant to ensure that the quality of justice in narcotics cases is not compromised. In Cook County, research found that the establishment of drug night courts coincided with more lenient sentences, fewer trials, and a lower rate of representation by private attorneys for narcotics defendants. All but the last consequence likely resulted from segregating narcotics cases with greater emphasis on productivity, rather than from evening operations per se. Quality staff can be successfully found for evening hours. Cook County has shown that there are a number of innovative ways to recruit motivated people to staff night courts. To maintain high morale and efficiency, jurisdictions considering evening operations must be alert to special problems their staff members may encounter when working at night.