Forced Drug Testing in Court Cases

Pretrial drug testing and pretrial programs are issues that have been a criticized part of the criminal justice system. Under the directive of President Bill Clinton in the late 1990s, Attorney General Janet Reno was charged with creating and implementing policy to make mandatory that all persons arrested for felony charges would undergo drug testing before his or her release and or trial (U.S. Department of Justice, 1999). This policy was a direct result of the numerous accounts of criminals, many who were drug users, having multiple encounters with the Criminal Justice System and was intended to predict, control, and or eliminate the factors that cause an arrestee to flee after being released on bail before his or her trial date and reduce the occurrence of pretrial misconduct. These programs and policies are an effective means to predict pretrial misconduct when they are used in conjunction with one another and in cases that warrant such attention to ensure justice is carried out.

While drug testing is an appropriate means to gather evidence to support other factors, that may be more substantial in predicting or providing insight into factors leading or contributing to pretrial misconduct; this method or means is not to be relied solely upon as an indicator for the likelihood of fleeing or other such conduct by a defendant before a trial. Persons arrested on felony charges centering on drugs such as charges of being under the influence, distribution, and or transportation of illegal drugs should be mandatorily drug tested. Not all persons arrested should be forced to take a drug test because no empirical data is present to prove that drug testing can predict pretrial misconduct and this testing is very expensive. Studies have shown that the results of this policy has given researchers many mixed or inconsistent results compared to the overall theory or intent of this policy. The studies were based on information gathered from the “…five jurisdictions-Maricopa County, Arizona; Milwaukee County, Wisconsin; Multnomah County, Oregon; Pima County, Arizona; and Prince George’s County, Maryland…” taking part in this project to determine the worthiness of pretrial drug testing (U.S. Department of Justice, 1999, p.2, ¶7). Thus, no solid evidence is present to indicate that pretrial drug testing is an effective means to reduce failure to appear rates or in pretrial crimes.

Pretrial programs, or bail reform programs, are considered to be effective for assuring that a person will appear in court for his or her trial and in deterring pretrial crimes. Only defendants that commit crimes that are not deemed serious (i.e. homicide or armed car jacking) or considered as a danger to society are eligible for such programs. Personnel from the pretrial program will keep in contact with the person to ensure that he or she understands when and where to appear in court to address the charges against him or her. The pretrial programs work under the assumption that defendants with strong community ties will not flee once released on bail but other factors are also taken into consideration such as, criminal history and or employment history (Neubauer, D.W., 2006). Pretrial drug testing programs are ineffective, not because they are based on faulty assumptions, but because these programs tend to generalize and group all persons facing felony charges into the same category. While these persons have committed the same level, so to speak, of criminal offences; there is a difference between cases like homicides and drug trafficking. Pretrial drug testing should be used to detect the risk of pretrial misconduct along with the use of pretrial programs to be the most effective. If combined these two, pretrial drug testing and programs, could evaluate the risk of pretrial misconduct, deter criminals from becoming repeat offenders, provide rehabilitation services for persons with drug related problems, and keep from allowing individuals who pose a threat to society from roaming the streets with the chance that he or she will commit similar offenses before his or her trial.

To summarize, both the pretrial programs and pretrial drug testing are effective means to resolve many of the drug related issues that the Criminal Justice System faces when used together. Pretrial drug testing should only be used for individuals who have been arrested for drug related crimes to be more effective and provide empirical data supporting the implementation of such policies. On the other hand, pretrial programs also becomes more effective when used in conjunction with other policies such as the pretrial drug testing to ensure that individuals who are released on bail do not pose a threat to society or are at risk for fleeing to avoid prosecution for their crimes.

Reference
Neubauer, D.W. (2006). Week 3 reading material. America‘s Court and The Criminal Justice System (9^th ed.): Bail. chap. 11. Retrieved October 24, 2008, from University of Phoenix, Resource, CJA373- Criminal Court Systems Web site.U.S. Department of Justice (1999) Pretrial Drug Testing: An Overview of Issues and Practices. Retrieved October 24, 2008 from, web site: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/176341.pdf