11 Nov What is the Rutherford County Recovery Court?
On Tuesday, our office had the privilege of visiting the Rutherford County Recovery Court Open House to learn more about the services offered to criminal cases in Murfreesboro and all of Rutherford County.
This post is not based upon an official position from the Recovery Court. Instead, this post is based upon our experience working with these courts as well as what our clients relate back to us from their participation in the programs.
The Rutherford County Recovery Court includes at least four different programs: DUI Court, Drug Court, Mental Health Court, and Veterans Court. Each court is intended to address the underlying issues that may have led to criminal conduct, whether it is: alcohol dependency (DUI Court); drug dependency (Drug Court); untreated mental health issues (Mental Health Court); or service-related conditions (Veterans Court).
From our perspective, these programs benefit our clients significantly more than alternate sentencing or other conditions. If you put someone with an alcohol dependency in jail, they will ultimately be released back into the community with little, if any, treatment or acknowledgement of what caused the jail time. However, if you put someone with alcohol dependency into an intensive program like DUI Court, they will receive support and guidance upon re-entry into society, which will almost inevitably reduce the chances of more criminal conduct– which makes the community better!
Additionally, these programs are a cost-effective alternative to jail time. It costs Rutherford County over twenty-five thousand dollars to house one inmate for a year. In the alternative, the cost to put a participant through the Recovery Court hovers around five thousand dollars a year.
To summarize: Recovery Court has a higher chance of treating the underlying issues that led to someone being charged criminally and can do that at a lower cost than jail.
At our office, we are advocates for the Rutherford County Recovery Court. We have seen this program make a life-changing difference in the lives of many of our clients.
Very few people can truly say they change lives through their work. Here at our office, we believe that the staff at the Recovery Court can confidently say it and we are incredibly appreciative for their life-changing services. If you are reading this and you or a loved one works for the Recovery Court, please accept our sincere thanks.
You can learn more about the Rutherford County Recovery Court at: http://rutherfordcountytn.gov/recovery-court/
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