To be admitted to the AODTC, defendants have to be formally assessed as substance dependent (i.e. they have an addiction) by a qualified clinician, be facing a prison sentence of up to three years, and plead guilty.
Despite the remarkable success of the AODTC at reducing reoffending, no further funding has been allocated in subsequent Budgets to roll drug courts out nationwide.
[1] A study conducted by the Corrections Department found that nearly 90% of offenders were affected by alcohol or drugs in the period leading up to their offence.
[2] At a conference in Wellington in 2009, alcohol and drug use was identified, and accepted by the Government, as one of the main drivers of crime in New Zealand.
[5] Judges Lisa Tremewan and Ema Aitken, who are both passionate about therapeutic jurisprudence, were appointed to run the two AODTC courts in Auckland and Waitakere which opened in 2012.
The model was developed by the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP), rebranded as All Rise,[7] and is described in What works?
This includes:[14] The two drug courts in Auckland have been assessed, evaluated and reviewed more times, and more thoroughly, than any other intervention designed to reduce reoffending in New Zealand history.
Litmus reported that AODTC graduates reoffended significantly less often, had reduced alcohol and drug consumption, spent less time in prison and had improved health and wellbeing.
[18] In 2015, New York Law Professor Michael Perlin, and American drug court researcher, Dr Shannon Carey, came to New Zealand and observed the AODTC in action.
[19][better source needed] Prof Perlin described procedures in the AODTC as “spectacular” and said the judges “consulted with the court coordinating teams, defendants’ lawyers, police prosecutors, family members, advocates and others in thoughtful, integrative ways that left me agape”.
The cost of addiction treatment in prison is around $5.8 million a year, which the MOJ claims in an Evidence Brief is "likely to be cheaper than related drug court programmes".
But prior to making the pilot permanent, he said he was still “waiting on a report outlining the costs and concrete proof drug courts stop people reoffending.”[30] In response, the Ministry of Justice conducted three different evaluations: The first of these was a Summary Evaluation which said “the AODT Court implementation was excellent.
[32] In summary, it said that graduates (participants in the AODTC who completed treatment) had substantially better reoffending outcomes than offenders in the District Court who were sent to prison, and then 'matched' on release.
In March 2020, he issued a media release on the “Future of the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court.” It said: “the AODT court model is expensive to operate, the cost benefit component of the evaluation shows a cost neutral result leading to a small to moderate positive return on investment”.
Cabinet decided that “the AODT court model requires further refinement in process, policy and implementation for it to deliver better outcomes”.
[44] Instead, in 2022, the government allocated $47.4m over four years to fund the growth and realisation of Te Ao Mārama,[45] which is a proposal to "ensure that barriers to meaningful participation in court are identified and overcome".
[47] Even though drug courts are 10 to 12 times more effective at reducing reoffending than prison based treatment,[48] the AODTC is not mentioned in this publication.
The report identifies seven different points in the justice system which have an effect on the number of people ending up in prison.