As KY courts parse their new budget, they should save our specialty courts | Opinion

I lost my little brother to an overdose — heroin —in 2015.

I lost my mother to cancer in 2020 — at the far too young age of 52 — almost certainly caused, in part, by her addiction: alcohol.

Addiction is hard.

Crime is hard.

My mother was not a criminal.

My brother was.

But my brother was also a good person.

If any state knows the horrible cycle of addiction it is this great commonwealth.

That is the difficulty we, as a society, face: good people who break the law when driven by an overwhelming urge to use an addictive substance.

This is the lens, as an attorney practicing in criminal court, from which I look at the value of Kentucky’s specialty courts — Drug Court, Veterans Treatment Court, and Mental Health Court — that are at risk of being defunded in the state budget.

At its core, I view my job as trying to keep the people in our county as safe as possible for as long as possible. That ultimate “north star,” to me, means finding the best way to prevent individual defendants from returning to the criminal justice system. To prevent as much recidivism as possible. Giving people who have a mental health issue or a substance abuse issue the scaffolding upon which they can build a life that is productive and beneficial to our great commonwealth is a proven way to both lessen the burdens facing our criminal justice system, as well as make our society safer.

These specialty courts do not accept everyone, nor do they provide an escape from “punishment.” They are designed to keep individual defendants under the justice system’s watchful eyes, while also helping them to overcome the primary driver of their often self-destructive tendencies: addiction or mental health concerns.

These courts provide a path for very specific candidates, with very specific diagnosable problems, to receive very specific assistance to help them in their desire to remain law-abiding and contributing members to society. They help save fiscal resources by helping to prevent recidivism and lessen the burden on all aspects of our law enforcement community.

I was not in a position to know how best to help my brother battle his addiction. However, I cannot help but wonder if at some point, during some interaction with law enforcement, if there had been — as part of his punishment — a concentrated effort on the part of the criminal justice system to assist him in his battle with addiction whether he would still be alive today.

These specialty courts should be viewed with an overwhelming pride as a way Kentuckians involved in the criminal justice system have come together to help our fellow citizens work towards overcoming their respective struggles. A wonderful collaboration between prosecutors, judges, defense attorneys, and law enforcement working to prevent future crimes by both acknowledging, and working to correct, the systemic drivers of recidivism.

Save the specialty courts.

Alexander B. Wheeler is a a practicing attorney here in Lexington. The opinions shared here are his own and do not reflect, one way or the other, the views of his employer.