'I call it progressive justice': Shutdown by the pandemic, a court program gives drug offenders a second chance
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Instead of hard time, one Cook County judge has been giving repeat drug offenders a second chance for more than a decade.
His program has not only saved taxpayers millions, but likely saved lives. CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov dives into why it's now struggling to rebuild.
If you asked Michael Keane five years ago if he ever imagined this life, his answer would have been a flat out "no."
"I was stealing from my family, stealing from my friends, stuff like that. Whatever I could do to get my next high," Keane said.
His addiction landed him in jail numerous times, until Cook County Judge Charles Burns gave him an opportunity, selecting him to be part of the drug court Burn's has run for 12 years.
"He gave me a second chance, basically," said Keane.
"You know, I call it progressive justice," Burns said.
The court's formal name is Rehabilitative Alternative Probation (RAP.) The two-year program gives serial drug offenders charged with felonies a chance to rebuild their lives instead of going to prison. Participants get treatment, employment, housing, financial counseling and, if they graduate, their criminal records expunged.
"Do we get disappointed, do we get burned occasionally, yeah, we do," Burns said. "But the bottom line is, if you sit through a graduation, it's nothing short of totally inspiring."
It's also successful. Judge Burns said from 2014 to 2021, only 3.8% of his graduates were charged with new felonies within a year and 9.6% within three years. The statewide recidivism rate, according to Prison Legal News, is 17% of those released from prison face new charges in the first year, jumping to 43% within three years.
Keane said it's nothing short of a lifesaver.
"Absolutely. If you stick with the program and do what you're supposed to do, absolutely."
That includes appearing before Burns once a week. Then came the pandemic.
"Unfortunately, with everything shutting down, all the resources we had for people were shutdown too," Burns said, adding that they're slowly ramping back up and even expanding their outreach.
"We're talking about partnering with the sheriff, partnering with Chicago police and targeting areas with high opioid use because this program works," Burns said.
Judge Burns RAP court, which he oversees, was just named one of 10 National Mentor Treatment Courts by the U.S. Department of Justice. That means it will be a model for other systems looking to start up or bolster their existing drug court programs.
