H.C.R. NO. 137 Summary

• Requests the Attorney General assess the impact of diverting drug possession offenders from criminal justice to drug treatment programs on the criminal justice system, treatment resources, and public safety.

• Directs the Attorney General to conduct the assessment with input from police, prosecutors, public defenders, judges, corrections administrators, public health experts, drug treatment providers, and legal service providers.

• Requires the Attorney General to report findings and recommendations, including proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days before the 2012 Regular Session convening.

• Mandates the report address the number of offenders eligible for pre-charging and post-charging diversion, resource impacts on law enforcement and courts, treatment service needs and costs, and public safety effects.

• Cites cost comparisons showing incarceration costs $139 per day versus drug court programs at $8.77 per day, and notes drug court recidivism rates below ten percent for program completers.