New Option For Addicts Facing Charges

Suffolk DA Timothy Sini was joined my members of the judiciary and defense lawyers to announce a new legal option for defendants suffering from substance abuse.  Photo/Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

Suffolk County unveiled a new program Monday that aims to help people who are suffering from drug addiction get treatment.

Several county judges and criminal defense lawyers joined Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini to announce the creation of the Comprehensive Addiction Recovery and Education or C.A.R.E, program. The program allows defendants who are charged with relatively minor misdemeanors and have substance use disorders to participate in a drug treatment program in exchange for the dismissal of the pending charges against them in Suffolk County.

“This is the latest in our tool box to address the opioid epidemic and the drug epidemic here in Suffolk County,” Sini said.

The program is open to defendants charged with petit larceny, criminal possession of marijuana in the fourth or fifth degree, seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, criminal trespass in the second or third degree, criminal possession of a hypodermic instrument, second-degree criminal use of drug paraphernalia, disorderly conduct or first-degree loitering. Defendants must also have no history of violence or gang involvement.

Sini said the C.A.R.E. program was the result of collaboration between his office, the county judiciary and the Suffolk County defense bar.

“Their input definitely shaped how this program is going to be implemented,” Sini said. “This is going to increase the number of defendants who have the opportunity to experience evidence-based treatment.”

Sini added that, based on statistics gathered between April and June, the C.A.R.E. program would be “more inclusive” than the county’s current drug court model. Figures showed 22 percent of the defendants who qualified for the proposed C.A.R.E. program during the three-month period were African American, and 20 percent were Latino.

Defense attorney Laurette Mulry, of the Legal Aid Society of Suffolk County, praised the new initiative for “addressing inequity in the justice system due to race and poverty.”

Eligible defendants who decide to take part must agree to receive drug treatment for 90 days. If participants successfully complete the treatment, their cases are dismissed and sealed.

Suffolk County District Administrative Judge C. Randall Hinrichs called the C.A.R.E. program a “new approach to misdemeanor drug cases” because access to treatment is not contingent on a plea agreement.

In the current Drug Treatment Court defendants suffering from substance abuse are required to enter a guilty plea in exchange for treatment. It also requires defendants participate in a minimum of 12 months of treatment for misdemeanor charges.

Both Sini and Hinrichs said the requirement of a guilty plea has been a disincentive for addicts to get treatment.

If a participant in the C.A.R.E. program is arrested on new charges, does not engage in the treatment program or does not report to court, then the defendant will be offered a guilty plea in the Drug Treatment Court.

Hinrichs said Judge Derrick Robinson, who presides over the county’s Drug Treatment Court, would also preside over the C.A.R.E. program.