Drug Court

Cape and Islands District Attorney's Office Drug Court

Barnstable Action for New Directions (BAND) is a coalition of the Barnstable County District Attorney, Barnstable County Probation, Judge Joseph J. Reardon of the First District Court of Barnstable, Community Corrections and the Gosnold Treatment Center formed to create a Drug Court beginning January 1, 2002. Drug Court is an alternative to incarceration and integrates substance abuse treatment, sanctions and incentives with case processing to place nonviolent drug-involved defendants in judicially supervised habilitation programs. The drug court concept is a significant departure from traditional court practice.

Drug Court Overview

Barnstable Action for New Directions (BAND)

MISSION

To improve the quality of life in Barnstable County by reducing drug use and recidivist crimes by providing the convicted substance abuser with an opportunity to maintain a normal and positive lifestyle as an alternative to incarceration in such a way that minimizes the cost to the criminal justice system without increasing the risk to the community.   

PROGRAM PROFILE

Currently, the BAND staff consists of Judge John J. Julian presiding in the First District Court of Barnstable as well as prosecutors, defense counsel, probation officers, treatment providers, mental health counselors and ancillary service providers.

The major goal of the BAND program is to intervene with criminal offenders who are charged with a qualifying offense and to offer them a viable and positive alternative to incarceration.  By utilizing a variety of individual treatment services, the program aims to effectively treat the substance abusing offender in an effort to break the cycle of addiction and criminal justice involvement and to restore the individual to be a productive member of society. 

The Barnstable County’s drug treatment program is an 18 month, three phase, multi-disciplinary approach to substance abuse treatment that encompasses both traditional and innovative treatments in order to best service the individual.

  • Phase I addresses the participant’s receptiveness to substance abuse treatment—emphasizing a drug-free lifestyle, social adjustment and the development of mechanisms for coping with stressful situation.  During the initial phase of treatment participants attend group counseling and drug screening.

  • Phase II of treatment participant attend group counseling and many of Phase I services continue such as substance abuse counseling and drug screening.  Participants are encouraged to interface with the community resources such as Narcotics Anonymous and/or alcoholics anonymous and are given an opportunity to attend G.E.D. classes if needed.

  • Phase III participant continue to attend group counseling.  Successful re-entry into the community is a strong component during this final phase of treatment and aftercare planning is provided to all participants prior to graduation. 

Any time during treatment participants may be referred to other treatment components such as detoxification, non-residential day/night treatment, intensive residential treatment, long-term residential treatment or jail-based treatment. Alternative programs may be used with the approval of the Drug Court Judge.

Graduation is the ultimate reward and goal.  A formal graduation ceremony is held quarterly with certificate of appreciation given to each graduate by Judge Julian.  Speakers include community representatives, counselors, alumni and student.

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