WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - State officials are celebrating a milestone for Delaware's Drug Diversion Court, which has become a model for similar courts in other states.
Gov. Jack Markell and U.S. Sen. Tom Carper planned to join state health officials and judicial branch representatives Monday to mark the 20th anniversary of the Superior Court program.
The drug diversion court was established in 1994 and was among the first such courts in the United States. Officials now say there are 2,700 such courts nationwide.
The court's goals are to get drug offenders into treatment as soon as possible after arrest and to divert them from the regular criminal justice system in the hope that they will abstain from drugs not become repeat offenders.
Officials say some 3,800 people have graduated from the program in Delaware.
