A Brief Overview of Prop. 36, Deferred Entry of Judgment and California Drug Courts
Drug diversion is a general term that incorporates three different types of drug treatment that are all available (under the appropriate circumstances) as alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders. These include Proposition 36, Penal Code 1000 PC Deferred Entry of Judgment and California drug courts.
California drug courts are the most inclusive and least regulated of the three diversion programs. Because each drug court essentially runs itself, each is also able to “bend the rules” to accommodate individuals who the judges believe would truly benefit from drug treatment…regardless of how many times the individual has previously relapsed.
Deferred entry of judgment is the least rigorous of the programs. Defendants who are eligible for this program are not placed on probation, so there are no additional requirements that the defendant must fulfill other than to complete drug rehabilitation.
And although Prop. 36 is mandatory for those who qualify, it is subject to quite a bit of judicial discretion. If, at the end of your treatment, the judge doesn’t believe that you “successfully” completed the program…but rather just completed it…he/she could still impose a sentence for the drug offense. This is unfortunate, since the primary benefit of drug diversion is that once you successfully complete a program, your drug charges are dismissed.
