A young woman rises out of her seat to applause from all around the room, beams with a smile to the front of the room to receive a certificate of achievement before proudly taking her seat again.
This is a graduation, but not like most graduations you might have experienced before.
In fact, this young mother is being sentenced for a series of low-level crimes which have been fuelled by drug and alcohol misuse.
The Substance Misuse Court is a novel initiative introduced by the Department of Justice in an attempt to tackle underlying problems that lead to re-offending.
Defendants appear weekly or fortnightly in front of the court to provide the judge with updates on their addiction recovery. They are drug tested before they go in and must detail their engagement with various addiction services since their last appearance.
The courtroom itself is more of a meeting room, while the judge builds a relationship with the defendants as he tracks their journey on the programme, ultimately leading to their “graduation” at the end.
The young mum mentioned above was warmly embraced by family members after her sentencing in the court, which she says has “changed her life”. She appeared before the court on charges of theft.
“I was struggling a lot with my mental health and also my addiction with alcohol and drugs. I was using pregabalin daily, cannabis and I also abused cocaine,” she says.
“When I started the programme, I had burnt relationships with my family which was something I struggled with daily.
“I attended weekly appearances at Court for drug tests. I always felt very comfortable and felt Judge Keown was fair.
“I had a few blips along the start of my journey but with the help of this programme and the people on it, I overcame it all.
“I have now been drug free for months, have my relationship back with my family, a lovely home, my children back in my life and care 24/7 for my newborn. I have never been more settled or happier.”
The court has run at Belfast Magistrates Court since 2018, where it was initially presided over by Judge Fiona Bagnall. Presiding District Judge Steven Keown now sits on the court, and he says it makes a welcome change from the standard magistrates courts down the hall.
“It’s very different to any criminal court,” Judge Keown says.
“For so many people who come before the criminal courts, substance misuse is at the heart of their difficulties and the heart of their offending behaviour.
“The idea is to tackle the root cause of their offending as opposed to just dealing with the aftermath.
“If you can tackle the addiction you can not only make a huge difference to their life, but also to society as a whole.
“Three quarters of everyone under probation supervision not only have an addiction issue which is directly related to the offence they have committed.
“Drug issues are getting worse, not better. We’ve had a 203% increase in drug deaths in the last 10 years. A 980% increase in pregabalin deaths in the last five years.
“What I’m doing in Court 10 four days a week is dealing with the criminal offence. Whereas in the Substance Misuse Court we’re dealing with why is the offending happening.”
The judge says he has become “massively invested” in those which appear before him in the court, something it’s difficult to do when sitting through a magistrate court which could have close to 100 cases to deal with on a given day.
“It’s all about building up personal relationships. They all come in together and we do the graduations first, so people can see what they can achieve,” Judge Keown said.
“In Court 10 I engage with the lawyer and they are standing in the dock. In this court it’s all direct so building up that relationship is vital.
“I’m always constantly impressed by how much they want to sort themselves out and that’s the crucial thing. They want to change themselves for the better.”
An evaluation of the court was published in 2020, with positive results being reported.
28 out of 50 had completed or were nearing completion of the programme, while 26 showed a significant reduction in problem scores for both drug and alcohol misuse over the duration of the programme and a significant reduction in risk of re-offending.
Many would like to see the rolling out of the initiative to more courts and in more areas, but the level of investment required is currently prohibitive.
“It requires a lot of resources and a lot of investment. In my view, it pays out in spades but the reality is it’s a big project to get off the ground,” Judge Keown adds.
“It took a long time to get up and running in Belfast, I would love to see it get up and running in Derry and grow from there.
“But I think if you are serious about tackling addiction issues, reoffending, the number of victims in society, the number of people going to jail, the cost of keeping people in jail and the cost of substance misuse to society, these are the kind of projects we need.”
