Released: April 2007, (pdf)

Status of Relevant Legislation:

Adult Drug Court works. Through its integrated approach to addressing substance abuse and other causes of crime, the Rhode Island Adult Drug Court (ADC) has reduced one-year recidivism rates by half. These findings are consistent with national trends.
The long-term outcomes of the ADC save money and produce increased public safety because chronic substance abusers are treated and effectively removed from future involvement with the criminal justice system. The more that the ADC can target people who would otherwise be headed to prison, the greater the cost-benefit.

Released: 2005 (pdf)

Status of Relevant Legislation:

In 1988, when Rhode Island adopted mandatory minimums, the leading thought on drug crime was that if judges “threw the book at anyone implicated in this insidious business, its diminution would become more likely.”1 In this context, long sentences for drug crimes had innate appeal. Since 1988, our prison population has more than doubled (from 1,527 to 3,537 people); we have opened three new prisons and expanded existing facilities three times. In addition to these capital investments, prison expenditures have more than doubled. In 1988, Rhode Island spent $52 million on incarceration; in 2003 we spent over $130 million on incarceration.