DeKalb County’s plan to create a drug court is a good one.

The court, which could be in operation by September, would handle those accused of non-violent drug-related crimes. It would focus more on rehabilitating offenders than on merely sending them to prison. Counseling and forced addiction treatment is often part of drug court programs. And because only certain offenders are eligible, DeKalb County won’t have homicidal heroin addicts running around just because they went through drug court instead of being sent to a concrete cell.

According to the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, more than 1,600 drug courts are in place or being planned in the United States.

The Illinois Attorney General’s Web site lists nineteen drug courts in operation in Illinois, with more in the development phase. Nearby counties that have the courts in place include Kane and Winnebago counties.

Drug courts are a good idea because they can help keep people out of prison because it isn’t exactly cheap. The annual cost per person for incarceration ranges from more than $21,000 for adults to more than $70,000 for juveniles, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Compare this figure to the cost of a probation officer’s supervision, which is about $3,500 annually, and it’s easy to see prison doesn’t pay.

This talk of cost wouldn’t matter if drug courts didn’t work — if they only prolonged the inevitable. But it seems they do.

Re-arrest rates for drug court participants fell as much as 20 percent in a national Department of Justice survey.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse also reports drug Courts generate cost savings “from reduced incarceration, reduced criminality and lower criminal justice system costs.”

The Office of National Drug Control Policy estimates for every $1 spent on treatment for addicted offenders, society gains a benefit of $3 in reduced crime and correctional costs. Who wouldn’t want that?

Critics of drug courts say they aren’t tough enough on those charged with drug crimes, but with overcrowding seen in correctional facilities across the country, it would make more sense to leave room in prison and jail cells for the truly dangerous criminals. Most drug offenders are in the system for relatively minor transgressions such as possession.

State’s Attorney Ron Matekaitis estimates that maybe 100 of 800 drug-related felony cases filed each year in DeKalb County would be eligible for the planned drug court, according to a Feb. 19 article in the Daily Chronicle.

If even 50 people could “graduate” drug court and be treated for their addictions, then DeKalb County’s planned court would be a resounding success.