Women's History Month: Judge oversees five-county ‘drug court’

The senior judge with the Western Regional Family Drug and Mental Health courts recently outlined her duties to Fallon Rotarians at their weekly luncheon.

Deborah Schumacher said her court covers five counties including Churchill. The other counties or jurisdictions she oversees are Carson City and Lyon, Douglas and Pershing counties. She normally presides over her court in Fallon on Wednesday mornings.

Schumacher graduated with a B.A. from Valparaiso (Indiana) University in 1977. She earned a graduate degree in U.S. history from the University of Chicago one year later and a Juris Doctor from the University of Notre Dame in 1983.

Former Gov. Bob Miller appointed Schumacher as a judge with the Washoe County Family Court 1997 and retired in December 2014 at the end of her term.

Schumacher said she oversees such cases as the third offense for driving under influence, drug usage and mental health. She added an offender would have three to five years to complete a program, but the minimum time for completion, though, is about a year. It could, however, extend to 18 to 24 months.

If an individual picks up a third DUI within seven years, then the offender has a minimum three-year program to complete.

Schumacher said a drug court treatment testing may take longer than one year. Not only does she deal with the first-time offenders, but Schumacher also deals with high-risk individuals who may re-offend. Schumacher said people are not perfect and may struggle in the program. She said repeat offenders may not be successful in completing their program.

“We’re dealing with hardened criminals,” she said. “They may have no interest in changing.”

According to the Western Regional Drug Court’s Model Program Design for Multijurisdictional, Rural Settings, “The challenges faced by rural areas often prohibit the establishment of new programs to improve individual, local criminal justice activities. However, by combining organizational efforts, much can be accomplished to produce unified responses to society’s problems.”

In addition to having a judge, the specialty court also employs a coordinator, prosecutor, defense lawyer, treatment personnel, probation officer or other agency staff as deemed necessary.

“They provide early intervention by the court while protecting the rights and due process of the defendant,” the model court design explained.

In one of her jurisdictions, Schumacher said she dealt with 46 mental health and drug cases and numerous felony DUIs. She said other criteria determines if an offender enters and completes an inhouse treatment.

“An expansive assessment and an individual case plan is created,” she said, adding in Churchill County, the New Frontier Treatment Center will work with inpatient or outpatient clients.

Each case is different, and Schumacher said the primary counselor will determine the most effective plan and how often the counselor sees the offender. Schumacher said recovery is not cheap. She said offenders must take care of their fines or other assessments and have medical insurance.

“We’re trying to get you into the best place,” she said.

According to Schumacher, the offender will usually stay in the justice system for a predetermined number of months or years.

The visiting judge who lives in Reno said some graduates from the Drug Court do reoffend. Schumacher said if an individual reoffends, the incidents tend to be committed at a much lower rate than those who don’t attend court and receive a treatment plan.

“I wish I had the data for my court,” she said about the reoffenders.

Once an offender completes drug court but is still on probation, she said the individual must complete the remaining time on probation.

Schumacher said some offenders, however, do have long-term goals, specifically purchasing their own homes.

The judge, who was named the Northern Nevada Women Lawyer's Association 2015 Lawyer of the Year, also said about 75% of the women she sees have experienced some form of sex abuse. Schumacher has also spent most of her judicial career working with foster children and improving the court handling of their cases.