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Conference Papers

Magistrates Early Referral Into Treatment (MERIT)

Bruce Flaherty and Joanne Jousif
Attorney General's Department, New South Wales

Presented at:
Crime Prevention Conference
Hilton Hotel, Sydney
12-13 September 2002

Abstract

The Magistrates Early Referral Into Treatment (MERIT) program was introduced as one of a range of innovative drug-crime diversionary schemes under the Government Plan of Action for the NSW Drug Summit. It is also one of the NSW schemes being funded by the Commonwealth Government under the National Illicit Drug Strategy (NIDS) Diversion Initiative. The MERIT program commenced operation on a trial basis at Lismore Local Court in July 2000, and in March 2001 the Government approved a statewide roll-out plan for the MERIT program which will see a MERIT program operating in each of the Area Health Service regions by the end of 2002. The Program provides adult defendants appearing on bail at local courts with the opportunity to undertake supervised drug treatment prior to sentencing. This paper describes the background to and operation of the MERIT program; outlines its relevance to crime prevention and its implications for drug treatment services; discusses particular issues including coercion to treatment, net widening and equity of access; and outlines the experience so far of the Program. A table summarises diversion options at the pre arrest, pre trial, pre sentence and post sentence stages.