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S 3099Courts

Courts and Civil Procedure - Courts - Superior Court

This bill renames the "drug court" and "drug court magistrate" to "recovery court" and "recovery court magistrate."

Signed into law69 Yea0 Nay6 Not voting
Population
Affected
8
Email Legislator
Introduced Mar 13, 2026Committee Senate Judiciary

Plain-English Summary

This legislation amends the Rhode Island General Laws regarding the Superior Court to rename the "drug court magistrate" to the "recovery court magistrate." Consequently, the "adult drug court" is renamed the "adult recovery court." The bill updates these terms throughout the statute. The appointment process, term limits, powers, duties, and eligibility requirements for the magistrate and the program participants remain unchanged. The primary purpose is to update the terminology used to describe this specific judicial role and the associated rehabilitation program.

For younger readers

There is a special court in Rhode Island for adults who have problems with drugs. Right now, it is called "drug court." This bill changes the name to "recovery court." It also changes the title of the judge in charge from "drug court magistrate" to "recovery court magistrate." "Recovery" is a word that means getting better. The rules of the court and what the judge does will stay the same. The only change is the name, which is meant to sound more positive and focus on people getting healthy.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
Drug-addicted persons involved in the court systemSuperior Court MagistratesCriminal defense attorneysProsecutorsCourt administrative staff
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
None
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Destigmatizes substance use disorders by shifting the language from "drug court" to "recovery court," emphasizing healing and health over criminality.
  • Reinforces a therapeutic jurisprudence model that prioritizes rehabilitation and the well-being of the individual rather than defining them solely by their substance use.
  • May encourage more participation and reduce shame for defendants entering the program, fostering a more supportive environment for marginalized communities affected by the war on drugs.
  • Represents a purely semantic change without allocating new funding or resources to actually expand treatment capacity or social services for the poor.
  • Maintains the coercive power of the criminal legal system and the threat of incarceration, rather than moving addiction treatment entirely into the public health sphere.
  • Retains existing exclusionary criteria regarding "crimes of violence" and pending charges, which may continue to disproportionately bar certain disadvantaged individuals from accessing recovery services.
For Conservatives
  • Preserves the strict oversight and coercive powers of the court system, ensuring that offenders are held accountable while receiving treatment.
  • Incurs no significant financial cost to taxpayers, as the change is terminological rather than a creation of a new government program.
  • Maintains strict definitions for "crimes of violence," ensuring that dangerous offenders remain ineligible for diversionary programs.
  • Could be viewed as a "soft on crime" linguistic shift that minimizes the severity of illegal drug use and the criminal nature of the offenses.
  • Represents a performative legislative exercise that wastes time on "woke" terminology changes rather than addressing substantive issues like enforcement or crime rates.
  • Risks eroding the deterrent effect of the law by removing the stigma associated with "drug court" and replacing it with the more positive-sounding "recovery court."

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 29 additions · 27 deletions

SECTION 1. Section 8-2-39.2 of the General Laws in Chapter 8-2 entitled "Superior Court" is hereby amended to read as follows: 8-2-39.2. Drug court magistrate — Appointment, duties and powers Recovery court magistrate -- Appointment, duties and powers.

(a) For the purposes of this chapter:

(1) “Non-violent” means and includes all charges that are not crimes of violence, the following being a list of all charges considered to be crimes of violence for the purposes of this section: murder, manslaughter, first-degree arson, kidnapping with intent to extort, robbery, first- degree sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault, first- and second-degree child molestation, assault, assault with intent to murder, assault with intent to rob, assault with intent to commit first- degree sexual assault, entering a dwelling house with intent to commit murder, robbery, or sexual assault.

(2) “Drug-addicted person” means a person who exhibits a maladaptive pattern of behavior resulting from drug use, including one or more of the following: impaired control over drug use; compulsive use; and/or continued use despite harm, and craving.

(b) There is hereby created within the superior court the position of drug recovery court magistrate who shall be appointed by the presiding justice of the superior court with the advice and consent of the senate. The persons appointed to serve as drug recovery court magistrates shall be members of the bar of Rhode Island. The powers and duties of the drug recovery court magistrate shall be prescribed in the order appointing him or her in addition to those described herein. The drug recovery court magistrate’s term shall be ten (10) years and until a successor is appointed and qualified. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a drug recovery court magistrate from being reappointed for additional ten-year (10) terms by the presiding justice of the superior court with the advice and consent of the senate. He or she shall receive a salary equivalent to that received by the special magistrate assigned to the superior court. The drug recovery court magistrate shall preside over the adult drug recovery court. The adult drug recovery court program shall combine the coercive powers of the court with a therapeutic regimen in order to rehabilitate drug addicted defendants.

(c) The drug recovery court magistrate shall be empowered to hear and decide as a superior court justice all matters relating to those adult offenders who come before the jurisdiction of the superior court on any offense relating to the offender’s participation in the adult drug recovery court. In addition, the drug recovery court magistrate shall have the power to impose a period of incarceration upon a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, and also have the power to confine any person who has been found to be in violation of any conditions previously imposed by the superior court.

(d) The drug recovery court magistrate shall make the final determination as to whether a defendant is admitted into the program. Individuals meeting the following criteria shall be screened by staff working at the office of the attorney general upon the department’s own referral; upon a request by counsel entered on behalf of a defendant; upon request by a judge of the superior or district court, or, in the case of a person waivable by the family court, by a judge of that court; or the department of corrections for admittance into the adult drug recovery court:

(1) The individual is charged with or convicted of an alcohol- or drug-related offense or with an appropriate non-violent offense.

(2) The individual has no pending charges for felony crimes of violence.

(3) The individual has no pending charges for delivery of a controlled substance.

(4) The defendant is a drug-addicted person.

(e) All individuals accepted into drug recovery court will be bound by a drug recovery court contract, as defined by the adult drug recovery court, that sets forth the court’s expectations; the role and responsibilities of the drug recovery court; the conditions imposed upon and the responsibilities of the defendant; and the treatment plan goals and strategies. If a defendant fails to abide by the drug recovery court conditions and orders, he or she may be terminated from the program by the drug recovery court judge and sentenced as he or she deems appropriate.

(f) The drug recovery court magistrate shall be empowered to hear and decide as a superior court justice all matters that may come before the superior court pursuant to chapter 37.1 of title 11 “sexual offender registration and community notification.”

(g) The drug recovery court magistrate and/or the presiding justice of the superior court may fix the venue of any person who is before the superior court as a participant in the adult drug recovery court or who is alleged to be a sexual predator, and who has filed an objection to community notification.

(h) In addition, at the discretion of the presiding justice of the superior court, the drug court magistrate shall have the duties, responsibilities, and powers authorized in subsections 8-2-39(b),

(c) and (d).

(i) The drug recovery court magistrate shall be governed by the commission on judicial tenure and discipline, chapter 16 of title 8, in the same manner as justices and judges; shall be subject to all provisions of the canons of judicial ethics or code of judicial conduct; and shall be subject to all criminal laws relative to judges by virtue of §§ 11-7-1 and 11-7-2.

(j) A party aggrieved by an order entered by the drug recovery court magistrate shall be entitled to a review of the order by a justice of the superior court. Unless otherwise provided in the rules of procedure of the court, such review shall be on the record and appellate in nature. The superior court shall, by rules of procedure, establish procedures for reviews of orders entered by a drug recovery court magistrate, and for enforcement of contempt adjudications of a drug recovery court magistrate.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.