Kane County Drug Court hosts graduation and 20th anniversary celebration

KANE COUNTY – The Kane County Drug Rehabilitation Court will celebrate its 20th anniversary during a remote graduation ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 29, according to a news release.

The ceremony will mark the graduation of seven drug court participants, and recognizes their successful completion of an intensive judicially-supervised treatment program, the release stated.

“At the start of this year, we began planning a special graduation to commemorate the 20 year anniversary of Adult Drug Court in Kane County. Although this pandemic has altered our plans, we did not want to miss an opportunity to celebrate this milestone,” Presiding Drug Court Judge Marmarie Kostelny stated in the release. “Our program relies on the contributions of the County Board, our local treatment providers, judicial partners, community leaders and citizens. I am thankful to them all for 20 successful years.”

According to the release, the participants underwent a two-year program of treatment, supervision and accountability. The Kane County Drug Rehabilitation Court is a judicially supervised program that reduces correctional costs, protects community safety and improves public welfare.

Participants are regularly and randomly drug tested and are required to appear in court frequently so that the judge may review their progress. Participants are rewarded for doing well and sanctioned for failing to meet their obligations. Research continues to show that drug courts have better results than jail or prison or regular probation and better results than treatment alone for reducing drug use and recidivism, the release stated.

This event will be conducted remotely using the Zoom video conferencing tool and will be livestreamed on YouTube. The public is invited and encouraged to attend. Go to www.illinois16thjudicialcircuit.org and access the streaming directory. Click on "watch" by Judge Kostelny JC-123.