Appearing in a packed Rockville courtroom this month were six defendants, each with a grim past involving addiction. One defendant used heroin every day for six or seven years. Another racked up 13 prior convictions, had no job for 17 years and no driver’s license for over 30. Past being prologue, these bleak backgrounds inspired no hope that the six would be anything other than social failures and career criminals. In unflattering mugshots posted on courtroom monitors, the defendants appeared as if they too had no hope in themselves or their futures.The current criminal justice system wouldn’t offer much reason for optimism either. Under the prevailing retributive system, lawbreakers deserve stiff penalties and to rot while serving them. If this punitive system was applied to the six defendants, they likely would receive lengthy sentences and modest support for their developmental and mental health needs. They likely would exit the system more damaged than when they entered, making recidivism — breaking the law again and harming new people in their communities — a near certainty. They also could hurt themselves: As addicts without robust recovery programs, they could relapse or overdose.But when the six were called in the courtroom, they were not banished to the cold confines of a prison cell. Instead, each received a warm applause and a court order terminating their judicial supervision.Despite who they were when arrested, each of the six was now clean and sober, gainfully employed and reconnected with their families.These outcomes were made possible because a different system of justice was applied to the six. In lieu of the retributive system, the six were assigned to the Montgomery County Adult Drug Court program for high-risk, high-need defendants suffering from a substance abuse disorder. In this program, participants receive intensive substance abuse treatment and therapy, among other support, all coordinated by a case manager. Participants also appear regularly before judges who oversee the defendants’ progress and can impose sanctions, including incarceration, for non-compliance.Montgomery County’s drug court, and similar courts, should drive criminal justice reform in several respects:The court suggests that rehabilitation can work and as such should be reintegrated as a leading purpose of all criminal justice punishment;While it is well-accepted that juveniles mature as their brains develop, courts should appreciate that adults too have the capacity to change. Indeed, these six defendants ranged in age from 29 to 55 years old;Judicial personnel and resources should be recalibrated to facilitate these changes;Drug court officials regularly confer with their counterparts in sister courts in Maryland and across the country. Insisting on such institutional collaboration will ensure that programs run on best practices, not just good intentions;Drug court suggests that incarceration can be reserved for the most culpable and dangerous without endangering public safety.For all their benefits, drug courts are not the norm, in part, because of institutional resistance to change. (A symbol of the judiciary is the slow-moving turtle.) Judicial alternatives thus require a credible voice to persuade relevant stakeholders to evolve. In the case of the drug court, that champion was Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Nelson Rupp, who recently retired.Judge Rupp is credited with single-handedly securing that buy-in, founding the drug court, and giving a second chance to its 218 graduates.This issue not just about policy; it is a matter of life and death.Take the case of Nicholas Borowski and a friend who used heroin together. Nick was arrested with 7 grams of heroin, completed drug court, and has now been sober for over three years. His friend was arrested with half a gram of heroin, overdosed and died while awaiting a multi-year prison sentence in federal court. Many view the difference in these two outcomes — recovery and tragedy — as drug court.The drug court provides valuable lessons on how justice should be defined and dispensed today. It also exists as an ongoing tribute to a generous jurist who has transformed both institutions and lives.Dawinder S. Sidhu (dsidhu@gmail.com) is an attorney and visiting professor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law.