Drug courts’ effects on criminal offending for juveniles and adults

Abstract

Drug courts are specialized courts in which court actors collaboratively use the legal and moral authority of the court to monitor drug-involved offenders’ abstinence from drug use via frequent drug testing and compliance with individualized drug treatment programs. Drug courts have proliferated across the United States in the past 20 years and been adopted in countries outside the United States. Drug courts also have expanded to non-traditional populations (juvenile and DWI offenders). The objective of this review is to systematically review quasi-experimental and experimental (RCT) evaluations of the effectiveness of drug courts in reducing recidivism, including drug courts for juvenile and DWI offenders. This systematic review critically assesses drug courts’ effects on recidivism in the short- and long-term, the methodological soundness of the existing evidence, and the relationship between drug court features and effectiveness. These findings support the effectiveness of drug courts in reducing recidivism, but the strength of this evidence varies by court type. The evidence finds strong, consistent recidivism reductions in evaluations of adult drug courts. DWI drug courts appear to be strong but this evidence is less consistent, especially in experimental evaluations. More experimental researching assessing the effects of DWI drug courts is clearly needed. For juvenile drug courts, the evidence generally finds small reductions in recidivism. More evaluations of juvenile drug courts, especially experimental and strong quasi-experimental evaluations, are needed.