The drug court model involves drug treatment mandated by the authority and aims to break the cycle of an offender’s drug use and drug related crime. Are drug courts effective in reducing future offending and drug use?
A Campbell systematic review published this year concludes that adult drug courts have a substantial effect on reoffending, but that drug courts for juveniles show a much smaller effect. With respect to drug courts for offenders convicted of driving under the influence (DWI) the jury’s still out.
This review examined the effects of drug courts versus “standard” criminal justice processing. On average, a client who has been processed by a drug court is less likely to re-offend than someone who has gone through the normal justice system process. This applies to both drug-related and not drug-related crimes. The effect persists for at least three years after entering the drug court. For DWI drug courts, the evidence is promising. DWI drug court studies show an overall effect similar to that of adult drug courts. Some of the best evaluations, however, showed mixed results, and even no effect of the court in some instances. Therefore, more research is needed on DWI courts to clarify the effects. The effects of juvenile drug courts are smaller than for adult drug courts.
The review team was led by Ojmarrh Mitchell, Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology at the University of South Florida.