Axis
Criminal Justice
Problems addressed
Recidivism
Drug abuse

Effectiveness

Promising

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Promising

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Description

These are courts that combine drug treatment with the court’s legal and moral authority in an effort to break the cycle of drug abuse and drug- or alcohol-related crime. They generally work in partnership with mental health and other social services with the goal of preventing people in those situations from entering the Criminal Justice System (courts and jails) and aggravating their criminal trajectory. Currently, there are drug treatment courts in several different countries: for example, the United States, South Africa, Bermuda, Jamaica, and Chile.

Country of application
  • United States
Evidence

The Crime Solutions platform presents the results of six meta-analyses that evaluated 368 studies. Drug Treatment Courts for adults promise to reduce recidivism and offenses associated with alcohol and/or drugs, but have no effect on reducing the abusive use of those substances [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6].
The Crime Reduction Toolkit platform shows the results of a systematic review that evaluated 60 studies and concluded that Drug Treatment Courts are effective to reduce crime and criminal recidivism [7].
The Washington State Institute for Public Policy platform evaluated six adult drug courts in the state of Washington (United States) and found that five of those drug courts reduced recidivism by 13% (statistically significant) compared to regular criminal courts [8].

Bibliography

[1] Aos, S., Phipps, P., Barnoski, R., Lieb, R. (2001). The comparative costs and benefits of programs to reduce crime. Olympia, WA: Washington State Institute. https://www.wsipp.wa.gov/ReportFile/756

[2] Latimer, J., Morton-Bourgon, K. y Chretien, J. A. (2006). A Meta-Analytic Examination of Drug Treatment Courts: Do they Reduce Recidivism? Department of Justice, Canada. https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/csj-sjc/jsp-sjp/rr06_7/rr06_7.pdf

[3] Mitchell, O., Wilson, D. B., Eggers, A. y MacKenzie, D. L. (2012). Drug Courts' Effects on Criminal Offending for Juveniles and Adults. Campbell Systematic Reviews, 8(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.4073/csr.2012.4

[4] Shaffer, D. (2010). Reconsidering Drug Court Effectiveness: A Meta-analytic Review. Las Vegas, NV: University of Las Vegas Department of Criminal Justice. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1152549096

[5] Sevigny, E. L., Fuleihan, B. K. y Ferdik, F. V. (2013). Do drug courts reduce the use of incarceration? A meta-analysis. Journal of Criminal Justice, 41(6), 416–425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2013.06.005

[6] Drake, E., Lee, S., Aos, S [S.], Pennucci, A., Klima, T., Miller, M., Anderson, L., Mayfield, J. y Burley, M. (2012). Chemical Dependency Treatment for Offenders: A Review of the Evidence and Benefit-Cost Findings. Full Report (Documents núm. 12-12-1201). Olympia, WA. Washington State Institute for Public Policy. https://www.wsipp.wa.gov/ReportFile/1112

[7] Koetzle Shaffer, D. (2006). Reconsidering Drug Court Effectiveness: A Meta-analytic Review [Doctoral Dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Reconsidering-Drug-Court-Effectiv…

[8] Barnoski, R. & Aos, S. (2003). Washington State's Drug Courts for Adult Defendants: Outcome Evaluation and Cost-Benefit Analysis. Washington State Institute for Public Policy. https://www.wsipp.wa.gov/ReportFile/827/Wsipp_Washington-States-Drug-Co…

Information Source

Evaluated cases

Brooklyn (NY) Treatment Court

Axis: Criminal Justice
Type: Adult Drug Treatment Court
Effectiveness:

Promising

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.

.

.

.

Promising
Problem type:
Recidivism, Drug trafficking
Country:
United States
Open

Baltimore County Juvenile Drug Court (BCJDC)

Axis: Criminal Justice
Type: Adult Drug Treatment Court
Effectiveness:

Promising

.

.

.

.

.

Promising
Problem type:
Recidivism, Drug trafficking, Juvenile delinquency, Drug abuse
Country:
United States
Open

Oregon Drug Courts

Axis: Criminal Justice
Type: Adult Drug Treatment Court
Effectiveness:

Promising

.

.

.

.

.

Promising
Problem type:
Drug abuse
Country:
United States
Open

Multnomah County (Ore.) Sanction Treatment Opportunity Progress (STOP) Drug Diversion Program

Axis: Criminal Justice
Type: Adult Drug Treatment Court
Effectiveness:

Effective

.

.

.

.

.

Effective
Problem type:
Recidivism, Drug trafficking, Crime and delinquency (multiple types)
Country:
United States
Open

Cass County/Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Wellness Court (Walker, MN)

Axis: Criminal Justice
Type: Adult Drug Treatment Court
Effectiveness:

Promising

.

.

.

.

.

Promising
Problem type:
Recidivism
Country:
United States
Open

Guam Adult Drug Court

Axis: Criminal Justice
Type: Adult Drug Treatment Court
Effectiveness:

Promising

.

.

.

.

.

Promising
Problem type:
Recidivism, Drug trafficking, Drug abuse
Country:
United States
Open

Why might the cases evaluated have different levels of effectiveness in relation to their respective type of solution?
Click here to understand why.

Some cases were not included in the evidence bank due to deficiencies detected in the methodology of their impact evaluations.
Click here to see the list

 

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