Drug Courts: A National Phenomenon
Drug courts represent the coordinated efforts of the judiciary, prosecution, defense bar, probation, law enforcement, mental health, social service, and treatment communities to actively and forcefully intervene and break the cycle of substance abuse, addiction, and crime. As an alternative to less effective interventions, drug courts quickly identify substance abusing offenders and place them under strict court monitoring and community supervision, coupled with effective, long-term treatment services.
In this blending of systems, the drug court participant undergoes an intense regimen of substance abuse and mental health treatment, case management, drug testing, and probation supervision while reporting to regularly scheduled status hearings before a judge with specialized expertise in the drug court model (Fox & Huddleston, 2003). In addition, drug courts may provide job skill training, family/group counseling, and many other life-skill enhancement services.
No other justice intervention brings to bear such an intensive response with such dramatic results; results that have been well-documented through the rigors of scientific analysis. From the earliest evaluations, researchers have determined that drug courts provide “closer, more comprehensive supervision and much more frequent drug testing and monitoring during the program than other forms of community supervision. More importantly, drug use and criminal behavior are substantially reduced while offenders are participating in drug court” (Belenko, 1998; 2001). To put it bluntly, “we know that drug courts outperform virtually all other strategies that have been attempted for drug-involved offenders” (Marlowe, DeMatteo, & Festinger, 2003).
In a February 2005 report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded that adult drug court programs substantially reduce crime by lowering re-arrest and conviction rates among drug court graduates well after program completion, providing overall greater cost/benefits for drug court participants and graduates than comparison group members (GAO-05-219).
From the establishment of the first drug court in Miami-Dade County, Florida in 1989, to the nearly 2,000 programs operational today, drug courts have transformed from a grass roots movement of “specialized courts” to an institutionalized way of doing business in the American justice system. With a goal of establishing a sustainable drug court program in each of the 3,143 U.S. counties, the National Association of Drug Court Professionals is working toward taking the single most effective solution to the growing threat of substance abuse and addiction to scale.
