Effectiveness of Treatment-Based Drug Courts in Reducing Criminal Recidivism

Peters, Roger H.; Murrin, Mary R.

doi:10.1177/0093854800027001005

Cited by 143 publications

(121 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Also, note that the protocol defined the drug court-comparison contrast as the primary unit of analysis. Four studies (Goldkamp et al 2000;Peters and Murrin 2000;Rempel et al 2002;Truitt et al 2002) reported findings on more than one such contrast (e.g., different locales). Thus, the 50 unique studies reported results on 55 independent drug court-comparison contrasts.…”

Section: Coding Protocolmentioning

confidence: 99%

A systematic review of drug court effects on recidivism

2006

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Drug courts have been proposed as a solution to the increasing numbers of drug involved offenders entering our criminal justice system, and they have become widespread since their introduction in 1989. Evaluations of these programs have led to mixed results. Using meta-analytic methods, we systematically reviewed the extant evidence on the effectiveness of drug courts in reducing future criminal offending. Fifty studies representing 55 evaluations were identified, including both experimental and quasi-experimental comparison group designs. The overall findings tentatively suggest that drug offenders participating in a drug court are less likely to reoffend than similar offenders sentenced to traditional correctional options. The equivocation of this conclusion stems from the generally weak methodological nature of the research in this area, although higher quality studies also observed positive results. Furthermore, the evidence tentatively suggests that drug courts using a single model (pre-or post-plea) may be more effective than those not employing these methods. These courts have a clear incentive for completion of the drug court program.

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Section: Coding Protocolmentioning

confidence: 99%

A systematic review of drug court effects on recidivism

2006

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“…Fortunately that is not the case for all evaluation studies on drug courts. Peters and Murrin (2000), for example, included comparison groups and examined recidivism at 12 months and 30 months (Peters & Murrin, 2000). At 12 and 30 months, graduates were less likely to be arrested than probationers and non-graduates.…”

Section: Drug Court Efficacymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Generally, drug courts utilize a series of rewards and graduated sanctions to enforce drug court and treatment compliance (Meyer, 2007). It is believed that treatment attendance and compliance, as well as length of time in treatment, will ultimately result in drug addicts who become successful in abstaining from drug use (Peters & Murrin, 2000;Rempel, 2006;Schmitt, 2006). Coercion in the form of jail time is the end point in a regime of graduated sanctions (Harrell, 1998;Meyer, 2007;Satel, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors of Success: Drug Court Graduate Exit Interviews

et al. 2016

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Drug court judges enforce mandated treatment through a series of rewards and graduated sanctions as compliance with mandated treatment and retention are crucial to successful graduation for participants. A study of 600 graduates from drug court details self-report data of motivations and perceptions offenders shared about their experience in drug court. Clients rated different factors related to their entry into, retention in, and graduation from drug court. Upon graduation, clients rated the opportunity to avoid jail as a key factor in their decision to enter drug court and positive improvements in their life as significant in their decision to remain. This research provides important information on the drug court experience from those clients who successfully graduated.

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“…Unlike the American DTCs [32][33][34], no conclusive outcome evaluation data are available with respect to the Toronto DTC. A quasi-experimental outcome evaluation study was funded by the federal justice department and Fischer/Roberts/Kirst put into operation in 1999, yet critics have proposed that its 'limitations will likely make it impossible to draw definitive conclusions about the effectiveness [of the Toronto DTC] once the results are analysed' [35].…”

Section: Contemporary Compulsory Treatment: the Drug Treatment Courtmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compulsory Drug Treatment in Canada: Historical Origins and Recent Developments

2002

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In Canada, illicit drug use and addiction have traditionally been considered as a criminal justice problem and have been addressed from a legal perspective. Over the past century, a medical approach to drug addiction has slowly crept into the criminal justice processing of drug offenders. This has happened through the combination of principles of punishment with principles of addiction treatment in the sentencing of drug offenders to create a distinct application of ‘compulsory drug treatment’ in Canada. However, this evolution has occurred sporadically over time, with punishment and coercion as predominantly the main approach to dealing with this population. This evolution has recently culminated in Canada with the development of two criminal justice approaches to dealing with the substance use problems of drug offenders that incorporate concepts of punishment and treatment more equally than ever before – conditional sentencing and drug courts. This paper outlines the historical evolution of concepts of ‘compulsory treatment’, discusses such examples of contemporary ‘compulsory treatment’ as conditional sentencing and drug courts, and analyses the implications, concerns and challenges associated with these tools currently used in the sentencing of drug offenders in the Canadian context.

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Effectiveness of Treatment-Based Drug Courts in Reducing Criminal Recidivism

Cited by 143 publications

References 6 publications

A systematic review of drug court effects on recidivism

A systematic review of drug court effects on recidivism

Factors of Success: Drug Court Graduate Exit Interviews

Compulsory Drug Treatment in Canada: Historical Origins and Recent Developments

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