Examining Individual Characteristics and Program Performance to Understand Two-Year Recidivism Rates Among Drug Court Participants: Comparing Graduates and Terminators

Abstract

Drug courts strive to break the cycle of substance use and crime by providing community-based treatment and rehabilitation. The purpose of the present study was to (a) identify significantly different factors between program participants (i.e., graduates/terminators) that may affect recidivism and (b) examine these significant individual and program performance factors associated with two-year recidivism. Secondary data were examined for a stratified random sample of drug court participants ( N = 534). Examining any two-year post-program recidivism (defined as an arrest, conviction, or incarceration), over one third (37.6%) of graduates and almost all program terminators (95.3%) had two-year post-program recidivism ( p < .001). For the overall sample, age, outpatient treatment, marital status, number of times treated for a psychiatric problem in a hospital, substance use (i.e., past-30-day cocaine use and intravenous opiate use), number of positive drug tests, and receiving any sanction/therapeutic response were associated with two-year post-program recidivism. Further analyses suggested age and outpatient treatment were particularly important for program graduates. Findings provide information for early targeting of resources to drug court participants most at risk of poorer post-program outcomes by identifying factors known at program entry and indicators during program participation.

What Factors Predict the Self-Identification of Drug Dependency Among Australian Police Detainees? Prevalence, Correlates, and Implications for the Criminal Justice System

“…The relative failure of imprisonment as a period of forced abstinence and the high rates of recidivism among drug-dependent offenders was inspiration for the establishment of the world’s first drug court in Miami-Dade County, Florida, in the late 1980s. Since then, drug courts have proliferated internationally (Cooper, 2003; Payne, 2006, 2008; Shannon et al, 2018), and the guiding principle of therapeutic jurisprudence (Hora et al, 1998; Spencer, 2012) has made a solid mark on criminal justice systems worldwide. In Australia, the diversion and treatment of drug users is organized on a continuum (see Wundersitz, 2007 for an overview) from the early intervention and diversion of low-level users to the intensive court-supervised drug court programs that are offered as a last resort alternative to imprisonment.…”

Examining the Impact of Jail Sanctions on Recidivism for Domestic Violence Probationers

“…No previous research has examined how sanctions imposed while in the domestic court impact later rates of recidivism, yet there is some evidence from drug treatment courts that jail sanctions may increase recidivism. Shannon et al (2016) examined defendant and processing factors in a drug treatment court and found that participants who were given a jail sanction for noncompliance were more likely to recidivate than those who were not sanctioned in this manner. Other research, however, finds no relationship between jail sanctions and recidivism in drug treatment courts (Sheeran & Heideman, 2021), or more importantly, the incenstives should be used more than sanctions to facilitate compliance (e.g., Wodahl et al, 2011).…”

The Effects of Race and Ethnicity on Admission, Graduation, and Recidivism in the Milwaukee County Adult Drug Treatment Court

“…Similarly, findings from Krebs et al (2007) indicated that Hispanic/Latino participants had a higher likelihood of re-arrest following drug court than White participants. Yet, there are still several evaluations that have determined race was not a primary influence on post-drug court outcomes (Cissner et al 2013;Rossman et al 2011;Shannon et al 2018).…”