NCJ Number
216011
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 50 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2006 Pages: 280-293
Date Published
June 2006
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study assessed the effectiveness of an adult drug court in a small, nonmetropolitan county of northwest Washington State.
Abstract
Results indicated that the prevalence and incidence of rearrest was significantly lower among drug court participants than among their matched probationer counterparts. The differences in recidivism between the two groups remained significant after controlling for gender, race, age, and number of days in the community. Among those who were rearrested, no significant differences were observed between drug court participants and the control group in terms of duration to first arrest and arrest incidence. The findings suggest that drug court programs can have a significant and positive impact on post-program recidivism in smaller, nonmetropolitan environments. Participants were a group of 41 drug court offenders who had entered and graduated from a drug court program in northwest Washington State between October 1999 and December 2002. The drug court participants were compared to a retrospective, matched comparison group of 30 probation-only offenders who did not participate in drug court. The recidivism measures included rearrest, number of rearrests, and number of convictions. Data analysis included the use of bivariate and multivariate regression models. Future research should focus on how offender and court characteristics may affect drug court functioning in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. Tables, notes, references