This final evaluation report provides a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of juvenile drug treatment courts (JDTCs) on youth recidivism and drug use, program graduation rates among JDTC participants, differences in recidivism rates for JDTC program graduates versus dropouts, and variability in effects across characteristics of participating youth and courts.
The authors of this document conducted a comprehensive literature search to update their synthesis of randomized and controlled quasi-experimental studies that reported on the effects of juvenile drug treatment courts (JDTCs) in the U.S. They used mixed-effects meta-regression models with robust variance estimates to examine average effect sizes and explore moderators of effects. The authors’ objectives were to examine the effects of JDTCs on youth recidivism and drug use, program graduation rates among JDTC participants, differences in recidivism rates for JDTC program graduates versus dropouts, and variability in effects across characteristics of participating youth and courts. They concluded that JDTCs may, overall, have modest beneficial effects on reducing participants’ recidivism, especially for those youth who successfully complete and graduate from the program, but to maximize JDTC effectiveness the courts may attempt to focus efforts on improving retention and graduation, and referring youth to community treatment programs that are appropriate for their level of care and unique needs.