NCJ Number
171142
Date Published
June 1998
Length
199 pages
Annotation
This report provides a synopsis of the "state of the art" of juvenile and family drug court activity, based on responses to a survey of juvenile and family drug courts that were operating as of January 1998; this updates a 1996 report that was prepared to document juvenile and family drug court activity that was just beginning at that time.
Abstract
For the purpose of this report, a juvenile drug court is defined as "a drug court that focuses on juvenile delinquency matters and status offenses that involve substance-using juveniles." A family drug court is defined as "a drug court that deals with cases that involve parental rights in which an adult is the party litigant, which come before the court through either the criminal or the civil process, and which arise out of the substance abuse of a parent and include custody and visitation disputes; abuse, neglect, and dependency matters; petitions to terminate parental rights; guardianship proceedings; or other loss, restriction, or limitation of parental rights." This 1998 updated report profiles the operational characteristics of juvenile and family drug courts that are currently operating and identifies the policy and other implementation issues that have been commonly encountered. The report's sections describe the characteristics of current juvenile and family drug court programs; the populations they are serving; the case processing procedures they are using; the treatment and rehabilitation services they are delivering to both the juveniles and their families; the policy and operational issues they are addressing as they plan, implement, and fine-tune their programs; and the advice they offer to colleagues in other jurisdictions considering similar programs. The survey involved 30 juvenile drug courts and 6 family drug courts. Extensive charts and a list of survey respondents