NCJ Number
172909
Journal
National Drug Court Institute Review Volume: 1 Issue: 1 Dated: Summer 1998 Pages: -
Date Published
1998
Length
109 pages
Annotation
Following an article that reviews research on drug courts, a paper presents the findings of an observational study of courtroom dynamics in selected drug courts, along with a summary and analysis of the first juvenile drug court evaluation and an article on the future of drug courts.
Abstract
The first comprehensive academic review of the research, evaluations, and literature in the drug court field concludes that drug courts provide closer, more comprehensive supervision and much more frequent drug testing and monitoring during the program than other forms of community supervision. More importantly, drug use and criminal behavior are substantially reduced while offenders are participating in drug court. Another article presents the first analysis of the role of the drug court judge, as it analyzes courtroom environments of 15 drug courts and describes 17 variables found in each. The article concludes that the drug court has ushered in a new model of a judge as one who can exercise a more flexible and consciously therapeutic rapport with the drug-using offender. The third article presents the first two evaluations ever published on juvenile drug courts. These evaluations conclude that juvenile drug courts are having a positive impact in Santa Clara County, Calif., and Wilmington, Del. The authors note, however, that both of these evaluations examined fairly new juvenile courts and small numbers of juveniles over short time periods. The concluding article provides commentary on the future of drug courts, arguing for their expansion into drug court systems that involve all drug- using offenders. Subject and topic indexes and a headnote index