NCJ Number
222481
Date Published
February 2007
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This report presents findings from an examination of recidivism rates for offenders who participated in three Alaskan therapeutic courts and a comparison group of offenders who did not participate in the therapeutic courts.
Abstract
Graduates of the Anchorage Felony Driving Under the Influence, Anchorage Felony Drug, and Bethel Therapeutic Courts were rearrested and reconvicted far less frequently than comparison offenders. Highlights of the findings include: (1) 54 percent of the participants in these projects graduated; (2) 13 percent of the graduates were rearrested within 1 year after completing a therapeutic court program compared to a 32 percent rearrest rate for comparison offenders and a 38 percent rearrest rate for offenders charged with felonies in 1999; (3) native participants responded as well to the therapeutic court programs as did White participants, while African-American and other ethnicities did not do as well as White participants; and (4) older participants were less likely to be rearrested than younger participants. In 2001, the Alaskan legislature created two new therapeutic courts for defendants with alcohol problems: one for Felony Driving Under the Influence cases in Anchorage, and one for defendants with alcohol problems in Bethel. At the request of the legislature, the Judicial Council evaluated the two projects in 2005. At the same time, the Council evaluated the Anchorage Felony Drug Court. This report looks at the recidivism rates for the 117 offenders who participated in the therapeutic courts, and compares them with matched groups of 97 offenders who did not participate in the therapeutic courts. The analysis also compares these groups with the baseline recidivism rates for 1999 offenders. Table, figure, and appendix