NCJ Number
224114
Journal
Drug Court Review Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Dated: 2008 Pages: 1-32
Date Published
2008
Length
32 pages
Annotation
This descriptive case study of a felony drug court program was undertaken to determine whether sanctions and therapeutic consequences tended to be imposed on a progressive incline and whether they were administered in accordance with participants’ expectations about the relative severity or burden of those consequences.
Abstract
The results confirm that the most frequently administered consequences were generally of lesser magnitude, including writing essays, verbal reprimands, and a requirement to observe the court proceedings from the jury box. Sanctions that were intended to give participants a brief exposure to detention were imposed less frequently, although on a substantial plurality (approximately one-third) of participants were scheduled for a show-cause hearing (1 percent) and none were terminated from the program during their first 13 months. Importantly, the drug court generally imposed consequences in a manner that was consistent with how participants viewed the relative severity of those consequences. Consequences that were perceived as less burdensome tended to be imposed more frequently and after the first few infractions. Imposing sanctions on clients for program infractions is one of the key components of the drug court model. Administering negative sanctions to clients for program infractions, and therapeutic consequences for insufficient progress in treatment, are among the key components of the drug court model. However, little research has investigated how these sanctions are actually applied within drug court programs. A descriptive case study of a felony pre-adjudication drug court (N = 105) was conducted to address this limited research. Figures, references