Should Violent Offenders be Excluded From Drug Court Participation?: An Examination of the Recidivism of Violent and Nonviolent Drug Court Participants

• NCJ Number: 224371
• Journal: Criminal Justice Review Volume: 33 Issue: 3 Dated: September 2008 Pages: 291-307
• Author(s): Christine A. Saum; Matthew L. Hiller
• Date Published: September 2008
• Length: 17 pages
• Grant Number(s): R01 DA12424
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Results are presented from a study to determine whether recidivism outcomes following drug court differed among offenders with and without violent histories.

Abstract

Study findings show that violent and nonviolent offenders had statistically comparable recidivism rates. The results suggest that the unilateral decision to exclude all violent offenders probably is not the best choice because the additional resources allocated to the supervision and treatment of offenders in these programs may have additional benefits for improving public safety. Policy often stipulates drug court funding cannot be used for offenders with violent criminal histories, although it has been argued that increasing funding to community programs for these individuals represents an important means for controlling crime. Because little research has examined whether a violent offense history is related to recidivism following drug court participation, pre-drug court criminal history and post-drug court arrest and charge data were collected for 452 offenders in a post-plea drug court program from New Castle County (Wilmington) Delaware Superior Court between 1993 and 1997. Tables and references