Drug Courts' Effects on Criminal Offending

• In Event: Evidence-Based Crime Policy II

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to meta-analytically synthesize quasi-experimental and experimental evaluations of the effectiveness of drug courts in reducing offending. Our search identified 154 independent evaluations: 92 evaluations of adult drug courts, 34 of juvenile drug courts, and 28 of DWI drug courts. Effect sizes coded from adult drug courts indicate that the vast majority of evaluations, even the most rigorous evaluations, find that participants have lower recidivism than non-participants. The average effect of participation is analogous to a drop in recidivism from 50% to 38%; and, these effects last up to three years. Evaluations of DWI drug courts find effects similar in magnitude to those of adult drug courts, but the most rigorous evaluations do not uniformly find reductions in recidivism. Juvenile drug courts have substantially smaller effects on recidivism. Larger reductions in recidivism were found in adult drug courts that had high graduation rates, and those that accepted only non-violent offenders.

Authors

• Ojmarrh Mitchell, University of South Florida

• David B. Wilson, George Mason University

• Amy Eggers, University of South Florida

• Doris L. MacKenzie, Pennsylvania State University