Missing Voices, Missed Opportunities: What Clients Teach Us About Drug Court

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract/Description

Drug court clients offer critical insights into the effectiveness of programs designed to support their recovery, yet their perspectives are often underutilized in shaping policy and practice. This panel brings together studies that examine client experiences, highlighting client views on program strengths and challenges, treatment effectiveness, and client engagement in drug court research and reform.

Paper 1 underscores the need for incorporating client perspectives into drug court research, emphasizing how lived experiences informs policy and practice. Paper 2 examines clients’ motivations, interactions with court teams, and perceptions of program effectiveness across diverse sites, offering client-driven recommendations for improving treatment and support services. Paper 3 focuses on substance use treatment in an urban setting, exploring perceptions of counseling formats, treatment activities, barriers to service, and post-program success planning. Paper 4 shifts to an applied research lens, reflecting on challenges and best practices for engaging drug court clients in qualitative research, with attention to overcoming logistical, linguistic, and trust-related barriers.

Together, these papers provide a comprehensive discussion on the role of client lived experience in drug court research, offering empirical insights, practical engagement strategies, and policy implications for building more responsive, client-centered drug court systems.

Sub Unit

• Area VII. Non-Criminal Justice Responses to Crime & Delinquency / 62. Public Health

Individual Presentations

• Deepening Our Understanding of Drug Court Impact: The Importance of Client Perspectives - Steven Belenko, Temple University; Jennifer Stanley, Temple University

• Co-Creating Justice: Participants’ Lived Experiences on Strengths, Struggles, and Solutions in Drug Court - Talia LaSane, Temple University; Sebastian Galleguillos, University of Massachusetts Boston

• What Works for Me? Participant Perceptions and Experiences of Substance Use Treatment in a Drug Court Setting - Mariely Morel, John Jay College of Criminal Justice; Deborah Koetzle, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY

• Unmuted: Client Perspectives on Drug Courts, Treatment, and Change - Julie Garman, John Jay College of Criminal Justice; Deborah Koetzle, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY; Talia LaSane, Temple University

Chair

• Steven Belenko, Temple University

Discussant

• Carolyn Hardin, AllRise, Chief of Training and Research

Organized by a Division or external group?

Division of Health and Disability Criminology (DHDC)