Overview of Drug Treatment Court

Abstract

Drug treatment courts were established in Florida in the late 1980’s and have been increasing in numbers ever since. Due to this rapid expansion, researchers and evaluators have had difficulty keeping up with the growth. For a comprehensive program evaluation to take place, data collection methods need to be reevaluated for better analysis of the information. This barrier, along with the fact that most drug treatment courts are tailored to their own area, makes it harder to generalize results that have been gathered. This factor is important when acting in one’s own community to help effectively grow drug treatment court. These special courts take first-time, non-violent offenders and work with them using treatment and rehabilitation models with the goal of reducing the recidivism rate. A core concept of drug treatment courts is the individual’s accountability and responsibility to participate in the program, whether introduced to the program voluntarily or involuntarily. Barriers are always going to be present for some individuals, however, it is the responsibility of the drug treatment court, as a team, to help them by problem-solving and adapting the program to their needs. Subsequent to the rapid expansion, limited data collection methods, and various other barriers, further research is necessary to develop more comprehensive models that can be utilized so that program participants are provided every opportunity for success in the program and a reduction in the recidivism rate. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief overview of the current literature and explain the various influences on and components of drug treatment court.