Strange Bedfellows

Abstract

The use of sanctions in drug treatment courts (DTCs) to enforce participant compliance with treatment represents the convergence of two different, sometimes opposing, correctional philosophies, punishment and rehabilitation. Though the literature on DTCs tends to treat this merging of ideologies unproblematically, it could present a possible source of conflict within DTCs and other coercive treatment programs. Exploratory interviews with staff and participants in a juvenile drug court (JDC) (n=37) uncovered two types of tension resulting from the sanctioning system. First, staff members often disagreed with each other over the appropriateness of rewards versus punishments and punishment severity to motivate compliance. Second, staff members experienced personal ambivalence over the efficacy of sanctions as a therapeutic tool, particularly when faced with some juveniles' continued noncompliance despite the sanctions. Staff neutralized this tension by attributing noncompliance to the juveniles' lack of motivation, concluding coerced treatment only works for those who are “ready” for treatment. This would appear to pose a paradox for coerced treatment, which is meant to induce compliance specifically among those who are not motivated. Future research should investigate the implications this ideological contradiction among staff has for the therapeutic outcomes of coerced treatment settings.