Applying systems theory to drug courts: Advancing the drug court research agenda

Abstract

The application of systems theory to criminal justice is not new. However, its explicit application to drug courts is novel. The drug court literature has historically suffered from a lack of theorizing and theory testing. Situating drug courts within the larger criminal justice system can help academics and practitioners understand what is going on outside of drug court, how it has important implications inside drug courts, and ultimately can help us better understand how and why drug courts may work for some participants and not others and why some drug courts may be more successful than others. This paper is a thought exercise that applies Mears (2017) systems theory to drug courts and sets forth directional hypotheses as part of a new drug court research agenda.