Drug Court Review

Expert Commentary Social Bonds in Treatment Courts: The Secret to Success

2023-02-13T11:40:00-08:00

Client experiences in the criminal justice system, including successful treatment and prevention strategies, are often characterized by pro and anti-social bonds built with those around them. We encourage clients of the criminal justice system to build prosocial lives around work, family, and religion to become invested in family, community, and mainstream society. However, practitioners often overlook building bonds with clients that can provide the mentoring and support needed to prevent reoffending. Drawing upon research from evaluations of several treatment court programs, the role of social bonds and the mentoring and support they provide are discussed as critical elements of successful outcomes in treatment courts.

Justice-Involved Women Veterans: Recommendations for gender-inclusivity in Veteran Treatment Courts

2023-03-02T06:34:26-08:00

Veteran Treatment Courts (VTCs) are the latest trend in specialty courts. Over the last decade, hundreds of VTCs have emerged despite little empirical support for their effectiveness. The VTC literature touts the success of these courts and suggests that the veterans who sacrificed so much for our country’s safety and prosperity deserve a “second chance” from our criminal justice system. Much of the VTC research includes mostly male justice-involved veterans (JIVs) with little mention of JIV women, women as VTC teammates, and a glaring void regarding women mentors. This article reviews recent VTC research and summarizes what we know about JIV women. Additionally, we identify gaps in the literature concerning the characteristics and needs of JIV women. Lastly, this article makes recommendations as to how the justice community could better serve the needs of JIV women.

Creating Legitimacy in a Diversion Court

2023-02-10T06:38:25-08:00

Research on drug treatment courts (DTCs) consistently conclude that DTCs are effective at reducing recidivism. However, there is variation and contradiction in the literature on what elements of DTCs are key to this success. This is likely partly due to the atheoretical nature of most of the literature on these courts. Utilizing semi-structured qualitative interviews of N=15 active drug court participants of a Midwest DTC, we sought to test the theoretical framework of therapeutic jurisprudence and procedural justice proposed by Kaiser and Holtfreter (2016). Therapeutic jurisprudence suggests ideal interactions with participants and procedural justice is though to be the key to promoting success in DTCs. Participants in our study reported characteristics of therapeutic jurisprudence as key to developing perceptions of procedural justice. Feeling heard and treated compassionately helped shift participants’ identities from “addict” or “criminal” to a “person with an addiction.” Further, participants credited increased trust in the court when they were entrusted with at least part of their own recovery. Finally, some court team members were able to promote perceptions of procedural justice for the whole court. Implications and future directions are discussed in the conclusion.

Life Events and Other Stressors of Diversion Drug Court Participants: An Exploratory Analysis of Race and Gender Differences

2023-02-07T09:03:59-08:00

National Key Components (Defining Drug Courts, 2004) and Florida Best Practices guide drug court operations in Florida (Florida Best Practices, 2017). These documents acknowledge that other stressors and life events may occur along with drug court participation and state that in addition to drug and alcohol treatment, programs should include support services- e.g., peer support or twelve step meetings, transportation and housing assistance, services for physical and mental health needs. We sought to understand the domains and types of co-occurring life events and stressors experienced by participants of one diversionary drug court by coding qualitative notes made by team members (i.e., case managers, treatment, and support service staff) in the online administrative data system. We found the most common stressor domains among the full sample were transportation, finances, and physical health. Among men finances were the most common stressor but among women the most common was physical health. Among African American, White, and participants who were another race, transportation and finances were both the most mentioned stressors. Findings can help drug court team members better understand life events and stressors of their participant population which can help team members better connect participants to appropriate support services.