Juvenile drug courts: emerging outcomes and key research issues

In consideration of the widespread adoption of juvenile drug court programs during the past decade, the purpose of this review is to examine the effectiveness of juvenile drug courts and suggest priorities for juvenile drug court research.

Consistent with the much more extensive adult drug court literature and the few uncontrolled evaluations of juvenile drug court, findings from a recent randomized clinical trial suggest that juvenile drug court is more effective than family court in decreasing participant criminal behavior and substance use. Perhaps due to the intensive surveillance that juvenile drug court participants receive, however, these favorable outcomes did not translate to reduced rates of rearrest or incarceration during the 12-month study period. In addition, the integration of evidence-based substance-abuse treatments into juvenile drug court enhanced participant substance-related outcomes and rates of juvenile drug court completion.

Although the widespread dissemination of juvenile drug courts has exceeded clear and unambiguous evidence of their effectiveness, few other criminal justice programs have shown such promise with drug-abusing offenders. Moreover, the integration of evidence-based treatments of adolescent substance abuse holds the potential to further enhance the effectiveness of juvenile drug courts.