Drug Courts Recidivism

Improved Essays
The effectiveness of drug courts to decrease recidivism has been questioned in relation to family, adult and juvenile drug courts; however, when looking at the decrease of recidivism the effectiveness on countless lives it is proven that it works. Hickman (2010) says [stated]:
As the world is increasingly drawn together through technology ease of travel (for some), and global economic integration, people are increasingly attempting to address global problems, such as poverty, violence, disease, terrorism, intolerance, climate change, and health issues, as global community. The idea that global change can be accomplished when humans work together to address large-scale problems that affect the quality of life for people across nations…
…show more content…
(Young 2007 p. 139)
Children from homes where drug abuse is present are at risk for being removed from the home and placed in the care of Social Services. This example leads to some of the children turning to drugs themselves to help ease the pain and solve the problems
According to Carter (2011), “Research has shown that juvenile drug courts continue to be popular and effective alternatives to other juvenile court initiatives in terms of decreasing juvenile recidivism” (p. 181) therefore, working together there can be change around the world. South Dakota is looking at using alternative methods other than putting children in detention for violating the terms of probation by using drugs. Although South Dakota has not implemented Juvenile Drug Courts they are now using adult drug court systems and once those began to take off and show success they will implement Juvenile Drug
…show more content…
From this eighty five percent many of them state that they have committed other crimes to get money to support their drug problems. When individuals get incarcerated for crimes they get placed in a community jail or in a state penitentiary when they are incarcerated they serve their time do not get the proper treatment that is needed to assist with the drug abuse. They are then placed back into the community where they continue to commit crimes because they were not given the proper treatment. Recidivism rates vary by state however; most of prisoners nationwide are again incarcerated within three years (Norman 2015).
A 2003 study revealed that youth who attended drug court programs have a 16.4% recidivism rate compared to 43.5% with just traditional court hearings (Maring, 2006). The problem with this is that in 2001 there was only about 167 Juvenile Drug Courts were functioning thorough the United States. With 113 drug courts in the planning stages however, there are only forty six states including the District of Colombia and Guam using the Juvenile Drug Court Program with nearly twelve thousand five hundred youth involved the numbers grew in 2006 to about 430 juvenile drug courts being utilized (Cooper

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    are unsupported by the evidence” (137). While no statistics exist to prove that drug courts impact the amount of initial arrests, statistics do prove drug courts decrease the number of rearrests. In Jessica Huseman’s article “Drug Courts Are a Good Alternative for Drug Offenders” she reviews several scenarios in which individual or specific areas of drug courts have lowered to percentage of rearrests. In New York City, six drug courts decreased the number drug rearrests by twenty-nine percent for three years after the initial arrest. In Oregon, a single drug court reduced the amount of drug rearrests for thirteen years after the initial arrest by twenty-four perent.…

    • 1070 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This paper examines the effectiveness of drug treatment courts. In the past, there are many ways in which drug treatment courts are scrutinized. For purposes of this paper, the effectiveness of drug treatment courts will be evaluated through rates of recidivism. This paper describes the drug court model and how it differs from traditional courts. It will take a look at the history of drug treatment courts detailing how they became a part of the United States of America’s criminal justice system today.…

    • 188 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Drug Court Research Paper

    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Drug courts are utilized by the criminal justice general sessions courts to try to end the abuse of drugs such as alcohol and substance. In drug court, it will allow the choice of the individual who may need that extra help to fight their addiction by offering to partake in a treatment program. If the individual successfully completes the program they are subject to getting their case dismissed. “In exchange for successful completion of the treatment program, the court may dismiss the original charge, reduce or set aside a sentence, offer some lesser penalty, or offer a combination of these” (NADCP, 1997). Drug courts generate surroundings that are clear and with certain principles.…

    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the last few decades, the U.S. population of incarcerated citizens exploded from around 300,000 to more than 2 million, with drug convictions accounting for a majority of the increase. The War on Drugs functions more realistically as…

    • 997 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Case Study: Drug Courts

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The evidence is clear that drug courts can increase an offender’s contact to treatment. Numerous drug court evaluation have found, on average, more than half of offenders participating in the program completed at least one year; most of which continue on to graduate from it. This compare favorably to community based drug treatment programs in which, on average, more than three quarters of attendees drop out within the first year.…

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Drug Courts Case Study

    • 1034 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Introduction In the United States (U.S.), drug courts were first established in the late 1980s. The limited range and effectiveness of the criminal justice measures then for dealing crimes involving drugs fueled the development of drug courts. Since then, drug courts have evolved. Studies have indicated positive findings regarding drug courts.…

    • 1034 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    From the Administrator: Drug Courts Yield Benefits. Retrieved from samhsa.gov: http://media.samhsa.gov/SAMHSA_News/VolumeXiv_2/article1.htm Alliance, D. P. (2011, March 22). Drug Courts Are Not the Answer: Toward a Health Centered Approach to Drug Use. Retrieved from drugpolicy.org: http://www.drugpolicy.org/drugcourts Professionals, N. A. (n.d.).…

    • 1302 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Drug Court Arguments

    • 1703 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Drug courts are helpful and useful, but they can tend to hurt people or society. First and foremost…

    • 1703 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Substance Abuse Treatment in the Juvenile Justice System Juvenile offenders have a high rate of substance use. Upon arrival to a correctional facility after being detained, approximately 56% of boys and 40% of girls tested positive for drugs. Most of these youth test positively for marijuana or cocaine, but many are addicted to many more substances. The DSM-V defines a substance-use disorder as “a maladaptive pattern of substance use leading to clinically significant impairment or distress…” classified by encompassing 2 or more of 11 different criteria from the manual. By effectively treating substance-use disorders, the juvenile justice system can: a) stop the offender from committing the criminal act of drug use itself and b) decrease recidivism rates of juvenile offenders by truly treating them instead of perpetuating them to become a product of the…

    • 1486 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Drug Courts Recidivism

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Due to the implications of Reagan's War on Drugs laws, drug courts have demonstrated and proven to reduce recidivism for offenders who abuse substances. To deter overcrowding in the prisons, Researcher Messer has found that drug courts can be instrumental in deterring offenders from reoffending. It is surprising that “85% of offenders incarcerated require substance abuse treatment” (Messer, 2016). Drug courts allow offenders to “attain important skills/ideas, improve relationships with family and children, a general educational development certificate, a driver’s license, and/or gainful employment” (Messer, 2016). Researcher Shaffer studied over “80 drug courts and found recidivism rates of 46% for those who participated in drug court programming”…

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Drug Court Essay

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages

    According to NADCP (2015), “Drug courts keeping drug addicted offenders out of jail and in treatment has proven to reduce drug abuse and crime while saving money.” They significantly reduce drug use and crime and are more cost effective than other criminal justice…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    AFFIRMATIVE I affirm: Resolved: The abuse of illegal drugs ought to be treated as a matter of public health, not of criminal justice. I define the following key terms: Treated- to act or behave toward (a person) in some specified way to consider or regard in a specified way, and deal with accordingly: 2. to consider or regard in a specified way, and deal with accordingly 3.to deal with (a disease, patient, etc.) in order to relieve or cure.…

    • 1305 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Written Assignment 3- Courts With the changes of how people look at different situations, the law had to also change. More specialized courts were created intended for more therapeutic purposes. A lot of the specialized courts focus on both drug and mental problems. Some people who use drugs are not bad people, but they are just in the wrong place. Some people with mental issues do not realize what they are doing or the effects of their actions.…

    • 1171 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Which is great, however they are leaving prison in a worse condition than they came in, putting them at a high rick of reoffending. The Texas Department of Corrections has employed new reforms to reduce their prisoner population, one of them being drug treatment. They have been proven to be successful in helping prisoners overcome drug addiction and reenter society as a new person. The Federal Bureau of Prisons also has a drug program known as the Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP). It has helped several thousand inmates maintain sobriety.…

    • 1371 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In summary, the current knowledge of recidivism rates appear to demonstrate that specialty courts provide reduced temporary recidivism rates for up to three years after a client graduates. Also, researchers have explored the various predictors that may impact the chance of success while in the program and predictors that will affect recidivism rates post graduation. There is no single determinative predictor indicating which clients will succeed or not. Further, it appears that researchers credit specialty courts for reduced recidivism rates when in fact recidivism may not be a true measure of success. Recidivism is only based on individuals caught for committing crimes or individuals admitting drug use.…

    • 1398 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays