Drug courts were established to reduce recidivism rates for substance-involved offenders who traditionally would have been sentenced to conventional probation supervision. Past research has reported success in this area, but much of the success is limited to those who graduate the program. Scholars have yet to examine the impact case outcomes and criminal sentencing have on post-participation reoffending. Yet, literature exists outside the area of drug courts, suggesting criminal sentencing, such as incarceration, may have a negative effect on offender recidivism. The current study addresses this gap in the drug court recidivism literature by examining the impact four outcomes of drug court participation (i.e., case dismissal, probation, jail, and prison) have on participant reoffending. We analyzed case outcome records of 824 drug court participants using propensity score analysis to isolate the effect criminal sentencing has on recidivism. Findings, potential policy implications, and directions for future research are discussed.
Drug courts attempt to gain participant compliance and alcohol and other drug (AOD) use abstinence through a strategy of moderate and progressive sanctioning, but its discretionary application possesses the capacity for disparity across participants and behaviors. The purpose of this study was to examine the drug court team’s (DCT) discretionary use of sanctions in response to continued participant AOD use. A mixed-methods approach was used for analyzing agency data ( n = 1,032) and interviews of five members of the DCT. Data were collected from an adult felony drug court over a 6-year period (2008–2013) and use to answer the following research question: “What participant characteristics and program performance measures affected sanctioning outcomes?” We found that offender attributes did play a role in the sanctioning decision, but program performance measures were stronger predictors of sanction type.
Of the many problems facing anm community effective cooperation and communication between social service organizations are of prime concern. This is especially true in considering the problems involved in coordinating community based corrections efforts. This research represents an attempt to assess the extent of the Interorganizational Relations between community based correctional agencies in an urban area. By applying the Interorganizational Relations perspective frequently utilized in other social science disciplines, a better view of the role community based corrections plai' in the total framework of social services in a community may emerge.
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