An Examination of the Denver Drug Court: The Impact of a Treatment‐Oriented Drug‐Offender System

Abstract

This paper reports on a retrospective study of the Denver Drug Court that was conducted to assess the court’s impact on court processing, treatment matching, and offender recidivism. A sample of 300 offenders from the Denver Drug Court and drug offenders from two previous years prior to the drug court was obtained. Quasi‐experimental procedures were used to examine differences in measured variables across each offender cohort. Data for this study were collected from court records as well as through on‐line arrest records. This paper begins with an exploration of the organizational framework of the Denver Drug Court and the court’s related treatment options. It also examines the extant literature on the effectiveness of drug courts. Analysis of the data indicates that the Denver Drug Court has reduced case processing time and it has slightly reduced the amount of time offenders spend in presentence confinement. Unlike previous studies of drug courts, this study attempted to examine the court’s ability to match offenders to treatment needs. Analysis of the available data, although limited, suggests that offenders are being matched to appropriate levels of treatment. Finally, data analysis indicates no significant differences in revocation or rearrest rates. This article concludes with a discussion of the controversial nature of drug courts. Directions for future research are offered.

Combating Methamphetamine Use in the Community

“…This is particularly important in light of research that has found that there is no difference in outcomes among drug court participants and nonparticipants (Deschenes & Greenwood, 1994, Granfield, Eby, & Brewster, 1998, Listwan et al, 2003Wolfe, Guydish, & Termondt, 2002) or that drug court participants have higher recidivism rates in contrast to nonparticipants (Miethe, Lu, & Reese, 2000).…”

Associations With Substance Abuse Treatment Completion Among Drug Court Participants

“…Program evaluations, utilizing aggregate level data on DTC participants and non-participants at the county level in a variety of jurisdictions, indicate that drug court participation is associated with reduced recidivism and drug use among substance-involved offenders. (Goldkamp and Weiland 1993; Johnson and Latessa 1997; Granfield, Eby et al 1998; Belenko 2001; Brewster 2001; Guydish, Wolfe et al 2001; Listwan, Shaffer et al 2001; Fielding, Tye et al 2002; Carey and Marchand 2005; Marchand, Waller et al 2006) Though encouraging, such aggregate level data fail to take into account a number of critical factors such as selection bias and potentially confounding or modifying factors (e.g. substance use history, prior treatment contacts, criminal justice history, socioeconomic factors, social support, type of treatment received, and other conditions of supervision in drug treatment court) leading to the reductions in recidivism and substance use for DTC participants.…”

Factors of Success: Drug Court Graduate Exit Interviews

“…The conventional wisdom is that drug courts are successful in reducing drug addiction and drug-related criminal recidivism while being less expensive alternatives to traditional case processing. There have been a multitude of small and large research studies done on drug courts across the country, with a number of studies including multiple sites (Bavon, 2001;Belenko, 1999;Cissner & Rempel, 2005;Granfield, Eby, & Brewster, 1998;Green & Rempel, 2010;Joseph Guydish, Ellen Wolfe, Tajima, & William J. Woods, 2001;Rempel, 2006;Rossman et al, 2011;Shaffer et al, 2009;Turner et al, 2001).…”