Are drug courts effective?
In 2001 the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University completed the most recent critical review of drug court research and evaluation activities. The critical review of drug court research indicates: • Drug use and criminal activity are reduced while participants are in drug court. • Studies using comparison or matched samples show lower rearrest rates for drug court participants than for the comparison group. • A majority of the studies found lower post-program recidivism rates for drug court participants. • For those drug courts conducting cost analysis, estimates indicate that drug courts are less expensive than traditional adjudication.
