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Drug court programmes to reduce recidivism
Summary of the evidence
Drug court programmes were found to be effective in a systematic review (Mitchell et al., 2012, 154 studies) in
- reducing recidivism at three years follow-up for adult drug courts (3 studies; the mean effect size is analogous to a drop in recidivism from 50% for non-participants to approximately 38% for participants)
- reducing recidivism for drunk-driving drug courts (DWI) (4 studies – 3 found sizeable reductions in recidivism, however, 1 experimental evaluation found a negative effect)
- reducing recidivism for juvenile drug courts albeit with a smaller effect size (the mean effect size is analogous to a drop in recidivism from 50% for non-participants to roughly 43.5% for participants)
