Drug court programs were established beginning in the late 1980s as a local response to increasing numbers of drug-related cases and expanding jail and prison populations nationwide. A drug court is a specialized court-based program that targets criminal offenders who have alcohol and other drug addiction and dependency problems. Drug courts have implemented deferred prosecution or post-adjudication case-processing approaches, or have blended both in their organizational structures. In drug courts, using deferred prosecution, defendants waive rights to a trial and enter a treatment program shortly after being charged; those who subsequently fail to complete the treatment program have their charges adjudicated, while those who complete the program are not prosecuted further. This book provides an overview and assessment of the adult drug court system, with a focus on the rate of recidivism and performance measure revision efforts.

A drug court is a specialized court thattargets criminal offenders who havedrug addiction and dependencyproblems. These programs provideoffenders with intensive courtsupervision, mandatory drug testing, substance-abuse treatment, and othersocial services as an alternative toadjudication or incarceration. As ofJune 2010, there were over 2,500 drugcourts operating nationwide, of whichabout 1,400 target adult offenders. TheDepartment of Justice's (DOJ) Bureauof Justice Assistance (BJA)administers the Adult Drug CourtDiscretionary Grant Program, whichprovides financial and technicalassistance to develop and implementadult drug-court programs. DOJrequires grantees that receive fundingto provide data that measure theirperformance. In response to the FairSentencing Act of 2010, this reportassesses (1) data DOJ collected onthe performance of federally fundedadult drug courts and to what extentDOJ used these data in making grant-related decisions, and (2) what isknown about the effectiveness of drugcourts. GAO assessed performancedata DOJ collected in fiscal year 2010and reviewed evaluations of 32 drug-court programs and 11 cost-benefitstudies issued from February 2004through March 2011

Drug court programs, which were established in the late 1980s as a local response to increasing numbers of drug-related cases and expanding jail and prison populations, have become popular nationwide in the criminal justice system. These programs are designed to reduce defendants' repeated crime (that is, recidivism), and substance abuse behavior by engaging them in a judicially monitored substance abuse treatment. However, determining whether drug court programs are effective at reducing recidivism and substance use has been challenging because of a large amount of weak empirical evidence. he 21st Century Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act requires that GAO assess drug court program effectiveness. To meet this mandate, GAO conducted a systematic review of drug court program research, from which it selected 27 evaluations of 39 adult drug court programs that met its criteria for, among other things, methodological soundness. This report describes the results of that review of published evaluations of adult drug court programs, particularly relating to (1) recidivism outcomes, (2) substance use relapse, (3) program completion, and (4) the costs and benefits of drug court programs. DOJ reviewed a draft of this report and had no comments. Office of National Drug Control Policy reviewed a draft of this report and generally agreed with the findings.

This concise yet comprehensive reference is the first of its kind and draws on the authors’ personal teaching file of cases from the Adult Drug Court in California. The book offers unparalleled insight into the drug court system and the medical problems of drug court patients. It is the first book of its kind in the family medicine literature. The authors share their extensive knowledge of addiction and withdrawal, treatment of patients with dual diagnoses of mental illness and addiction, and treatment of drug-associated diseases such as tuberculosis, hepatitis, and HIV.