Problem-solving Courts

This is a specialized court program that targets high-risk gang-affiliated individuals with felony convictions for intensive supervision, with the goal of reducing recidivism. The program is rated Promising. Gang members who participated in the program had a statistically significant lower likelihood of probation revocation than gang members who did not participate. But there were no statistically significant differences in new arrests between the groups.

This is a drug court program that provides treatment services to women on probation to reduce their risk of reoffending. The program gives preference to women who have higher need and risk profiles, are mothers, and have substance use problems. The program is rated Promising. Women in the treatment group were statistically significantly less likely to have a new conviction, compared with similar women on probation who did not participate in the program, at the 2-year follow-up.

This is a prosecutor-led diversion program for nonviolent defendants, which is designed to decrease the number of convictions and reduce recidivism while improving administrative efficiency and cost effectiveness. The program is rated No Effects. The program had a statistically significant effect on reducing the likelihood of conviction, but there was no statistically significant effect on recidivism for program participants, compared with comparison participants.

This intervention was designed to increase the level of judicial oversight on participants convicted of misdemeanor crimes in the Parramatta Drug Court program. The program was rated Promising. Results indicated that participants under intensive judicial supervision had lower rates of positive drug tests, compared with the comparison group. This difference was statistically significant. However, there were no statistically significant differences in sanctions, program progression or termination.

This is a program for parents who have substance abuse allegations and are involved in the child welfare system. The program is rated Effective. The study found that parent participants were more likely to have their children returned, more likely to experience a permanency-planning outcome, and less likely to have their parental rights terminated. Additionally, children of program participants spent less time in the child welfare system. These findings were statistically significant.

This program for Kentucky drug court participants focuses on obtaining, maintaining, and upgrading employment. The intervention concentrates on job-skills and social-skills training. The program is rated No Effects. There was a small, statistically significant improvement for program participants on multiple drug use in the past 30 days, but no statistically significant effects for days worked at a legitimate job, income from a legitimate job, property damage, and handling stolen goods.

This is a treatment court dedicated to cases of child abuse and neglect, in which parental substance abuse is one of the primary reasons for child welfare involvement. The program provides parenting training in conjunction with substance abuse treatment to increase the likelihood of reunification. The program is rated Effective. Families who received services through the Family Drug Court were statistically significantly more likely to reunify than comparison families.

This is a problem-solving court program that seeks to divert mentally ill adults who committed misdemeanor and felony offenses out of the justice system and into treatment to address their mental health issues and reduce their risk of recidivism. The program is rated No Effects. There was no statistically significant effect on rearrests or reconvictions for treatment group participants, compared with similar individuals with a mental disorder in jail, at the 30-month follow-up.

This is a problem-solving community court that seeks to prevent crime. One component of the program, the Criminal Court, hears misdemeanor cases and seeks to provide quick and meaningful sanctions to defendants in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. The program was rated Promising. The program had a statistically significant impact on recidivism rates for defendants.

This program provides court-supervised, community-based outpatient drug treatment and case management services to persons convicted of a felony drug offense. The goals are to increase accountability, decrease the likelihood of recidivism, and reduce drug dependency. The program is rated Promising. Treatment group participants showed a statistically significant lower likelihood of recidivating, compared with comparison group participants who were placed on probation.

This program represents an alternative to traditional processing in the juvenile justice system. Rather than going through court processing, youth with substance-abuse problems are placed in treatment. The goal is to reduce their use of drugs and criminal behavior. The program is rated Promising. At the 2-year follow up, program participants had fewer overall and drug-related rearrests, compared with a matched comparison group. These differences were statistically significant.

This program is a problem-solving court that is part of a unified “one family-one judge” model, which means all criminal, family, and matrimonial cases involving the same family are handled by one judge. This program is rated No Effects. There were no statistically significant differences in re-arrests and conviction rates when comparing the IDV court cases with traditional family court cases.

The program is a problem-solving court that operate a specialized caseload for domestic violence-related cases only, and for which eligibility is determined on a case-by-case basis. Criminal domestic violence courts tend to be more common throughout the U.S. The program is rated No Effects. The criminal domestic violence courts in New York statistically significantly reduced case-processing time, but there was no statistically significant impact on recidivism.

This is an interactive gender-responsive program designed to treat drug-addicted convicted females in a drug court setting. The program intends to specifically address the needs of female addicts and treat symptoms identified as distinct to female pathways to criminality and drug involvement. This program is rated No Effects. There were no statistically significant differences between the treatment and control groups in arrests or drug use, at the 18-month follow up.

This is a problem-solving community court that seeks to prevent crime. One component of the program, the Family Court, hears juvenile delinquency cases involving youth aged 15 or younger, with the goal of responding to the specific needs of youth in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. The program was rated No Effects. The program had no significant effect on recidivism rates for juvenile defendants.

This program consists of post-booking jail diversion mental health courts, which seek to keep justice-involved individuals with serious mental illnesses out of the court system and place them into community-based treatment without jeopardizing public safety. This program is rated Promising. Mental health courts in the four studied cities were shown to have statistically significant reductions in participants’ rates of arrests and incarceration days at the 18-month follow-up.

This program incorporates contingency management protocols and multisystemic therapy into traditional juvenile drug court services to provide juveniles and families with additional engagement opportunities and support to reduce recidivism and substance abuse. The program is rated Promising. The program statistically significantly reduced alcohol and poly drug use, positive drug urine screens, status offenses, and property offenses. The program had mixed effects on marijuana use and offenses.

This is a juvenile drug court designed to reduce alcohol and other drug and delinquency offenses through an accountability framework. The program is rated Promising. Treatment group participants were statistically significantly less likely to recidivate in delinquency/criminal offenses, compared with the comparison group participants. However, there was no statistically significant effect on alcohol and other drug recidivism.

This program was designed to provide judicial monitoring of people convicted of domestic violence through frequent court appearances before a judge. The goal was to ensure compliance with program requirements and deter future violence and re-abuse of victims. The program is rated No Effects. There were no statistically significant differences between the intervention group and control group in rearrests, attendance at court-ordered programs, or completion of programs.

These court supervised, post-plea (but pre-final disposition) drug diversion programs provide comprehensive community-based treatment services to juveniles convicted of an offense and their families. The program is rated Promising. The program had a statistically significant impact on recidivism.

This is a diversion program for young persons. The primary goal of the program is to reduce the occurrence of juvenile crime by diverting youth from the traditional juvenile justice system and providing an alternative to formal processing. The program is rated Promising. Treatment group youth were statistically significantly less likely to reoffend, compared with control group youth.

This is a program that focuses on drug-involved individuals and aims to provide specialized substance abuse treatment services. The program is rated Promising. Participants in the treatment group were statistically significantly less likely to report drug use and criminal activity than participants in the comparison group. However, there was no statistically significant effect on incarceration, socioeconomic status, mental health, family support, or homelessness.

This is a family drug court program designed to serve families involved with child welfare as a result of parental substance use. The program is rated Promising. Treatment group parents had a statistically significant higher percentage of experiencing family reunification, compared with comparison group parents. Children of treatment group parents also had a statistically significant fewer number of days in non-kinship or long-term foster care compared with children of comparison group parents.

This is a cognitive–behavioral counseling program specifically designed for African American men arrested for domestic violence. The program is rated No Effects. There were no statistically significant differences between the treatment and control groups in reassault rates. However, treatment group participants were statistically significantly more likely to be rearrested for domestic violence, compared with control group participants who received conventional counseling.

This version of multisystemic therapy is for adolescents with substance abuse and dependency issues. This program is rated Effective. Treatment youth showed statistically significant reductions in marijuana use and in aggressive behavior and convictions for aggressive behavior, compared with control group youth. However, no significant differences between groups were found for symptoms of mental health, criminal behavior, or alcohol or cocaine use.

This is a drug treatment court that seeks to reduce rearrests and reconvictions for drug-involved individuals with substantial criminal and drug addiction histories. The program is rated Effective. Compared with the control group, program participants had a statistically significant fewer number of arrests at the 24-month and 15-year follow up, but not at the 36-month follow up. Participants also had a statistically significant fewer number of total convicted charges at the 15-year follow up.

This program is an alternative to probation and confinement for first-time, nonviolent individuals convicted of drug offenses. The program is rated Promising. Treatment court participants had statistically significant lower conviction rates for any new offenses and drug offenses 1 year after program completion, compared with the comparison group. Program participants also had statistically significant lower conviction rates 3 years following the initial arrest.

This program is an alternative to incarceration for drug-abusing defendants, which provides substance abuse treatment and education, case management, and intensive supervision. The program is rated Effective. Treatment group participants had a statistically significant lower likelihood of recidivating and experienced a greater length of time between initial arrest and first rearrest, compared with the comparison group.

These statewide drug court programs were designed to provide comprehensive management for persons convicted of drug offenses—through increased treatment, monitoring, and interactions with the court judge—to achieve reductions in reoffending and better drug treatment outcomes for substance users. This program is rated Promising. Individuals who participated in drug court programs had statistically significant reductions in recidivism rates and number of rearrests, compared with the control group.

This is a drug court program for first-time, nonviolent persons convicted of felony drug offenses who are arrested in Queens County, N.Y. The court provides drug or alcohol treatment services to persons with persistent drug offenses who have a history of substance abuse. This program is rated Effective. There were statistically significant reductions in postarrest and post-program rearrest rates for program participants, compared with the comparison group.

This drug court program offers substance abuse treatment for nonviolent felony and misdemeanor drug offenses. The program is rated No Effects. There were no statistically significant differences between the drug court participants and the comparison group in 2-year post-program recidivism or 4-year post-arrest convictions for a drug offense.

The court aims to connect defendants with serious mental illness to community treatment services, to find dispositions to their criminal charges that take into account their mental illness, and to decrease the chances they return to the criminal justice system. The program is rated Promising. The study showed participants were statistically significantly less likely to be charged with a new offense and had a longer time without a new violent charge compared with the comparison group.

This is a drug court program that focuses on providing treatment services for persons facing first-offense drug charges. The program is rated Effective. In addition to showing statistically significant lower rates of subsequent arrests, convictions, felony arrests, drug arrests, and parole and probation violations, program participants had higher scores in positive adjustment, compared with control group participants at the 2-year follow up.

This is a drug court diversion program designed to help participants achieve sobriety and reduce involvement with the criminal justice system, by connecting them with treatment services soon after arrest. The program is rated Promising. The treatment group showed statistically significant reductions in recidivism for general and drug-related crime, compared with the control group at the 3-year follow up. However, there were no differences between groups in rates of positive drug tests.

This program is for parents whose children are wards of the state. The program is rated Effective. Intervention parents had statistically significant improvements in treatment outcomes and lower rates of rearrest, compared with control parents. Children of intervention parents experienced statistically significant improvements in child welfare outcomes, compared with children of control group participants. There were no significant differences between groups for placement stability.

This is a court program in western Michigan designed to divert people convicted of driving under the influence (DUI) from jail, eliminate substance use, and reduce recidivism. The program is rated Promising. At the 2-year follow up, program participants were less likely to be rearrested and had longer time to first-rearrest, compared with control group participants. These differences were statistically significant. However, there were no significant differences between groups for alcohol or drug

This is a gender-specific, family-based intervention designed to help drug-using mothers who participate in family drug court to maintain their parental rights. The program is rated No Effects. The program had no statistically significant effects on child welfare outcomes, self-reported drug use, physical child abuse potential, overall psychological stress, self-reported alcohol use, family and social functioning, psychiatric problems, and urinalysis results.

The program uses courts in a comprehensive approach to address the underlying causes of driving under the influence by aiming to change the behavior of alcohol and/or drug dependent individuals who have been convicted of drug/alcohol crimes. The program is rated Promising. The treatment group had a statistically significantly lower recidivism rate (measured as new court filings) and was statistically significantly more likely to fail sooner than the comparison group.