Introduction to Special Issue on Juvenile Drug Treatment Courts

• NCJ Number: 233305
• Journal: Drug Court Review Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Dated: 2010 Pages: 1-9
• Author(s): Scott W. Henggeler; Douglas B. Marlowe
• Date Published: 2010
• Length: 9 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2009-DD-BX-K149
• Sponsoring Agency: Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: For additional articles in this special issue see NCJ-233306-09.

Annotation

The four articles of this special issue of the "Drug Court Review" address critical gaps in the literature on juvenile drug treatment courts (JDTCs), and they also provide guidance for JDTC practitioners in improving their operations and outcomes.

Abstract

The first article reports on a study that compared the services received and the outcomes achieved for a national sample of youths enrolled in 13 JDTCs with the services and outcomes for a matched sample of youths enrolled in traditional adolescent outpatient (AOP) substance abuse treatment. Analyses at 6 months post-admission found that, on average, JDTC youth received significantly more substance abuse treatment, family-based services, probation supervision, and urine drug testing compared with AOP youth. JDTC participants also reported significantly fewer days of substance use and significantly fewer days of emotional problems at follow-up. The second study reported in this special issue sought to explain the results of the authors' previous study that found JDTC was superior to traditional family court in reducing self-reported substance use and delinquent activity. These effects were further improved by incorporating evidence-based treatments into the JDTC curriculum. The current study explains the findings as stemming from the JDTC's significantly better job of improving youths' caretakers' supervision and discipline of the juveniles, as well as the reduction in the juveniles' associations with delinquent and substance-abusing peers. The third study reported in this special issue used observational methods to examine the discussions and interactions of JDTC prehearing team conferences and status hearings. The findings confirmed those of previous studies that showed the critical importance of family involvement in JDTC proceedings in the achievement of favorable outcomes. The fourth article of this special issue describes the authors' development and pilot-testing of a JDTC training curriculum, with a view toward improving evidence-based JDTC features. 13 references