The Nexus Between Drug and Alcohol Treatment Program Integrity and Drug Court Effectiveness: Policy Recommendations for Pursuing Success

The literature supporting the efficacy of drug courts continues to grow. Much attention and research has focused on recidivism rates for participants, and generally address the question of, do drug courts work? The current state of drug court practice is a process that relies heavily on the drug and alcohol treatment services that are offered to clients. Many treatment programs, and the treatment philosophy that underlies their approach to solving substance abuse, offer vague and eclectic approaches that oftentimes do not meet the diverse needs of their clients related to gender, culture, and specific cognitive impacts on the brain caused by drug use. We argue that a move toward the use of evidence-based practice, coupled with quality assurance measures for treatment providers, will promote best practice and will ensure program integrity that leads to effective and long-lasting drug court programs. Drug courts are an attempt to bring together two systems that have historically stoodin contrast to each other: the public health system, which champions the cause of treatment, and the criminal justice system, which over the past several decades has called for increasingly harsher punishment (see Austin & Irwin, 2001; Garland, 2001; Marlowe, 2002, 2003). Drug courts, which are part of a larger movement of “problem solving courts, ” are an innovative and unique phenomenon that has swept through the court system. The objective of the drug court program is to balance treatment and accountability by addressing the underlying issues of addiction that the defendant is struggling with and the subsequent legal, social, and health problems that accompany such addiction. The ultimate goal is to have the defendant become clean and sober, exit the criminal justice system, and become a functioning member of society