Intervening With Youthful Substance Abusers: A Preliminary Analysis Of A Juvenile Drug Court

Special drug courts have been established across the country in an effort to provide moreefficient treatment services to drug offenders and to alleviate case-processing difficulties. Although several evaluations have shown promising results for adult drug courts, the evidence on the effects of drug courts for juvenile defendants is scarce. This study analyzes the experiences of a southern juvenile drug court during its first fourteen months of operation. Our results reveal that client retention was comparable to that for adult drug courts, that the drug court was able to improve the participants’ overall level of social and psychological functioning, and that recidivism was significantly reduced and delayed for the program graduates compared to the youths who failed to complete the program. © 2000 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC