Another Study Shows That 'Drug Court' Works

A study by the Center for Court Innovation of New York's drug court system shows that offenders who are sent to court-order treatment programs, rather than jail or prison, are much less likely to commit future crimes.

The study of six jurisdictions of drug offenders revealed that those who completed court-monitored treatment had 29 percent lower re-arrest rates than those offenders who serve prison time without treatment.

The report also showed that the court-ordered treatment programs cost significantly less that incarceration.

"These are very positive findings, I think, getting to the answer of whether drug courts work in reducing recidivism," Deborah J. Daniels, an assistant United States attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's grant-making arm, which gives millions of dollars to local drug courts, told the New York Times. "It shows that drug courts continue to be a very promising way of dealing with a first-offender or nearly first-offender population."

In the U.S. there are now more than 1,000 state and local drug court systems. The programs require judges and prosecutor to monitor the progress of offenders through the treatment program.

Treatment in Correctional Facilities
Only 40 percent of the nation's 7,564 adult and juvenile facilities offer substance abuse treatment to inmates and residents, according to a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.