An Exploration of Treatment and Supervision Intensity Among Drug Court and Non-Drug Court Participants

Evidence is accumulating that drug court programs appear effective in reducing the substance use and recidivism of drug-involved offenders. As there is no single drug court model, programs vary from site to site and the extent to which individual programs are fully implemented is not well documented. The extent to which drug court programs deliver more extensive services to individual offenders than to comparable individuals not participating in drug courts is also not well understood. This paper presents an exploratory analysis of the supervision and treatment delivered to a sample of individuals participating in drug courts in Broward and Hillsborough counties, Florida, and to a sample of comparable drug-involved individuals who were sentenced to probation. Data are from in-person interviews conducted shortly after program entry and nine months following the “baseline” interview. Results suggest that the intensity of supervision and the likelihood of treatment were greater for those involved in drug court programs.