Abstract
Drug courts represent a growing trend in the United States toward treatment-oriented alternatives to incarceration for non-violent drug offenders. Using data from the Multi-Site Adult Drug Court Evaluation (MADCE), this study evaluates whether drug courts serve their intended purposes. That is, whether drug court participants have lower rates of relapse, recidivism, and re-arrest than non-participants. This study also evaluates factors which may affect success and failure among participants and post-program outcomes, including age, race/ethnicity, gender, social support, treatment motivation, and substance use history. Results indicate that drug court participants have lower rates of relapse, but not recidivism or re-arrest, than non-participants. Furthermore, age is a strong predictor of both drug court graduation and post-program outcomes. However, results regarding other factors related to program completion and outcomes are mixed. The implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.