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Drug courts: lessons from the UK and beyond

Drug courts were established initially in the United States in the late 1980s, initiated by sentencers who were frustrated at the limited range and effectiveness of existing criminal justice measures for dealing with drug-related crime. The first drug court was introduced in Dade County, Florida in 1989. The impetus for the establishment of drug courts in North America came from a growing acknowledgement of the link between drug misuse and crime along with increasing evidence of the efficacy of drug treatment, including treatment that is compelled rather than undertaken on a voluntary basis (for example, Farabee et al. recently, McSweeney et al, 2007). Operationally, drug courts vary across jurisdictions, but all are designed to reduce drug use and drug-related offending by combining drug treatment with ongoing supervision and court-based review. Drug courts – and other 'problem-solving' courts – represent an approach to criminal justice processing that has been termed 'therapeutic jurisprudence' (Wexler and Winick, 1992) 1 which refers to capacity of legal processes and procedures (including the actions and approaches of criminal justice professionals) to have therapeutic or anti-therapeutic outcomes. Under traditional court models, rehabilitation may be an aim of criminal justice processing but within a model of therapeutic jurisprudence it is intrinsic to the process. This chapter examines the introduction and expansion of drug courts and the key features of their structure and operation, locating the more recent development of drug courts in the United Kingdom in an international context. Drawing upon process and outcome evaluations, the operation of drug courts in England and Wales and in Scotland is compared and contrasted and emerging findings related to the wider international literature, with a particular emphasis upon operational barriers and concerns (including the development of multi-professional teamwork and the capacity of drug courts to accommodate diversity). The chapter also examines the evidence regarding the capacity of drug courts to impact upon drug use and drug-related crime and identifies the features of drug courts that appear to be important in this respect. Although there are wide differences in the manner in which they operate, drug courts are characterised by a number of key features including: the use of a non-adversarial approach; the 'fast-tracking' of participants into treatment; the provision of a continuum of treatment, rehabilitation and related services; frequent testing for illicit drugs (and usually, in the USA, alcohol); effective teamwork between judge, prosecution, defence and treatment providers to secure compliance; …