The Effectiveness of Programs Tested in Juvenile Drug Courts

The effectiveness of treatment programs used in juvenile drug courts within the United States is often questioned. The two research articles that will be discussed tested two different treatment programs in hopes that they would lead to more favorable outcomes than the programs currently in place. of South Carolina. They conducted a study in six, randomly selected drug courts in the United States to test if integrating evidence-based treatment methods would improve the outcome of the juveniles involved versus the programs currently used. The authors all feel strongly that more needs to be done to make sure the Juvenile Drug Courts (JDC) have programs in place that will lead to positive outcomes in the long run and that one of the ways to do this is by testing the effectiveness of what is currently in place as well as new alternatives. Juvenile Alcohol and Drug Offenders " , studied the effects of a much different approach. Matthew T. Theriot conducted the study between May of 2003 and April of 2004 and published his findings in 2006. Theriot was also concerned with the fact that many programs offered to juvenile drug and alcohol offenders are often not effective. He was specifically concerned with the rate of recidivism and what could be done to lower that. He studied the effects of court-THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PROGRAMS 3 ordered MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) presentations on juveniles charged with alcohol and drug crimes in one juvenile detention facility in the United States. The authors of the research study, " Enhancing the Effectiveness of Juvenile Drug Courts by Integrating Evidence-Based Practices " , wanted to test if the combination of two evidence-based programs, Contingency Management and Family Engagement Intervention (CM-FAM), would produce more favorable outcomes than the usual services (US) already in place. Courts (JDCs) that were trained to use and implement the Contingency Management and Family Engagement Intervention treatment programs would have better outcomes with their juvenile defendants in the reduction of substance abuse and criminal activity than the Juvenile Justice Courts who continued with the usual services. For the study they used six randomly selected juvenile drug courts (JDC), 3 of which were randomly selected to be trained in CM-FAM methods. To be included in the study, the juvenile delinquents had to meet three criteria; be between twelve and seventeen years of age, fluent in English and currently under a probationary status (Chapman …