Just the (Unweildy, Hard to Gether, but Nonetheless Essential) Facts, Ma'am: What We Know and Don't Know About Problem-Solving Courts

This article asses what is known and what remains to be understood about problem-solving courts. Specifically, the article asserts that drug courts serve a needy population, court mandated treatment programs have higher retention rates, those who participate longer have better outcomes, those in drug courts had lower rates of recidivism, drug use, and that graduated sanctions have statistically significant impact on offenders behavior, sanctions are crucial to the model’s effectiveness, post-program studies are sparse, drug courts are less costly than traditional adjudication, but cost savings for jail and prison beds are less clear. The article also addresses questions that remain to be answered about the drug court system.