Regular article
Delivering more effective treatment to adolescents: Improving the juvenile drug court model

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0740-5472(03)00123-5Get rights and content

Abstract

Juvenile drug courts (JDC) emerged in response to a perceived need to intervene more effectively in the substance abuse-delinquency cycle. The influx of drug and alcohol offenders, lack of other juvenile justice system interventions, and positive experiences with adult drug courts helped drive interest in adapting the drug court model for juveniles. This article: (1) provides an overview of substance use and the juvenile justice system; (2) describes the current status of JDC programs; and (3) proposes a model for planning, implementing and evaluating JDCs based on adolescent drug use and treatment research as well as current JDC models. The lack of science-based JDC models and empirically sound JDC evaluations has limited the effectiveness of JDCs. The proposed model is designed to create a new generation of JDCs that maximizes the effectiveness of local resources and delivers research-based interventions to youth and families impacted by substance abuse and delinquency.

Keywords

Juvenile drug courts
Adolescent substance abuse
Delinquency
Risk and protective factors
Program planning

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