The Effects of Legal Sanctions on Recidivism in Special Drug Courts

Abstract

AbstractAbstractFaced with large increases in felony drug caseloads, state and local courts have sought more effective ways to speed case processing or to intervene in the cycle of drug use and crime by providing court-monitored drug treatment. Speedy trial, or "fast-track," drug courts attempt to relieve caseload pressures by offering more lenient dispositions and sentences as an inducement to early case resolution, or through case management techniques that improve processing efficiency. Yet, while a number of special drug courts have emerged over the past three years, little is known about their long-term effects on defendant behavior. Whatever the primary objective of a specific drug court, however, recidivism is an important measure of program effect. This is especially true if drug court cases receive shorter incarceration or more probation sentences, thereby increasing time at risk. Recidivism rates for drug offenses and other offenses over a two-year period were compared for offenders adjudicated in New York City's fast-track drug courts and those processed through standard means, controlling for sanction severity and offense and offender characteristics. Few significant differences in recidivism prevalence or rates, or reconviction or reincarceration rates, were found. Adjusted arrest rates were lower in the drug courts, even after controlling for sanction type, but this effect was probably not due to drug court processing itself. There was also no evidence of differential effects of sanction severity on recidivism across court types.