RT Article
T1 A Quantitative Study of a Drug Treatment Court in a Western Canadian City: Post-sentencing and Reoffence Outcomes
JF Canadian journal of criminology and criminal justice
VO 61
IS 4
SP 45
OP 68
A1 Weinrath, Michael
A1 Gorkoff, Kelly 1965-
A1 Watts, Joshua
LA English
YR 2019
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1688808531
AB Drug treatment courts (DTCs) have been proposed as an alternative to custody that will better deal with drug-dependent offenders through application of therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ). While DTC proponents emphasize the positive aspects of the judicial involvement and intense treatment that most courts provide, critics observe that there are many punitive aspects to DTCs. Frequent court appearances, curfews, urinalysis, multiple bail conditions, and delayed sentencing can be viewed as extensions of coercive social control rather than as benevolent measures intended to help offenders. Further, critics of Canadian DTCs have challenged the efficacy of treatment. This paper seeks to add to a limited Canadian research literature by examining a DTC in the Prairie city of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Two samples are used: sample 1 examines sentencing outcomes and reoffence data for 199 DTC admissions from 2006 to 2014; sample 2 is employed for a quasi-experimental comparative recidivism study using a propensity score matching determined sample of 63 DTC cases with 167 adult probationers from 2010-12. Graduates showed lower rates of reoffence compared to unsuccessful cases. Sentencing outcomes showed that unsuccessful participants were most often incarcerated when re-sentenced on original charges. Probation cases reoffended at higher rates than the matched DTC group. Administrative violations were still higher than in the probation group, and may actually result in an inflated reoffence rate for Canadian DTCs. Policy implications and directions for further research are discussed.
K1 Canadian literature
K1 Courts of special jurisdiction
K1 Curfews
K1 Drug Courts
K1 Grassland conservation
K1 propensity score matching
K1 quantitative research
K1 Drug dependent
K1 Drug Treatment Courts
K1 Problem-solving courts
K1 Recidivism
K1 Substance Abuse
DO 10.3138/cjccj.2018-0035