Translation of National Juvenile Drug Treatment Court Guidelines into Statewide Standards and Practices: a Case Study
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Translation of National Juvenile Drug Treatment Court Guidelines into Statewide Standards and Practices: a Case Study Stephen W. Phillippi 1 & Casey L. Thomas 1
& Kerry
Lentini 2
Received: 26 March 2020 / Accepted: 19 August 2020/ # Southern Criminal Justice Association 2020
Abstract Juvenile Drug Treatment Courts (JDTCs) are designed to reduce offending and substance use among youth populations. This case study represents Louisiana’s translation of federal guidelines into best practices to address substance abuse and delinquency among youth served by the state’s JDTCs. Preliminary results from this implementation indicate positive outcomes for juvenile populations in JDTCs, including improvement in the rate of incentives to sanctions, increase in community service as a sanction, decrease in juvenile detention, and decreased length of time from start to successful program completion. As one of the first states to generate statewide standards from national guidelines, this model offers a framework for replication. Keywords Juvenile . Drug courts . Policy . Substance abuse . Delinquency
Introduction During the early 1990s, the rates of alcohol consumption, smoking, and other illicit drug use among youth in the United States were high (Bureau of Justice Assistance [BJA], 2003). In fact, a six-year national study of substance use in schools found that by high school graduation, 81% of students had consumed alcohol, 70% had smoked * Casey L. Thomas [email protected] Stephen W. Phillippi [email protected] Kerry Lentini [email protected]
1
Institute for Public Health and Justice, School of Public Health, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, 2020 Gravier St, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA
2
School of Law, Tulane University, 1555 Poydras Street, Suite 1550, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA
American Journal of Criminal Justice
cigarettes, 47% had used marijuana, and 24% had used another illicit drug (National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University [CASA], 2001). By 1995, drug offense cases among the juvenile population had increased by 145% over the span of four years (BJA, 2003). However, juvenile courts were unable to manage this influx of cases, citing reasons such as long waiting lists for treatment, lack of coordination among treatment providers, and limited engagement from juvenile clients’ family members (McGee et al., 2000). To address the increasing number and unique needs of juvenile drug offense cases, Juvenile Drug Court programs were established. Juvenile Drug Courts, also known as Juvenile Drug Treatment Courts (JDTCs), are specialized courts that provide judicial oversight to cases involving youth who commit certain categories of delinquency due to or combined with substance use (BJA, 2003; Yelderman, 2016). These courts coordinate case management and probation supervision for each juvenile client, and regularly hold meetings and hearings to monitor the client’s progress (Belisle & Thompson, 2020). JDTCs are modeled after adult drug treatment courts, whic
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