Final Report of the Cross-Site Evaluation of the Juvenile Drug Treatment Court (JDTC) Guidelines: Executive Summary

• NCJ Number: 309045
• Author(s): Michael L. Dennis; Barbara Estrada; Kathryn A. Modisette; Steven Belenko; Matthew Hiller; Doris Weiland; Chelsey Cain; Raanan Kagan; Lauren Pappacena; Erika Ostlie; John Carnevale; Juliette Mackin; Shannon Carey
• Date Published: 2024
• Length: 3 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2014-DC-BX-K001
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Award: Initiative To Develop and Test Guidelines for Juvenile Drug Courts

Annotation

This publication serves as the executive summary of the final report evaluating Juvenile Drug Treatment Court (JDTC) guidelines.

Abstract

This publication by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is an executive summary of a study on the impact of Juvenile Drug Treatment Courts (JDTC). In light of wide variation in JDTC impacts, the OJJDP funded an initiative to better understand this evidence, develop new JDTC guidelines, and evaluate them in a field trial. Meta-analysis of 41 experimental or quasi-experimental evaluations comparing Juvenile Drug Treatment Courts (JDTC) and Traditional Juvenile Courts (TJC) showed both approaches exhibited similar effects on recidivism, but with JDTC costing more. However, there were large variations in results, with 9 studies where JDTC did significantly better, 3 where JDTC did worse, and 29 where JDTC and TJC outcomes were similar.