In 2015, a team of researchers received funding from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to develop and test new guidelines for Juvenile Drug Treatment Courts (JDTCs). Led by the American Institutes for Research, and including the JPRC, Vanderbilt University’s Peabody Research Institute, the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy at George Mason University, and the Court Centered Change Network, the project included these components:
- A meta-analysis on the effectiveness of JDTCs
- A meta-analysis on the effectiveness of treatment for adolescent substance use
- A systematic review of JDTC implementation factors
- A policy and practice review
- Listening sessions with a diverse group of stakeholders
- Convening an advisory group and draft preliminary practice
- Disseminating JDC standards
As part of the policy and practice review, the JPRC conducted a scan of a representative sample of 25 JDTCs to better understand policy and practice in the field. Our team conducted interviews with key leaders at each of these JDTCs, supplemented by document review. Together, these two data collection methods generated information on each JDTC’s history, funding, treatment options, local partners, evaluation data, legal requirements, successes, challenges, and prospects for sustainability.
An article summarizing findings from this research was published in the Juvenile and Family Court Journal in 2020.
The new JDTC Guidelines and all supporting information can be found here.