Law - Capstone I

Researcher:

Mandy L. Campbell

Date:

April 07, 2013 

Topic:

Drug Court: The Process and Impact on Recidivism

Statement of Problem:

Drug courts are designed with the idea in mind that all offenders within the program will receive judicial monitoring, intensive supervision, drug and alcohol treatment, and rigorous drug testing in order to reduce recidivism rates and increase the overall success rate of post graduates of the program. This study is designed to address whether the drug court program is successful in its venture to reduce recidivism rates as well as increase the success rate of its participants. The study will focus on how the drug court program works and why it works. The study will also address what programs are provided to offenders within the platform and how these programs affect the overall success of the drug court and its participants.

Primary Research Question and Additional Questions:

1. How does the participation in drug court affect overall recidivism rates of its participants?

2. What is the demographic make-up and criminal history of the participants within the drug court program?

3. What is the success rate of the drug court programs?

Objectives of the Study:

The objective of the study is to conduct a comparative study through the use of quantitative data to address whether drug court programs are an effective alternative to the standard sentencing process of the criminal justice system. As well as determine whether drug court programs assist in the reduction of recidivism rates. The study will also focus on the process, programs, and treatment provided within the drug court program and whether these platforms assisted the offender with rehabilitation.

Importance of the Study:

The importance of this study is to determine whether or not the drug court program is successful in its venture to rehabilitate its participants as well as reduce the recidivism rates.

Topics of the Literature to be Reviewed:

The effectiveness of drug treatment, rehabilitation, and accountability within the drug court program.

The effectiveness of drug court rehabilitation.

The long and short-term effects of treatment and supervision within the drug court program and how those variables have affected the overall recidivism rates.

Limitation of the Study:

Some limitations of this study can include data collection available pertaining to the study on long and short-term results for success and failure of the drug court program as well as data available for long and short-term recidivism rates. Limitations can also include any follow-up procedures given within the data.

Proposed Methodology:

All of the data collected in reference to this study will be for comparison between the implementation of drug court programs and the standard sentencing structure of the criminal justice systems. The data will be used to determine whether drug court programs are successful in reducing overall recidivism rates. The data used to preform this study will be retrieved from the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD), the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), and other online published databases and journals. Upon completion of the data collection the data will be processed through SPSS to analyze and create readable charts and graphs.

Data Collection:

The data used to conduct the comparative study will be secondary quantitative data. This data will be retrieved from the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD), the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), and other online database sources related to the study.

Data Analysis/Conclusions:

This study will examine data provided by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data websites. The data received will assist the study with providing recidivism rates of drug court participants as well as provide information concerning the process of judicial drug court. Additional data received will provide statistical information on what programs are provided within the drug court platform and how those programs affect overall success of the drug court platform. Data will be collected and separated based on programs, success rates, recidivism rates, race, gender, and criminal history.

Completion of the study will assist the drug court platform with increased understanding of the successes and failures within the programs, as well as assist the platform with understanding how these successes and failures affect overall recidivism rates.

Title:

Drug Courts: The Process and Impact on Recidivism