This Bulletin has shared the experiences and perspectives of practitioners who have developed and implemented juvenile drug court programs and has detailed critical components that may help the juvenile justice system hold offenders accountable through juvenile drug court programs. Juvenile drug courts are relatively new, however, and no significant, long-term results are currently available.

Juvenile drug court judges anecdotally report that these programs are able to achieve greater accountability and provide a broader array of treatment and other services to youth and their families than traditional juvenile courts. Initial analyses of juvenile drug court program operations are demonstrating remarkable rehabilitation of youth who were assessed to be at high risk of continued, escalating delinquent involvement and illicit substance use. Measured by indicators such as recidivism, drug use, and educational achievement, juvenile drug courts appear to hold significant promise.

Beyond the judicial reports, all other professional personnel involved with these programs agree that juvenile drug courts exercise more intensive supervision over juvenile offenders than do traditional juvenile courts. It is believed that the rigorous monitoring of participants and the treatment and rehabilitation requirements of juvenile drug court programs promote a greater likelihood of success in reducing drug use and delinquent activity than can be achieved through most existing juvenile court processes.