How Drug Courts Fall Short

In the last few decades, drug courts have become an increasingly popular public policy model across the Americas. Proponents assert that drug courts are cost-effective, reduce recidivism and time spent in detention (prison or jail), and offer drug treatment as an alternative to incarceration for people whose drug use underlies their criminal activity. Since 2016, the SSRC's Drugs, Security and Democracy (DSD) program has worked to expand understanding of this policy, culminating in Drug Courts in the Americas, a comprehensive scholarly examination of the effectiveness and impact of drug courts in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The report reviewed key findings from the United States' experience and found that drug courts, as implemented in the United States, are a costly, cumbersome intervention that has limited, if any, impact on reducing incarceration. This essay presents an overview of the report's findings, including its recommendations to address the shortcomings of these courts.