Failure in the Context of Substance User Interventions: Drug Treatment Courts

Abstract

The concept of “failure” in the context of interventions with substance users raises a number of issues that frequently are not applied to interventions with individuals suffering from other chronic diseases. Two of them have posed particular challenges for drug treatment courts: (1) the definition of failure; and (2) attributing the causes of failure. The author explores the ramifications of attempting to deal with these issues from both a criminal justice system and public health perspective—the two core disciplines working together to provide foundational support for Drug Treatment Court programs.

Keywords :

• drug treatment court
• chronic disease
• failure
• criminal justice
• substance user
• public health

Notes

3 See Note 1.

4 See, for example, www.american.edu/justice on which numerous evaluations of drug court programs in state courts of the U.S. and Magura (2000) for e broad review of treatment quality parameters.