Emerging adults in drug treatment court: program behavior, program completion, & recidivism

ABSTRACT

We compared emerging adults with older adults who were admitted to the Drug Treatment Court (DTC) in a large Midwestern county. Emerging adults were more likely to be lower risk and to be opioid/heroin users. Compared to older adults, emerging adults were more likely to have increased violations in the DTC program. Emerging adults compared to older adults were more likely to be terminated than to graduate with no recidivism (odds ratio 1.83), and more likely to recidivate after they graduated (odds ratio 2.16). Elevated risks for program termination and recidivism for emerging adults, despite a reduced risk profile at entry, underscore the need for program modifications (such as peer support) that specifically target this age group.

KEYWORDS:

• Criminal justice
• drug court
• emerging adults
• opioids
• treatment

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the assistance of the following staff members who assisted in different aspects of this work: Matt Richie, Gregory Powers, Jessica Becker, the DTC team, and the staff of Justice Point.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA) CSAT grants T1021527 & T1024223.