Issues of Race and Gender in Court-Ordered Substance Abuse Treatment

Abstract

In the last decade Drug Courts have been developed in hundreds of American communities. Little attention in the research has been given to the retention of diverse client groups who have been subject to legal inducement for treatment through Drug Courts. This article examines a Drug Court that offered culturally specific programming as a strategy to enhance retention in the treatment of female and African-American male substance abuse offenders. The study found that mandating treatment is insufficient to foster client engagement. Retention was significantly enhanced by treatment that recognized cultural differences among client populations.

Key Words:

• Drug court
• gender
• race
• drug treatment
• alternatives to incarceration
• substance abuse
• criminal offender