Spencer Srivastava
Monica Christofferson
Researchers examined four understudied but high-impact areas of treatment courts:
Risk, needs, treatment quality, and service matching
Racial and ethnic disparities in treatment court outcomes
Health risk prevention practices in adult treatment courts
Use of jail sanctions and therapeutic adjustments
While the treatment court model has been heavily studied, much of the underlying research base has not been revisited in recent years. To address these gaps, the Center for Justice Innovation developed Strengthening the Foundation: A Research and Practitioner Partnership; this multi-year initiative, with funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, brought together nationally recognized researchers to revisit core treatment court practices with fresh evidence to address some of the most common questions from the field.
Guided by an advisory board of practitioners, researchers, and people with lived experience, these researchers examined four understudied but high-impact areas of treatment courts:
Treatment courts today operate in a much different environment than when the newly emerged model was robustly researched. Programs now serve broader risk levels, participants issues differing, and at times more complex needs, and the model has expanded—including mental health, veterans, DWI, tribal healing to wellness, juvenile, and more. To ensure successful participant outcomes—and, by extension, community safety—courts need updated evidence about:
For an overview of the key insights from each research project, as well as the implications for treatment court practitioners, download our guide.
The four research projects address these key areas of importance for treatment court practitioners: