Date of Conferral

5-20-2025

Date of Award

May 2025

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Criminal Justice

Advisor

Marisa Bryant

Abstract

Drug courts have been heralded as largely successful alternative sentencing programs for criminal drug offenders. While these programs demonstrate their ability to be effective with clients, little insight has been gained into the factors that impact client success and failure. The study utilized data from the Multi-site Adult Drug Court Evaluation (MADCE) to investigate the factors that lead to program failure for participants in drug court. Borrowing from the tenants of generalized strain theorists, the study batched together raw data into four “strain factors,” which were then analyzed to discern any corollary effect between the presence of these strains and program failure with participants. The research looked into income, housing, transportation availability, and treatment exposure as potential strain factors. The research analyzed 790 individual drug court cases and measured the effect these factors had on each participant’s likelihood of success in Drug Court programs. The regression analysis revealed that income and stable housing, either in their own home or with a relative did have statistically significant impact on program success. Essentially, these results are actionable to promote positive social change in the following ways. For professionals in the drug court filed, they serve to educate professionals on where to focus their programmatic resources, for policy makers they serve to inform policy creation and program adaptation to best practices, and for drug court participants they serve to help participants understand what roadblocks they may encounter throughout programming that can hinder successful completion and societal reentry.

Download

Included in

Criminology Commons

Share

 
COinS