Drug courts came about as a result of the 1980's "war on drugs" where all levels of government came together to crack down on an epidemic of crack-cocaine use that had society believing that drugs were the main problem of the criminal justice system (Burdon, Roll, Prendergast, & Rawson, 2001). Courts on state and federal levels were overburdened and overloaded with drug cases, thus prison populations began to swell at an amazing rate as well. According to statistics "the number of adults arrested for drug-related violations increased

As with adults, many nonviolent, substance-abusing juvenile offenders repeatedly cycle through the system due to a lack of intervention measures that would provide sanctions and services necessary to change their deviant behavior (#1) In an attempt to resolve this problem, many communities have established juvenile drug courts.

Because drug courts use judicial and therapeutic methods in dealing with substance abusing juveniles at the front end of the criminal justice system they have become increasingly popular. With these specialized courts in almost every state they have become a driving force behind diversion as an alternative. Although these policies

In Phase II emphasis is focused of family communication and education. The juvenile is only required to complete 6 hours of intervention in this phase and 60 hours of community service are added to the treatment plan. There are more meetings with family members and classes focus on helping the family break any habits that may cause the offender to fail.

Offenders in the drug courts system are rewarded or sanctioned according to compliance or non-compliance. Some rewards are given for negative drug tests and phase completion. Rewards show the offenders that staff members in these programs are proud

Critics of drug courts argue that drug courts unnecessarily widen the net and do little for society. Studies have shown that they benefit society greatly but drug courts do cause juveniles who may have been overlooked otherwise to be put into programs and do widen the net. Drug courts seem to be our best tool for managing the more serious offender who has the most obstacles to overcome to be successful. Participants who are not truly addicted tend to be terminated from the program.

Each phase of the drug court treatment plan usually lasts between 8 to 12 weeks. In order to advance from one phase to another a juvenile must complete their intervention goals for that phase, they must have clean urinalysis/breath analysis tests, and there is a mandatory curfew. They must also meet with their probation officer, have reviews with the drug court judge, a guardian or responsible adult must participate in one parent workshop or support group, and the juvenile must have full time employment or perfect school attendance.

273% between 1980 and 1995, in the same period, the percentage of prisoners in the custody of state correctional authorities for drug offenses increased from 6.4% to 22.7% (Burdon et al. 2001)".

Determining the target population and eligibility is centered on making use of limited available resources. Because of this most juvenile drug courts focus on non-violent juveniles with moderate to heavy substance abuse problems. The offender must also sign the drug court agreement in which they admit to having committed the crime and the

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