Australia's Drug Courts Literature Review

Tiffany Brown, Student ID no. 220175511, CRM101 Glenn Porter
Annotated Bibliography
Ryan Kornhauser. 2016. "The effectiveness of Australia’s drug courts". Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology. DOI: 10.1177/0004865816673412
In this article, it looks at the effectiveness of drug courts compared to the more conventional court penalties on offenders. Whilst studies indicate that drug courts reduce offender’s chances of reoffending compared to offenders that don’t get put into the treatment programs, the author states that there’s not enough evidence collected to prove this theory. In this article, it talks about how the drug courts offer a rehabilitation service and try to treat substance abuse. The main aim of these programs in the …show more content…
For this program to work, offenders need to want to quit substance abuse and engage in the program. Having family and community support also affects how the treatment can work for the offender. The author goes on to say even though the studies show a small improvement, comparing the offenders on the treatment program to the offenders going to prison, there is a lack of controlled evidence to support this. He states the examining periods were not tested for long enough periods of time and not enough random comparison. With each state having its own model within the drug court of how they treat offenders, could have a varied result on the outcomes. I find the article useful as it gives insight that offering offenders help, rather than just punishing them will hopefully have a better outcome in the long run and prevent them …show more content…
Good behavior bonds are orders given by the court with set conditions that the offender must follow and stay out of trouble for that period of the bond or face being resentenced. In the article, it talks about how prisons are becoming overpopulated and with evidence suggesting that conviction doesn’t deter from reoffending, they are trying to prove with studies that behavior bonds work better for offender’s rehabilitation to not re-offend. The article looks at data done on 19478 individuals that are put on a good behavior bond for 24 months or more. The data shows that offenders on the longer bonds had better results of not reoffending. It talks about how offenders on longer bonds might have more initiative to get help and rehabilitate themselves, as they have a longer time than the offenders on shorter bonds. Although the studies show a slight improvement in offenders on longer bonds, I think the studies aren’t broad enough. It states that offenders on longer bonds are usually placed on these for more serious offenses, so I think that can affect data results of reoffending compared to offenders being put on shorter bonds for less serious crimes. I find the article helpful, but think data needs to be broader. There isn't enough supportive evidence to suggest in the long run whether bonds are more beneficial over going to prison. There

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