Recidivism in Australia : findings and future research - Australian ...

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Recidivism in Australia: findings and future research
Evaluating a drug court
As of December 2006, there had been more than seven studies across Australia using
recidivism to examine the effectiveness of drug courts. Among these were studies in New
South Wales (Lind et al. 2002), North and South East Queensland (Payne 2005; Makkai
and Veraar 2003) and Western Australia (UWA CRC 2003). Although each study seemingly
examined recidivism for a general target sample of drug court clients, there are a few
obvious contextual factors impacting on the characteristics of each sample that prevents
exact comparisons between the studies. These variations included:
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Physical location of the court program – each program operated in a different geographical
location separated by state borders and where different crimes and sentencing provisions
apply. Aside from other program differences, local drug markets can vary significantly
between states, impacting the type of offenders likely to participate in the respective drug
court programs.
Severity of likely sentence – the Western Australian program excluded participants likely
to face mandatory imprisonment. In North Queensland, South East Queensland and
New South Wales however, an offender was eligible only if they were likely to face a term
of imprisonment. Excluding those likely to be imprisoned may result in the selection of
participants with a less serious offending profile, which may affect the probability that
a participant will reoffend.
Offender profile – the West Australian program was available to adult and juvenile offenders,
while the programs in the east were available only to offenders aged 18 years or more.
Moreover, in North Queensland offenders referred to the program could not have spent
more than 12 months in prison before their participation (although recent moves have been
made to relax this criterion). There were no such restrictions in New South Wales, South
East Queensland or Western Australia.
Program content – the drug court programs in each location operated in a different
manner. In New South Wales for example, methadone maintenance was an acceptable
form of accompanying treatment, while the Queensland program preferred abstinence
from drug use over maintenance. In Western Australia, the drug court intervention
operated for a maximum of six months, while in the other jurisdictions participants
could remain on the program for more than 18 months.