Drug Court Facts

Drug Court Statistics

Drug courts are alternative sentencing courts, whereby people arrested for crimes involving drugs, or for crimes in which an addiction to drugs or alcohol played a factor, may receive drug treatment sentencing as an alternative to incarceration.

• Two thirds of adult offenders test positive for drugs at the time of arrest.
• More than half of all juvenile offenders test positive for drugs at the time of arrest.
• The cost to jail a person is between $20 000 and $50 000 per year, and the cost to build a single jail cell can be as much as $80 000. The cost to treat an offender in the drug court system ranges from between $1500 and $11 000.
• 1 dollar invested in drug courts saves tax payers $10 in prison costs.
• More than 120 000 people pass through drug courts each year, and there are almost 2000 operational drug courts in America.
• 80% of child abuse or child neglect cases involve drugs or alcohol.
• Drug court graduates are less likely to be re-arrested than drug offenders sent to prison. Parents enrolled in a drug court mandated substance abuse treatment program are more likely to be reunited with removed children than are parents in normal child welfare case management.
• A person with an "out of control addiction" commits 63 crimes per year. (Source National Institute of Justice)
• Less than 20% of people who initiate drug treatment on their own will complete a full year of in and outpatient care. More than 66% of drug court offenders will complete more than a year of drug treatment.
• Only 9% of drug court treatment graduates were rearrested in the 12 months following the completion of treatment.
• Treatment can cost tax payers less than 7$ per day.