Court Strategies to Cope with Rising Drug Caseloads

Courts have developed a variety of strategies to cope with large increases in drug caseloads during the past decade. This article examines data on the success of three innovative court programs, including a dedicated drug court, improved case management techniques, and a drug treatment orientation. Courts can greatly improve processing speed of narcotics cases, although such improvements are sometimes accompanied by more-lenient dispositions. No evidence was found to suggest that drug treatment reduces rearrests.