Linking Noncompliant Behaviors and Programmatic Responses

Drug courts are charged with positively influencing the behavior of a difficult-to-treat population. Sanctions represent a drug court’s efforts to instill accountability in participants, an important component of behavior modification. This research examined the application of sanctions within a drug court’s proactive supervision model and sanctions matrix. An exploratory analysis of individual-level factors (including risk level, treatment characteristics, and punishment history) that increase the likelihood of receiving a sanction was conducted. Factors related to receiving any type of sanction and a drug sanction, and whether receiving a sanction was related to program retention were examined. Most participants (71%) received a sanction. On average, each participant received 4 sanctions and 259 sanctions were given over a 2-year period. The majority of people (77%) continued to be actively enrolled after receiving a sanction. Practice and policy implications regarding the use of sanctions within the context of offender change are discussed.