Are Judicial Status Hearings A Key Component Of Drug Court? During-Treatment Data From a Randomized Trial

This article reports during-treatment outcomes from a randomized, controlled evaluation of different schedules of judicial status hearings in a misdemeanor drug court. Contrary to expectations, more frequent status hearings with the drug court judge were not associated with more favorable outcomes for participants during the first 14 weeks of drug court in terms of counseling attendance, urinalysis-confirmed abstinence, self-reported substance use, or illegal activity. More frequent hearings were, however, associated with greater detection of infractions by the drug court judge and more remedial interventions with participants. Future research will address 6-, 12-, and 24-month follow-up outcomes for these individuals and will examine the generalizability of the findings across several adult drug courts.