User:Jcallahan2019/Drug courts in the United States

There is mixed evidence on whether drug courts save money or cost more per participant than traditional courts. Studies in the mid-2000s computed the average cost savings per participant. Results revealed average cost savings ranging from nearly $3,000 to over $12,000 per client. Depending upon the size of a given program, in some counties the aggregate cost savings exceeded $7 to $9 million per year.[7] There are about 120,000 individuals treated annually in drug courts, which creates more than $1 billion in annual savings. Overall, it is estimated that the current adult drug court treatment program produces about $2.21 in benefit for every $1 in costs, for a net benefit to society of about $624 million. Studies have shown that 1.5 million arrestees who are probably guilty (the population most likely to participate in court monitored substance abuse treatment) are at risk of abuse or dependence. Treating those 1.5 million at-risk arrestees through drug court would cost more than $13.7 billion and return benefits of about $46 billion.[8]

'''Current literature questions the cost effectiveness of the current Drug Court model. The previously held belief that the program has a cost benefit of $2.31 for every dollar spent. The more recent research contends that the benefit it more closely to a 1.50 in benefits. This means that the current literature believes that there is no statistical significance between the cost effectiveness of the current drug court model as opposed to the ordinary court probation model. ''' On the other hand, there are a number of studies by non-partisan research institutions which show that drug courts are cost positive. In a meta-analysis of 86 drug courts, which includes the full cost of rehabs and wrap around services and drug court externalities, the Brookings Institution concluded in 2012 that the benefits of drug court "probably [do] not" outweigh its costs, noting that "on average, drug court will cost $5,000 more per participant than is yielded in benefits, and there is only an 14% chance that benefits will exceed costs".[9][full citation needed] Similarly, the UK Ministry of Justice concludes that drug courts are cost-positive by £4,633 per participant.[10]