DISCUSIÓN

While it is not possible at present to state definitively that the Youth Drug Court program has been achieving outcomes superior to those that might have been gained through other forms of intervention, the overall view of the evaluators is that the program is having an important, positive impact on the lives of many of those participating. The unit costs of achieving these impacts on a group of young people with entrenched drug use and criminal histories do not appear to be greater than those involved in keeping them in custody.

Our key recommendation therefore is that the program should continue and possibly be expanded to selected other geographical areas.

However, this recommendation is subject to a number of issues being addressed at legislative, policy and administrative levels:

1. A new legislative basis for the YDC is needed, particularly to establish a codified system of sanctions for non-compliance with program requirements and to clarify the uses of bail and custody for participants in a pre-sentence program.

2. Further guidelines or practice directions need to be developed for the operations of the Court Team, to avoid potential conflicts of interest and to clarify the proper uses of information in a non-adversarial court setting.

3. A number of policy issues should be reviewed in the light of the pilot program experiences, including: program eligibility criteria; the optimum period for mandatory program involvement; the application of sanctions for non-compliance with program requirements; and methods of increasing the engagement in the program by young women.

4. Continuing discussion is also needed about the optimum combination of treatment options and the best use of services such as the Health day-programs.

5. The purpose and application of urinalysis should be reviewed to determine whether it could become an effective tool for monitoring participants’ drug use while on the program.

6. Further co-location of different service elements of the program should be considered, with a view to improving communication and cooperative working.

Other methods including a computer intranet for the program might also be examined.

7. To ensure the continuing inclusion of effective educational and training services within the YDC program, the costs of providing these services need to be incorporated into the main YDC program budget.

8. Any expansion of the program into other geographical areas needs to take into account the availability of key services such as stabilisation, detoxification and

short-term accommodation, and the cost of meeting gaps in such services where needed.

9. There is a need for more effective cross-departmental monitoring and recording of key program interventions and participant outcomes, based on an agreed set of indicators. This monitoring might include a single summary form completed for each participant at both entry to and exit from the program (where possible).

10. Better data are needed on offences coming to the attention of the police and the courts in order to determine accurately the level of offending by program referrals and participants and the dates when these offences were committed. We recommend that the Departments of Juvenile Justice, Attorney-General’s and the Police Service work together with the YDC Registry and the Judicial Commission to develop a more effective, unified data system for this purpose.

11. The Departments involved in the YDC should consider whether better co-ordination and management might be achieved if a single manager were appointed with overall responsibility for the program, especially if the program were to be expanded.

12. Further development of the program should be reviewed in the light of findings from other interventions such as the MERIT scheme.

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