ENSAYOS GEOFÍSICOS

well as their ability to work within a multi- disciplinary team, have been highlighted as factors vital to the success of the Drug Court program.

I think it works very well. It works very well because of the people who are involved in it and the belief that they have in it; and the ability to communicate across treat- ment modalities, across treatment beliefs, across ethical systems. People are will- ing to share what information they have with a view to keeping that client out of gaol forever. Not just for this time, but to encourage them to make enough changes that they will not go back to gaol.107

Overall, the evaluations demonstrate that the programs are effective in reducing re- offending for those who complete the program. These positive results contributed to government support for the program, the enactment of legislation (passed in 2006) to make the Drug Court a permanent sentenc- ing option in Queensland, and the provision of additional funding for their expanded oper ation across the State.

4.2.3.4 South Australian Drug Court

The key aims of the South Australian Drug Court program are:

to minimise, or stop, the use of illicit

•

drugs by offenders, and

to prevent, or decrease, any further drug-

•

related offending (Corlett et al., 2005). A series of studies have reviewed the opera- tion of the Adelaide-based court. In 2006, Skrzypiec (2006) compared participants who completed the program in its first 38 months of operation with those who terminated prior to completion, in order to identify factors

that might explain reasons for early ter- mination. As is common in drug courts in Australia, completion rates were low, with only 26.2 per cent of participants complet- ing the program (see also Western Australia and New South Wales). Over half (55.9%) were terminated from the program, usually for non-compliance, and 17.9 per cent vol- untarily withdrew (Skrzypiec, 2006). Program ‘completers’ and ‘terminators’ were compared on numerous variables within categories such as demographics, drug use and offending history. This information was extracted from the Drug Court database (including infor- mation collected at the initial assessment interview) and from the databases of crimi- nal justice agencies in South Australia (e.g. South Australian Police Apprehension and Offender History records). Logistic regression analyses found three significant predictors of early termination:

limited family support

•

a criminal history spanning seven years

•

or more

later onset of alcohol abuse (after 18 years

•

compared with before 18 years).

Whilst the first two variables were consist- ent with findings in other studies (Crime Research Centre, 2003; Payne, 2005), the meaning of the third predictor was uncer- tain and Skrzypiec (2006) cautioned its interpretation. Further, it was noted that the overall strength of association of pre- dictors was weak and that there are likely to be unaccounted-for predictive factors. Methodological weaknesses also limit the strength of conclusions that can be drawn, including a small sample size and flaws in the collection of data, which were extracted from various databases.

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In 2004, an evaluation of the South Aus- tralian Drug Court was conducted to assess whether it was achieving its aim of prevent- ing or reducing further offending, through the provision of effective interventions and treatment (Corlett et al., 2005).

The review compared the pre- and post- program offending behaviour of 43 indi- viduals who had completed the program at least six months prior to the time of the review. Frequency and severity of post- program offen ding behaviour were compared with behaviour for an equal period prior to program initiation for each individual and reductions were found in both:

Almost one-quarter (23.3%) of those

•

who completed the program committed no offences in the post-program period and approximately 80 per cent had lower offending rates.

Of the 39 individuals who were ‘serious

•

offenders’, just over one-third (35.9%) committed another serious offence in the post-program period; 23.1 per cent of ‘serious offenders’ committed no offences in the post-program period, 33.3 per cent committed minor offences, and 7.7 per cent committed moderate offences. The absence of a matched or control group for comparison, however, is a major meth- odological limitation and precluded any inferences of causation. The evaluators were limited to concluding that the results were ‘encouraging’ and suggestive of ‘a positive influence’ (Corlett et al., 2005). The results were further confounded by low completion rates, with less than one-quarter (23.4%) of participants completing the 12-month program108 _{(Corlett et al., 2005).}

4.2.3.5 Victorian Drug Court

Participants in the Victorian Drug Court program are sentenced to a Drug Treat- ment Order (DTO), the purposes of which

are described in s.18X of the Sentencing

(Amendment) Act 2002:

to facilitate the rehabilitation of the (a)

offender by providing a judicially supervised, therapeutically oriented, integrated drug or alcohol treatment and supervision regime

to take account of an offender’s drug (b)

or alcohol dependency

to reduce the level of criminal activ- (c)

ity associated with drug or alcohol dependency

to reduce the offender’s health risks (d)

associated with drug or alcohol dependency.

The Drug Court aims to protect the commu- nity by rehabilitating participants, stabilising their lifestyles and re-integrating them into society.

A series of evaluations of the Victorian Drug Court were completed in 2002–03, includ- ing a health and wellbeing evaluation and a cost-effectiveness evaluation. The major proviso to bear in mind in considering these studies is that they were conducted early in the life of the Drug Court and therefore do not include information about re- offending and drug use after program completion. As at the time of the studies, 59 individu- als had received DTOs, but none had yet

graduated.109

Note that the two studies discussed here were conducted at different times and so report slightly

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different completion and termination rates; completion rates: 57 per cent terminated, 19 per cent withdrew and 1 per cent died.

Half (51%; 30) were in Phase I, 20 per cent (12) were in Phase II, and one had progressed to Phase III.

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