The Potential of Social Science Theory for the Evaluation and Improvement of Drug Courts

Abstract

As drug treatment courts developed over the past 20 years, they were increasingly and productively grounded in the philosophy of therapeutic jurisprudence and in the operational standards of the 10 key components. Both of these and particularly the growing literature on the efficacy of the key components offer guidance for the implementation and monitoring of programs and provide a logic for attributing outcomes to program operation. What then, if anything, might be gained by an explicit attention to what is generally called social science theory in understanding and modifying drug courts? This article addresses these questions and develops social learning theory as an example of the potential for this union of theoretical and practical concerns.