This book is an exploratory study of a juvenile drug treatment court in the Midwest. Based on observations and interviews the author conducted while serving as the contracted program evaluator, the book investigates how denial, surveillance, coercion, accountability, and definitions of success operate and interact in the Juvenile Drug Court environment and intertwine with institutional needs and authority structures. The book’s findings suggest that some drug court practices may expose participants to potential harms that until now have been largely ignored in studies of drug courts. concludes with suggestions for reducing the potential harms of juvenile drug courts.

The Author: Kevin Whiteacre is Director of the Community Research Center and Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice and Sociology at the University of Indianapolis. Previously he was the Administrator of Research for the Salvation Army Correctional Services Program in Chicago, Illinois. He has also served as the program evaluator for an adult drug treatment court for more than five years, and has worked as a researcher for other court programs, including the juvenile drug court.

«…a path-breaking and long overdue exploration of the world of drug treatment courts… ‘Drug Court Justice’… provides an invaluable roadmap for reforming drug treatment courts to make them more relevant to the communities most damaged by drugs and the drug war, more responsive to scientific data and best practices, and less needlessly coercive – in a word, to make them more just.» (Daniel Abrahamson, Director of Legal Affairs, Drug Policy Alliance) «[This book] has the refreshing immediacy of a Frederick Wiseman documentary… Kevin Whiteacre has managed to construct a well-balanced but stark image of what really goes on, both good and bad, when the curative intentions of addiction therapists get wedded to the incarcerating power of the state.» (Hon. Morris B. Hoffman, Denver District Court, Author of ‘The Drug Court Scandal’, North Carolina Law Review)