Offender Perceptions of a Restorative Conferencing Program in a Drug Treatment Court.

Source: (2008) International Journal of Restorative Justice. 4(1):80-100.

The drug treatment court approach to addiction began in Florida in 1989. The first Miami drug court has been joined by almost 2000 courts functioning today around the nation (National Drug Court Institute, 2008). In fact, the drug treatment court model has become so strong that it has been referred to as a “movement” (Nolan, 2001, p. 5). Drug treatment courts have drawn substantial attention from researchers since their first appearance in 1989. However, it has been observed that there is little drug treatment court research that is qualitative in design and even less which focuses on the perceptions or attitudes of the offender (Wolfer, 2006). This paper will address both deficiencies in drug treatment court research by providing a qualitative examination of offender perceptions of a restorative or community justice conferencing program in a Missouri drug treatment court. (excerpt)