Alcohol and drug use related crimes continue to be processed in juvenile courts at high rates. One approach for addressing substance related issues has been the implementation of juvenile drug courts. Juvenile drug courts were established given the wide-spread success of adult drug courts. However, juvenile drug courts require different components…

Programs with restorative justice ideals attempt to incorporate victims and community members into the administration of justice. Although these programs have become increasingly popular, only a few programs in the United States have been the focus of prior studies. Using official juvenile court data from an urban, metropolitan area, this study…

This paper reports findings from the Evaluation of Teen Courts Project, which studied teen courts in Alaska, Arizona, Maryland, and Missouri. Researchers measured pre-court attitudes and post-court (6-month) recidivism among more than 500 juveniles referred to teen court for nonviolent offenses. The study compared recidivism outcomes for teen…

This study randomly assigned 200 parents to mediation (facilitated by master's-level social workers) or to pretrial conferences (guided by judges) to examine the effects of the dispute resolution methods on the attitudes of parents in child dependency disputes. The study also examined theories from the psychology of justice and trust literature…