The Educational Link: Youth Involved In Juvenile Drug Courts

Abstract

The need for substance abuse treatment programs for adolescents is a national public health concern. In 2017, an estimated 20.7 million people aged 12 or older needed substance use treatment. Among young adults aged 18 to 25, about 1 in 7 people needed treatment. Youth involved in the juvenile justice system have statutory rights for access to education of equal priority to youth enrolled in the public-school system. However, over the past few decades, research shows that access to education under state and federal requirements are vague and interpreted differently among state lines. The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which the individual drug court sites implemented the Educational Linkages key activity from the JDC/RF Normative Logic Model. Three out eight programs were half effective at implementing the educational measures. Two of the subscales were met and two were not. The two subscales that the drug courts seemed to meet the least, both involved representatives from the local school communities being present at meetings and facilitating a mechanism for fluid communication when issues arise with youth. Further research could investigate the educational funding discrepancies across those jurisdictions to determine if school funding is contributing factor.