Drug court facts

. Juvenile drug treatment court relies on a collaboration between the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, the Maine Department of Corrections, the Maine District Courts and the Day One program.

. The program is led by a statewide steering committee consisting of state representatives and senators, judges, attorneys, DOC and Office of Substance Abuse officials, law enforcement personnel and substance abuse treatment providers.

. Each drug treatment court team consists of a judge, a case manager, a treatment provider, a juvenile corrections officer, a district attorney and a defense attorney.

. Juvenile drug treatment courts are located in Biddeford, Portland, Bath, Lewiston, Augusta and Bangor. Approximately 500 youth clients have been served since the program’s inception in 2000. About 50 percent graduate successfully.

. Other states have juvenile drug treatment courts, but Maine’s program has a higher than average percentage of youths who graduate successfully.

. The rate of recidivism, or relapse into drug use and related criminal activity, is lower for graduates of juvenile drug treatment court than for youth who are admitted to traditional corrections environments.

. Drug treatment court is more cost-effective than incarceration when measuring reduced detention and jail costs, reduced costs for processing criminal cases, and overall decreased rates of crime.

Information compiled from the University of Southern Maine’s “Outcome Evaluation of Maine’s Statewide Juvenile Drug Treatment Court Program,” 2005, and the 2004 annual report of the Maine Office of Substance Abuse.