By Tom Jarvis
A recent study of New Hampshire’s drug treatment courts found that participants were significantly less likely to be convicted of new crimes than those who were referred but did not enroll.
The study, Measuring the Impact of NH Drug Treatment Court Programs: An Evaluation of Recidivism, was conducted by JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc., in partnership with the New Hampshire Judicial Branch (NHJB) Drug Treatment Court Program. It examined program involvement between 2018 and 2023 and found that 82 percent of individuals enrolled in a drug treatment court did not have a subsequent conviction during or after their participation.
“The results are truly gratifying and inspiring, and prove the efficacy of the invaluable work being done in our drug courts,” New Hampshire Superior Court Chief Justice Mark Howard says. “The study is a testament to the hard work being done every day by participants who want to heal and lead a better life, and by the drug court professionals who dedicate their lives in service to others. The program could not succeed without the commitment from so many stakeholders in the system.”
The findings come as New Hampshire’s drug treatment courts approach another milestone: the programs reached their 1,000th graduate during a Manchester drug treatment court graduation on May 12.
According to the report, enrolled participants were “nearly three times less likely” to be convicted of a new crime within one year of program completion than those who were referred but did not enroll – 2.5 percent compared with 6.1 percent. At the three-year mark, they remained “nearly two times less likely” to recidivate – 4.9 percent compared with 8.4 percent.
The study defined recidivism as a subsequent conviction, rather than a new arrest or return to incarceration.
NHJB Statewide Treatment Court Coordinator Alex Casale says that distinction was important because arrests do not always result in convictions.
“If somebody gets arrested for a new crime, but then those charges are dropped because it wasn’t them or they were false claims, yes, that person had interaction with the criminal justice system, but it wasn’t any fault of their own,” Casale says. “They didn’t actually do anything wrong.”
He says gathering conviction-based data required pulling from multiple sources, including records from drug treatment courts, jails, prisons, and prosecutors’ offices.
“These specialized programs and treatment courts work for the population that they’re designed for,” he says. “They’re not a fit for everybody. You have to have a well-defined target population, but they do work. Not everybody who comes in is going to be a success, but more people will be a success than not.”
Drug treatment courts are designed for high-risk, high-need individuals whose criminal justice involvement is closely tied to substance use disorders. Unlike the traditional criminal process, the model combines treatment, judicial monitoring, probation supervision, case management, drug testing, and community-based support.
“Doing the program is not easy, and in a lot of cases people will say it’s easier to do jail than it is to do the program,” Casale says.
NHJB Statewide Drug Treatment Court Coordinator Christopher Gowell says the program is intensive by design.
“The overall mission of drug treatment court is to reduce recidivism, target the high-risk, high-need population, and save taxpayers’ money by keeping people in the community and out of jails,” Gowell says.
He says the study gives the courts data to support what treatment court professionals have seen in practice.
“It’s easy for me, who could be viewed as biased because I work in these programs, to say the drug courts work, but when you have an actual study that shows these things are working, it backs you up,” he says.
Gowell says defense attorneys and prosecutors both play important roles in the success of drug treatment courts. Prosecutors can serve as gatekeepers for referrals and represent community safety interests on the team, while defense counsel must navigate a role that differs from traditional advocacy.
While the report’s overall findings were positive, it also identifies areas for further study and improvement. It found that Black or African American individuals and people age 46 or older were enrolled at lower rates after referral, while Hispanic or Latino participants completed the program at a lower rate than non-Hispanic participants. The report recommends improving statewide data collection and examining ways to address enrollment and completion disparities.
Casale says the study can help officials examine whether certain populations are underserved.
“If there’s a reason that they can’t be in the program, then what’s the reason?” he says. “But if the reason is something that we can fix, then let’s fix that.”
Tony Naro, president of Friends of New Hampshire Drug Courts (FNHDC), says the study reinforces the value of treatment-based alternatives for people whose criminal behavior is tied to substance use disorders.
“You can’t just incarcerate your way out of this problem,” Naro says. “The study confirms what everyone already knew: Drug courts save lives, reduce crime, and save taxpayer dollars.”
FNHDC provides financial support to help participants overcome barriers that may interfere with recovery, including transportation, housing, dental care, and other basic needs. Naro says those supports can help them remain engaged in treatment.
“It’s about saying to them, ‘The community has your back. The community wants you to succeed,’” Naro says.
For Randall Francis, a 2024 drug treatment court graduate and FNHDC board member, the program offered something previous treatment attempts had not: time, accountability, and sustained support.
“Prior to drug treatment court, I’d been to rehab probably seven or eight times,” he says. “Those programs weren’t long enough. I was never able to get more than 30 days, so it never stuck with me.”
Francis spent 18 months in drug treatment court and will reach four years of sobriety on July 22. He says the structure of the program helped him the most.
“For the first six months, I was doing it to stay out of prison,” he says. “But then I had a cosmic shift. My brain had healed enough that I just started to live again and wanted to be a positive presence in life. I realized I wasn’t too far gone.”
To him, the finding reflects more than individual participants avoiding new convictions.
“Society will dwell on the 18 percent that recidivated,” he says. “But that 82 percent is out there changing the lives of many more people than just those who went through drug court. I think that number says something, but the number of lives changed by this program is astronomical.”
The value of the program, he says, is direct.
“Drug court saved my life,” he says. “I did the work, but it gave me the platform to be able to save my own life.”
The full report is available at courts.nh.gov/media/data-reports under the “Reports” section at the bottom of the page.