Indiana Adults Who Participated In Treatment Court Programs Had Better Health Outcomes Than Those Who Did Not

More people are arrested in the US for substance-related crimes than for any other offense. Treatment courts are a judicial intervention offering a holistic, public health approach to substance use, and they provide an alternative to incarceration. There is, however, great variability with respect to court practices and interventions across the US. This article explores whether there is an association between participation in treatment court programs and three health-related outcomes, as measured by mortality, emergency department use, and emergency medical services (EMS) use. We studied people who were accepted into thirty treatment court programs in Indiana between January 1, 2018, and June 30, 2021, including 350 people who completed treatment court programs and 180 people who applied and were accepted but chose not to participate. We monitored health outcomes for participants for one year after they completed a program, or for the year after their decision not to enroll for nonparticipants. Treatment court participants were 83 percent less likely to die, 34 percent less likely to present at an emergency department, and 83 percent less likely to call EMS compared with nonparticipants. Our findings can inform policies to expand the number of treatment court programs and broaden their use.