ices provided to promote accountability and reduce duplication of effort; immediate response by the court to the needs of the child and his/her family and to noncompliance by either the child with the court's program conditions; and judicial leadership in bringing together the schools, treatment resources, and other community agencies to work together to achieve the drug court's goals.Not only are there juvenile drug courts but there are also adult drug courts. There are some differences between the two but not much. In the few short years that juvenile drug courts have been operating, practitioners have identified several key differences between the populations and circumstances of adult and juvenile courts. Among them are the following: the drugs of choice differ, as does the nature of drug involvement; family issues become a primary focus in juvenile drug court; school issues replace work and training issues in the juvenile drug court environment; the fear of loss or punishment is often a key factor in adult rehabilitation; with less to lose and fewer sanctions, juveniles don’t share these fears, or the motivation to change. Because of the difference between adults and juveniles, treatment should also differ. Treatment facilities that are equipped and/or willing to treat juveniles are rare. Inpatient treatment for juvenile drug users is rarer still. Although treatment for juvenile is lagging behind, it doesn’t mean the help they need is far off.Juvenile drug offenders commonly have a long history of school problems. They have alienated themselves from their schools, and the schools, in turn, are often relieved to be rid of them. As jurisdictions across the country seek to establish juvenile drug court systems, there is a natural, and seemingly reasonable, tendency among court practitioners to adapt existing adult drug court principles to juvenile drug court systems. When the Florida and Kentucky courts initiated juven...
