Drug courts that serve mostly Hispanics may benefit from having a bilingual judge

There are now more than 3,000 drug courts in the US, which aim to promote treatment rather than punishment for nonviolent offenders. While drug courts have been found to be effective in reducing drug use for participants in general, there is less evidence of how well they work for certain groups. In new research Kelly Frailing examines the effectiveness of a drug court for Hispanic participants, finding that the ability to speak Spanish with the judge was rated very highly in terms of services offered by the court.