The Adult Treatment Court Best Practice Standards (2023) require that programs provide services that specifically match individualized participant characteristics and needs, including cultural, gender, clinical, and behavioral attributes. But what about developmental factors? Juvenile Drug Treatment Courts (JDTCs) and other treatment courts designed to serve youth are designed to meet the complex social, psychological, and evolving developmental needs of minors in the juvenile justice system with substance use disorders. These programs have an explicit therapeutic mission to provide services and supports to adolescents and their families and consider that youth are less likely to be dependent on substances and stop using for reasons that are distinct from adults (Bureau of Justice Assistance, 2003).

But nothing magical happens when an individual becomes an adult at age 18 and is now ineligible for juvenile treatment court programs. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2023) reveal several specific factors for high-risk substance use among youth – family history of substance use, favorable parental attitudes regarding substance use, poor parental monitoring, parental substance use, association with delinquent or substance-using peers, lack of school connectedness, low academic achievement, childhood sexual abuse, and mental health issues. Anecdotally treatment court practitioners report challenges in effectively serving treatment court participants between the ages of 18 and 25. So, what explains the challenges in meeting the needs of these young adults?

Experts argue that young adults are more similar to adolescents than they are to adults in terms of neurological, social, and psychological development. Neurocognitively, especially the prefrontal cortex is still developing through the mid-20s, forming a physiological basis for being more impulsive, making poor decisions, and having difficulty regulating emotions (Farrington et al., 2012). But many young adults decrease their drug and alcohol use as they focus more on the future and transition to more adult roles, seek employment, financial independence, marry, and become parents (Gates et al., 2016).

Psychologist Jeffrey Arnett (2000) proposed a new life stage, “emerging adulthood” which spans from 18 to 25 years old. He identified several characteristics associated with this developmental stage.

1. identity “explorations” – Young adults become more aware of their own values and beliefs as they test out intimate relationships and options for work and careers. They begin to face the realities of societal perceptions and demands.
2. age of instability – Young adults may move out of the family home and change residences numerous times, including moving back home. As they try out new aspects of identity, they may start and leave jobs and relationships.
3. self-focused – Emerging adults may not yet have responsibilities for children or partners and instead be more centered on the self, make decisions more independently, and act from self-interest.
4. feeling in-between – Young adults in many countries voice a sense that they are not adolescents, but also do not feel like adults. This ambiguity can be stressful and may take the form of ambivalence about autonomy and responsibility.
5. sense of future self, or age of possibilities – In this transition from adolescence to adulthood, most emerging adults express optimism about their future and being fulfilled. In one study, 89% of young adults agreed with the statement “I am confident that one day I will get to where I want to be in life” (Arnett & Schwab, 2012). The authors found that respondents from lower socioeconomic status groups expressed even more optimism than their peers in higher socioeconomic groups, as they were more likely to believe that “overall, my life will be better than my parents’ lives have been.” (p. 18).

Emerging Adults in Treatment Courts

What does this mean for adult treatment court practitioners? These characteristics should be taken into account when working 1-1 with young adult treatment court participants and in the development of the comprehensive case plan. Struggles with identity, relationships, instability, autonomy, responsibility, and not “fitting in” – are all acutely evident within in this population. Not surprisingly, the completely “normal” physiological and neurocognitive underpinnings of instability, impulsivity, and poor mood regulation can be exacerbated in young adults who use substances. Demonstrating an understanding of and empathy for these struggles will assist practitioners in developing rapport with young adults and facilitate a collaborative working relationship for successfully navigating this developmental stage.

The Center for Court Innovation convened a group of practitioners serving young adults in treatment courts and summarized several “lessons learned” in how best to work with this age group (Reilly & Calabrese, 2013). Suggestions include:

• Provide age-relevant treatment options, as young adults differ in important ways. More focus on motivational enhancement in the early phases of treatment is essential, as many may not see substance use as a problem and have not experienced the negative health and social consequences of use typical of older adults. They suggest that brief, cognitive behavioral interventions are likely to be more successful and facilitate higher rates of program retention.
• Incorporate the lifestyle choices of young adults into case management and treatment. Target recovery support needs, such as education, vocational training, and socialization programs. Are there young adult-specific, recovery-oriented activities in which your participants can engage?
• Provide young adults many opportunities to succeed. Making mistakes is typical at this age. “If it’s an all-or-nothing kind of result they’re probably going to fail, whereas if they have many opportunities along the way to fail and still continue on, they’re more likely to stay in.” (p. 12) Celebrate small and large accomplishments beginning early on and throughout participants’ term of enrollment.
• Provide treatment court practitioners with training specific to working with young adults. One provider noted “If you don’t have an individual that can relate to this population…that gets the respect of this population, then you lose a lot of kids.” (p. 12)
• Use sanctions and incentives creatively and flexibly, since young adults may not respond to these in the same ways that older adults do. Some creative sanctions noted in this report included sitting through court calendars and completing community service work.
• Identify mentors who can gain the trust of young adults and offer specific strategies for positive change.

The workgroup emphasized that a separate program designed to target the specific needs of emerging adults might be desirable, but not necessary. Some specialized young adult courts do exist, and researchers summarized the key elements of these programs in San Francisco, Brooklyn, and Chicago through the Emerging Adult Justice Learning Community (2021). These programs include a focus on voluntariness, a sense of personal agency, transparency, and connecting with one’s community. Specific strategies used by these programs include making quick connections with trauma-informed mental health and substance use interventions, providing education, job training, assistance with housing, and in some cases, parenting classes. Some incorporated a restorative justice model, “Peace Circles,” and “Repair of Harm Agreements” (p. 11).

The group also noted specific “pitfalls” of these specialized courts, including “net widening” to serve those who might not be at high-risk of recidivism, over supervising, , over-treating, and otherwise tightening “the grip of the formal system on emerging adults and decreas(ing) self-reliance” (p.18). They also cautioned against excluding young adults based on offense classifications, such as violent/non-violent, and gang membership.

Call to Action

Regardless of whether a treatment court program can provide a standalone program or track for the young adult population, all adult treatment courts CAN do the following in order to meet the specific needs of individuals at this developmental stage.

• Seek training or refreshers regarding the typical developmental pathways for emerging adults, and the physical/neurological, social and psychological challenges they face. Empathy and increased patience should follow.
• Consider the impact of restrictions like electronic monitoring, curfews, and sanctions on the developing adult.
• Examine whether your team members and service provider agencies employ staff that can establish trust and rapport with participants and have the knowledge and skills to work with young adults. Are staff training and support provided? Is there a peer-group or mentor ready to welcome the young person to the program? Establish and maintain a culture of support for participants experiencing myriad life changes.
• Assess whether the emerging adult is given multiple chances at success. Resist the urge to unsuccessfully discharge individuals early in the program.
• Ensure the clinical needs are clearly outlined in the comprehensive case plan and that participants are matched to age-appropriate services. Failing to match participants to appropriate services can be harmful and is setting individuals up for failure.
• Stress the voluntary nature of treatment court, how the individual can experience choice and agency, and how participating in the program can benefit them specifically.

Written by: Sally MacKain, Ph.D., LP, NTCRC Director of Clinical Treatment, and Kristen DeVall, Ph.D., NTCRC Co-Director