The first study focused on drug courts in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Butte counties and found that the courts saved about $200,000 a year for each of the study's 100 participants. The study further estimated the courts could save the criminal justice system as much as $18 million a year.

The second study was by the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs and the Administrative Office of the Courts. It found that arrest rates declined 85 percent, conviction rates 77 percent and incarceration rates 83 percent. Additionally, 70 percent of participants had jobs when they left the program, versus 38 percent prior, and 96 percent of the 132 babies born to program participants were drug free at birth.

California is also home to Proposition 36, approved by voters in November 2000, which requires that first- and second-time nonviolent drug offenders be sent to treatment programs instead of prison. But drug courts have received growing support from judges and law enforcement officials who view it as a tougher alternative to Prop 36.

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