About Recovery/Drug Courts
Recovery/Drug Courts are an alternative to incarceration. They combine public health and public safety approaches for people who are at high risk for committing new crimes and who have a high need for treatment and other recovery support services but are unlikely to voluntarily continue these services long enough to benefit. Recovery/drug courts utilize evidence-based practices to provide intensive, supervised probation and mandatory treatment, as well as random drug testing with progress monitored by a supervising probation officer.
Recovery Court operations are overseen by a multidisciplinary team of professionals who work together to assist participants in their path toward recovery from substance use and away from unlawful behavior. Typically, the Recovery Court team is led by a judge, and includes: a probation officer, clinician, coordinator, defense counsel, prosecution, community justice support center team member, and may also include a law enforcement officer. The clinician provides clinical assessments, develops and monitors treatment placements, and identifies ancillary counseling, case management and outreach services. The court team works closely with community-based treatment providers including providers of medications for addiction treatment (MAT).
Throughout the Recovery Court program, participants attend status hearings with a judge. During these status hearings, the judge will monitor participant progress in the program, speaking with individual participants about their recovery, challenges and successes along their journey. Research shows that the dialogue between participants and judges has the greatest positive impact on participants' progress in recovery.
The national organization for specialty courts, All Rise (formerly known as the National Association of Drug Court Professionals), notes that an estimated 85% of the U.S. prison population meet the criteria for substance use disorder or became justice involved for a crime involving drugs or drug use.
*Source: The largest and most comprehensive study on adult recovery/drug courts by the NIJ's Multisite Adult Drug Court Evaluation | National Institute of Justice (ojp.gov)
Find a Recovery/Drug Court near you
The following is a list of Recovery/Drug Court locations. While funding and resource limitations prevent us from having a specialty court session in every District Court and Division of the Boston Municipal Court, it may be an option to transfer your case to a location with a Recovery/Drug Court. If you are considering whether a Recovery/Drug Court is the right option for you, start by talking with your attorney or probation officer.
Massachusetts has 34 adult Recovery/Drug Courts.
The District Court operates 30 adult Recovery/Drug Court sessions in:
- Attleboro
- Barnstable
- Brockton
- Chelsea
- East Brookfield
- Edgartown
- Fall River
- Falmouth
- Fitchburg
- Framingham
- Greenfield
- Haverhill
- Hingham
- Lawrence
- Lowell
- Lynn
- Malden
- New Bedford
- Newton
- Northampton
- Orange
- Pittsfield
- Plymouth
- Quincy
- Salem
- Springfield
- Taunton
- Uxbridge
- Wareham
- Worcester
The Boston Municipal Court holds 4 Recovery/Drug Court sessions in:
If you have a case and want to discuss whether a recovery court is a good option for you, please speak with your defense attorney and/or your probation officer. The Specialty Courts Department does not manage admission to Specialty Courts—that is handled at the local court. For general questions, contact specialty.courts@jud.state.ma.us.
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| Last updated: | May 5, 2025 |
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