Preliminary analysis of the Northern Territory's illicit drug court diversion program highlights the need to examine lower program completion rates for indigenous clients.

Introduction And Aims: Court drug diversion programs are now available in all jurisdictions in Australia, but there is increasing evidence that such programs have differing success rates for certain client populations, including indigenous clients. This study investigates client characteristics, program completion rates and factors associated with retention, for all 484 clients admitted to the Northern Territory's Court Referral and Evaluation for Drug Intervention and Treatment 12 week illicit drug pre-sentence court diversion program between July 2003 and December 2008.

Design And Method: Client data were collected by court clinicians as part of the face-to-face assessment interview and treatment outcomes were recorded.