by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam - The Government Accountability Office recently released a report that found that drug courts help reduce recidivism, but the Department of Justice could enhance future performance measure revision efforts. The GAO analysis found that drug court program participants were generally less likely to be re-arrested than their counterparts who went through criminal court.

Guam's Adult Drug Court was recognized for its success. Court policy, planning and communications director Josh Tenorio said, "We only have between a 5% and 6% recidivism rate, which is an exceptional rate and earlier this year our program was evaluated by national folks and we've come out, but we have areas we want to improve."

Tenorio says Guam has a tremendous drug problem and the Judiciary and law enforcement are trying to identify more ways to aide in the long-term treatment and care of individuals with drug problems.