WEBINAR

"Procedural Fairness", presented by Kevin Burke, District Judge, Hennepin County, Minnesota, February 10, 2012.

Drug courts have established a solid track record of producing positive outcomes for participants; the challenge for practitioners is to insure that they’re fair as well. The concepts of trust and legitimacy in adult drug courts are explored in this presentation.

"Building Capacity in Adult Drug Courts", presented by Kirstin Frescoln, Consultant, Facilitated Community Solutions, January 18, 2012.

Many drug courts face the ongoing challenge of maximizing the number of appropriate offenders served by their programs. This presentation offers strategies and tools that adult drug courts can use to increase their capacity.

"Data Collection Strategies for Drug Court Systems", presented by Christine Sisario, Director of Technology Programs, Center for Court Innovation, February 16, 2011.

This webinar discusses recommended practices for data collection related to drug court operations, performance measurement, and evaluation needs. This webinar also covers recommendations for data elements needed to support the ongoing tracking of drug court clients in criminal drug court settings, while keeping in mind the need for longer-term project research and evaluation in these courts. Additionally, this webinar addresses the wide variety of technical environments, staffing and budgeting concerns that different court systems confront when designing or purchasing data collection systems.

" Performance Measurement of Drug Courts", presented by Fred Cheesman, Ph.D., Principal Court Research Consultant, National Center for State Courts, January 19, 2011.

This webinar demonstrates how performance measurement can assist drug courts to operate more effectively and efficiently. Performance measurement will be distinguished from other activities which also assess drug court performance, such as outcome and impact evaluations. The theory of performance measurement will be explained. Concrete examples of performance measures, including those developed by the National Drug Court Institute, National Center for State Courts, Center for Court Innovation, and BJA will be provided.

“The Drug Court Experiment at 20 Years: An Overview of Research to Date”, presented by Michael Rempel, Research Director, Center for Court Innovation, November 9, 2010.

Over the past two decades, specialized drug courts have proliferated throughout the United States, becoming a standard element of “business as usual” in many state court systems. This session will review the state of what we know concerning the effectiveness of drug courts in reducing recidivism, drug use, and other social and psychological problems of offenders. The session will also report on which specific drug court techniques produce better or worse outcomes, exploring the role of the drug court judge, drug testing, sanctions for noncompliance, clear legal consequences of graduation and failure, and defendant perceptions of how fairly they were treated during their program experience. Most of what we know concerns adult drug courts, but the session will also underline key findings from the more limited research literatures related to the juvenile and family drug court models.

PLANNING
Drug Court Planning Initiative: Resources Provided by the National Drug Court Institute
Various resources provided by the National Drug Court Institute to assist stakeholders in the planning process, including Case Processing Chart, Core Competencies Guide, Drug Court Cultural, Needs Assessment, Drug Court Media Guide, Mapping Community Resources Exercise, and Policies and Procedures Manual.

Finding the Resources to Help Your Program Thrive: Fact Sheet.
A factsheet detailing successful funding strategies for problem-solving courts. This resource demonstrates how to obtain solid research of potential funding sources, how to publicize your program, and how to put together a compelling funding proposal. Also included are six strategies to sustain problem-solving justice projects.

Mapping Community Resources: Practitioner Tool.
Community mapping is the process of identifying and documenting assets – such as civic associations, social service agencies, schools, and faith organizations – that can serve as potential resources or partners in a problem-solving justice initiative.

Problem-Solving Justice Toolkit by Pamela M. Casey, David B. Rottman, and Chantal G. Bromage. With permission from the National Center for State Courts.
This Toolkit offers a blueprint for using the problem-solving approach, a form of differentiated case management for cases involving recurring contacts with the justice system due to underlying medical and social problems. The Toolkit includes a set of assessment questions to help courts determine the best path to implement a problem-solving approach and a set of implementation steps for courts choosing to implement a formal problem-solving court program such as a community or mental health court.

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OPERATIONS
‘A New Way of Doing Business’: A Conversation about the Statewide Coordination of Problem-Solving Courts. With permission from the Center for Court Innovation.
To guide governments as they think about how to coordinate problem-solving courts on a statewide basis, the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Center for Court Innovation brought together 18 policymakers, researchers, and practitioners in April 2008 for a roundtable on the topic. This paper summarizes their discussion.

Defining Drug Courts: The Key Components. With permission from the National Association of Drug Court Professionals.
This publication explains the 10 Key Components in detail, and outlines the purpose, goals, objectives, and performance benchmarks of each.

Developing and Delivering Incentives and Sanctions by Judge William Meyer (ret.). With permission from the National Drug Court Institute.
A comprehensive guide to the development and implementation of sanctions and incentives in a drug court setting. Additionally, this paper includes ten principles to enhance the probability of meaningful behavior change.

Drug Court Case Management: Role, Function and Utility by Randy Monchick, Ph.D., J.D., Anna Scheyett M.S., M.Phil., M.S.W., L.C.S.W., C.A.S.W.C.M. and Jane Pfeifer, M.P.A. With permission from the National Drug Court Institute.
This monograph describes the role of case management in a drug court setting and overviews the role and key functions of drug court case managers.

Drug Testing in a Drug Court Environment: Common Issues to Address. With permission from the American University, Justice Programs Office.
Designed for drug court program officials, this document is an overview of the most critical topics to address in developing and maintaining a drug testing capability.

Drug Treatment, Managed Care and the Courts: From Conflict to Collaboration by Robert V. Wolf.
A guide for drug court practitioners interested in building collaborative relationships with managed care organizations. The strategies suggested in this paper emphasize the importance of strengthening communication between drug courts and managed care organizations and also urge advocates of drug courts to play an active role in shaping their state's health care policies.

Exploring the Key Components of Drug Courts: A Comparative Study of 18 Adult Drug Courts on Practices, Outcomes and Costs (Executive Summary) by Shannon M. Carey, Michael W. Finigan, and Kimberly Pukstas.
This paper explores how different drug court programs are implementing the 10 Key Components and, in particular, how practices vary across programs. This paper also examines whether and how these practices have impacted participant outcomes and program costs including graduation rate, program investment costs, and outcome costs related to participant criminal justice recidivism.

Fact Sheet – Media Guidelines for Drug Court Coordinators. With permission from the California Administrative Office of the Courts, Center for Families, Children & the Courts.
A brief guide to developing a media relations program for drug courts, including general tips and guidelines for communicating effectively with the media.

Guideline for Drug Courts on Screening and Assessment by Roger H. Peters and Elizabeth Peyton. With permission from the American University, Justice Programs Office.
This guideline is written to help drug courts develop effective policies, procedures, and techniques for screening and assessing treatment needs of drug court participants. It describes the principles and methods of screening and assessment of adult drug court participants, and gives drug courts specific tools and information to establish and sustain screening and assessment processes.

Publicizing Your Program and Its Successes: Fact Sheet.
Ten strategies for communicating drug court success. Includes tips for dealing with the media, communicating to funders, and involving the community in your project.

Solution-Focused Judging Bench Book by Michael S. King, B. Juris, LL.B(Hons), MA, PhD. With permission from the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration.
A bench book for judges presiding in problem-solving courts, and those who wish to apply principles of therapeutic jurisprudence in a traditional court setting.

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TECHNOLOGY
National Center for State Courts Statewide Technical Assistance Bulletin, Volume 3, February 2005, Information Collection, Storage, and Use for Drug Courts: Developing a Statewide System. With permission from the National Center for State Courts.
This bulletin provides guidance and recommendation regarding the development of statewide drug court case management systems.

Therapeutic Justice Statewide Database by the Alaska Judicial Council. With permission from the Alaska Judicial Council.
Design for a statewide, web-based database for the court system, to be used by all therapeutic and problem-solving courts. The report includes a description of current data collection efforts, a discussion of possible barriers to data collection, a consideration of legal and confidentiality issues, proposed data elements, flowcharts, a discussion of incentives and sanctions, and brief descriptions of national guidelines for the therapeutic court databases.

Treatment Application. With permission from the Center for Court Innovation.
An interactive guide to the treatment application developed for the Brooklyn Treatment Court by the Center for Court Innovation.

Improving Outcomes Through Better Data Tracking by Christine Sisario.
An article that describes how New York State is adapting technology from problem-solving courts and integrating into courts statewide.

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EVALUATION
Action Research: Using Information to Improve Your Drug Court by Michael Rempel.
A practical guide for drug court administrators and staff reporting how they can use data productively to monitor their operations, measure key performance indicators, identify areas of success, and bring to light problem areas or ways to improve.

California Drug Court Statewide Cost Study: Preliminary Findings in 25 Sites (2009 powerpoint) by Shannon Carey, Ph.D. With permission from NPC Research, Inc.
Presented at the 2009 National Association of Drug Court Professionals Annual Training Conference, Anaheim, California

Critical Elements to Consider for Methodologically Sound Impact Evaluations of Drug Court Programs by Charles Michael Johnson and Shana Wallace. With permission from the National Drug Court Institute.
This article guides drug-court practitioners in developing methodologically sound impact evaluations of drug courts.

Drug Court Review, Volume V, Issue 2, Special Research Edition. With permission from the National Drug Court Institute.
This issue of the Drug Court Review is a special research edition, closely examining such pertinent issues as performance measurement, process evaluation, and recidivism analysis under the broad structure of a national research agenda. Continued refinement of drug court research, both through program evaluation and exploration of the drug court process, is critical for the advancement of the field.

Evaluating Your Program: Practitioner Tool.
A practitioner resource for research and evaluation to help problem-solving criminal justice initiatives monitor their services, assess whether they’re achieving their goals, and identify areas for improvement.

Getting the Most Out of Your Evaluation (2009 powerpoint presentation). With permission from NPC Research, Inc.
Presented at the 2009 National Association of Drug Court Professionals Annual Training Conference, Anaheim, California

Local Drug Court Research: Navigating Performance Measures and Process Evaluations by Cary Heck, Ph.D. With permission from the National Drug Court Institute.
This report promotes quality research at all levels for drug courts by providing a uniform and manageable data collection and evaluation strategy for local programs through the work performed by the National Research Advisory Committee.

National Center for State Courts Statewide Technical Assistance Bulletin, Volume 2, October 2004: Developing Statewide Performance Measures for Drug Courts. With permission from the National Center for State Courts.
This Statewide Technical Assistance Bulletin is dedicated to the development of performance measures for statewide drug court systems.

National Center for State Courts Statewide Technical Assistance Bulletin, Volume 6, October 2008, Performance Measurement of Drug Courts. With permission from the National Center for State Courts.
This Statewide Technical Assistance Bulletin updates the volume published in 2004 that described the methodology used by the National Center for State Courts to develop Statewide Performance Measurement Systems for the drug courts of several states. This bulletin includes updated information and recent innovations in the area of drug court performance measurement.

National Institute of Justice, Drug Courts: The Second Decade, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice (2006) NCJ 211081. With permission from the U.S. Department of Justice.
This compendium presents findings from several recent studies that speak to the concerns of practitioners and policymakers about “what works.” Sometimes the studies confirm what previous research has found, and sometimes they raise more questions than they answer. But in every instance, they contribute to the slowly building base of knowledge about “the drug court effect.”

Recidivism 101: Evaluating the Impact of Your Drug Court by Michael Rempel.
A plain-language discussion written either for practitioners or for researchers new to the drug court field of the key methodological questions that must be addressed in any recidivism analysis. This paper was motivated by the reality that while producing reductions in recidivism is a universal drug court goal, court administrators and staff are routinely uncertain how to go about obtaining a valid recidivism analysis.

The State of Drug Court Research: Moving Beyond ‘Do They Work?’ by Amanda B. Cissner and Michael Rempel.
An overview of the drug court research literature written for practitioners and researchers alike. This review assesses what we know now concerning both whether drug courts work, including their effects on recidivism, drug use, and cost savings. It also discusses how and for whom they work, including which components of the model are most important and how those components should be implemented to maximize effectiveness.

Using Data to Build Your Program: Fact Sheet.
Because problem-solving justice initiatives are designed to build stronger connections between citizens and the justice system, performing a community needs assessment is usually a top priority for any new problem-solving program. This step-by-step guide demonstrates how to conduct a community needs assessment.

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INSTITUTIONALIZATION
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel: Lessons from Problem-Solving Courts by Robert V. Wolf.
A review of nine practical strategies to break down the conceptual (and in some cases practical) barriers that separate specialized courts from traditional courts.

Ensuring Sustainability For Drug Courts: An Overview of Funding Strategies by Dennis A. Reilly, Esq. and Atoundra Pierre-Lawson, Esq. With permission from the National Drug Court Institute.
The National Drug Court Institute has developed this publication to assist courts in creating a sustainability plan that moves past initial implementation into long-term viability. The monograph presents a series of drug court sustainability strategies developed by drug courts throughout the United States, with a focus on monetary sustainability of courts. The report also details strategies to sustain capacity building, educational efforts, and leadership development.

Institutionalizing Drug Courts: A Focus Group Meeting Report by Susan Tashiro, Victoria Cashman, and Barry Mahoney. With permission from the Justice Management Institute.
This report outlines the principal themes and ideas that emerged from a focus group meeting on institutionalizing drug courts that was held in Denver, Colorado, in May 2000. The meeting, convened by the Justice Management Institute in cooperation with the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, called on the experience and expertise of 35 participants drawn from a broad range of courts and other institutions and organizations involved in or affected by the work of drug courts.

National Center for State Courts Statewide Technical Assistance Bulletin, Volume 1, October 2003, Needs Assessment Survey Results. With permission from the National Center for State Courts.
This publication documents the results of a comprehensive Needs Assessment Survey administered to representatives from state- and territorial-level agencies in an effort to assess the statewide needs of drug courts. The Survey identified issues of greatest concern to state court systems and alcohol and drug abuse agencies.

National Center for State Courts Statewide Technical Assistance Bulletin, Volume 4, March 2005, Crafting A Plan: Sustaining Indiana’s Drug Courts. With permission from the National Center for State Courts.
An overview of the National Center for State Courts’ technical assistance work with Indiana Judicial Center (IJC) staff to map a multifaceted process for obtaining needed support and funding of the state’s drug courts.

Painting the Current Picture: A National Report Card on Drug Courts and Other Problem
Solving Court Programs in the United States, Vol. 1 No. 1 by C. West Huddleston, III, Judge Karen Freeman-Wilson (ret.), and Donna L. Boone, Ph.D. With permission from the National Drug Court Institute.
The National Drug Court Institute released this report on the impact and effectiveness of drug courts in 2004. The report summarizes research demonstrating the benefits of drug court programs, such as reduced criminal recidivism, savings for taxpayers, and increased retention in and affordability of treatment.

Painting the Current Picture: A National Report Card on Drug Courts and Other Problem
Solving Court Programs in the United States, Vol. 1 No. 2 by C. West Huddleston, III, Judge Karen Freeman-Wilson (ret.), Douglas B. Marlowe, J.D., Ph.D. and Aaron Roussell. With permission from the National Drug Court Institute.
The National Drug Court Institute released this report on the impact and effectiveness of drug courts in 2005. The report summarizes research demonstrating the benefits of drug court programs, such as reduced criminal recidivism, savings for taxpayers, and increased retention in and affordability of treatment.

Painting the Current Picture: A National Report Card on Drug Courts and Other Problem
Solving Court Programs in the United States, Vol. 2 No. 1 by C. West Huddleston, III, Douglas B. Marlowe, J.D., Ph.D. and Rachel Casebolt. With permission from the National Drug Court Institute.
The National Drug Court Institute released this report on the impact and effectiveness of drug courts in 2008. The report summarizes research demonstrating the benefits of drug court programs, such as reduced criminal recidivism, savings for taxpayers, and increased retention in and affordability of treatment.

The Future of Drug Courts: How States are Mainstreaming the Drug Court Model by Aubrey Fox and Robert V. Wolf.
A look at how four states – Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio and New York – are attempting to integrate drug courts into their statewide court systems.

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