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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 10:42 pm
Time: 10:42 pm
Results for dwi courts
1 results foundAuthor: Zil, Charlene E. Title: South St. Louis County DWI Court, St. Louis County, MN: Process, Outcome, and Cost Evaluation Summary: WI courts are complex programs designed to deal with some of the most challenging problems that communities face. These courts bring together multiple and traditionally adversarial roles plus stakeholders from different systems with different training, professional language, and approaches. They take on groups of clients that frequently have serious substance abuse treatment needs. Adults with substance abuse issues involved in the criminal justice system must be seen within an ecological context; that is, within the environment that has contributed to their attitudes and behaviors. This environment includes their neighborhoods, families, friends, and formal or informal economies through which they support themselves. The DWI court must understand the various social, economic, mental health, and cultural factors that affect their participants. In late 2011, NPC Research was contracted by the State of Minnesota's Department of Public Safety, Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) to conduct an assessment of Minnesota's DWI courts and to determine the work necessary and the feasibility of performing process, outcome, and cost evaluations in these programs. The overall goal of the DWI court project is to have a credible and rigorous evaluation of Minnesota's DWI courts. In June 2012, it was decided to move forward with a full evaluation including a detailed process evaluation and outcome evaluation in all nine of Minnesota's DWI court programs and a cost benefit evaluation in seven of these pro-grams. This is the site-specific report for the South St. Louis County DWI Court (SSLC). The SSLC was implemented in February 2008. The program is designed to take 12 to 24 months to complete and takes pre-plea, post-plea/pre-conviction, and post-conviction participants. All offenders must be in the post-adjudication stage upon phase advancement and cannot graduate if not in that stage. The general program population consists of repeat DWI offenders, with gross misdemeanors and felonies accepted into the program. Process Evaluation Summary. The SSLC has been responsive to the community needs and strives to meet the challenges presented by substance-dependant individuals. This program is demonstrating exemplary practices within each of the 10 Key Components of Drug Courts and the 10 DWI Court Guiding Principles including having a dedicated, collaborative, team with members from all key agencies (a law enforcement representative, prosecutor, defense attorney, probation, treatment, coordinator, and judge); a focus on regular training on the drug court model and other relevant topics for the team; a swift referral process; the use of evidence-based treat-ment models, rapid results from drug testing; a random and fully observed drug testing process; a judge who has been with the program long term (well over 2 years); and good communication among the team with a coordinated response to participant behavior. Although this program is functioning well, NPC's review of program operations resulted in some recommendations for program enhancements, which the program has already begun work on implementing. These recommendations included: Modify the current team member Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) to include language about the use and disclosure of protected health information at staffing sessions. Protected health information, particularly around the topic of participant re-lapse, may need to be disclosed by treatment providers at staffing sessions so that the team can make an appropriate and informed decision regarding incentives and sanctions for the participant. - Continue to assess transportation needs of participants and look for resources to provide transportation to those participants who need it. Team members noted significant challenges in providing transportation to participants. - Reevaluate the required length of sobriety to help make program completion a more realistic goal for participants. The SSLC requires that all participants complete 300 days of sobriety in order to graduate. Although there is a clear relationship that indicates the longer a person remains clean (as shown through negative drug tests) the less likely he/she will be to relapse, there are diminishing returns to the participant remaining in the program for an extended length of time (Carey et al., 2005). - Increase the focus on rewards for participants who are doing well. The SSLC has identified the need to provide more meaningful incentives to their DWI court participants. The SSLC currently provides a wide range of intangible rewards, such as praise from the judge and applause for participants, but only occasionally provides tangible re-wards, such as gift cards or tickets to sports games. Focus group participants mentioned the value of overnight passes. The team might consider raffling off or awarding overnight stays or similarly valued rewards for positive behaviors or advancement in the program. - Consider holding graduation ceremonies separate from the drug court hearing or implementing practices that would make them more distinct from regular drug court hearings. Graduations provide an opportunity for community partners to witness DWI court program successes. Inviting community partners to observe and participate in graduations is a low-cost way to highlight the effectiveness of the program and garner interest for continued and future involvement with the program. - Apply to be a DWI Academy Court. Based on the success of its operations, its commitment to best practices, and its strong team, we recommend that the SSLC apply to the National Center for DWI Courts in the next round of applications to be a NCDC DWI Academy Court. Outcome Evaluation Summary. The outcome analyses were primarily performed on SSLC participants who entered the DWI court program from February 1, 2008, to August 23, 2012, and a matched comparison group of offenders eligible for DWI court but who received the traditional court process rather than SSLC. The study groups were tracked for 2 years from program entry. Outcomes measured included graduation rate, rearrests with associated charges (including new DWI charges), crashes, and license reinstatements. The results of the outcome analysis for the SSLC were positive. Figure A illustrates the rearrest rates over a 3-year period for graduates, all participants and the comparison group. (Graduates should not be compared directly to the comparison group as the two groups are not equivalent.) Compared to offenders who experienced traditional court processes, the SSLC participants (re-gardless of whether they graduated from the program) had: - 3 times fewer rearrests for any charge in Year 1 - 66% fewer rearrests, and 66% fewer new DWI arrests 3 years after program entry - Half as many victimizations (person and property arrests) 2 years after entry - 60% fewer felony arrests 2 years after entry Overall the data showed that DWI court participants were rearrested less often than the comparison group, despite the fact that the DWI court group had more offenders with felony DWI arrests than the comparison group. Moreover, and of particular interest, high-risk participants (individuals with three or more prior arrests) had the highest reductions in recidivism (showing the greatest benefit from this program), while lower risk participants (those with two or fewer prior arrests) show little reductions in recidivism. Details: Portland, OR: NPC Research, 2014. 128p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 30, 2015 at: http://npcresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/St-Louis-County-DWI-Court-Process-Outcome-and-Cost-Report-FINAL-FOR-OTS1.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://npcresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/St-Louis-County-DWI-Court-Process-Outcome-and-Cost-Report-FINAL-FOR-OTS1.pdf Shelf Number: 137176 Keywords: Alternatives to IncarcerationDriving Under the InfluenceDrugged DrivingDrunk DrivingDWI CourtsProblem-Solving CourtsRecidivism |