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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 10:14 pm
Time: 10:14 pm
Results for drug courts (virginia, u.s.)
1 results foundAuthor: Virginia. Supreme Court Title: Evaluation of Virginia's Drug Treatment Court Programs (Phase 1) Summary: The Office of the Executive Secretary (OES) was awarded a U.S. Department of Justice Grant (# 2002-DC-BX-0034) to conduct comprehensive statewide evaluations of Virginia’s drug court programs. When the grant was awarded in 2002, there were fourteen drug treatment court programs in Virginia. Twelve additional drug treatment court programs have been implemented since that time. Of the current twenty-six operational drug treatment court programs, thirteen are Circuit Court (adult felony) programs, two adult misdemeanor (DUI and misdemeanor drug) drug courts, eight juvenile drug court programs, and three family drug court programs. This report presents the results of two evaluation efforts: (1) a process evaluation reporting myriad facts about program policies and procedures and descriptions of Virginia’s adult, juvenile, and family drug court participants, and (2) an outcome evaluation reporting drug court participant retention rates and graduate and non-graduate (terminated or withdrawn participants) recidivism rates. Also included in the outcome evaluation is an analysis of the severity and chronicity of offenses committed by participants prior to their drug court admittance. Severity and chronicity assessments were conducted to examine whether drug courts accept only “light weight” offenders or more serious and chronic offenders. In the coming year, five other evaluations are planned to give additional information about Virginia’s drug court programs: (1) a quasi-experimental impact study comparing drug court results with the outcomes of drug offenders in matched control groups; (2) qualitative staff and participant assessments of operational drug court programs; (3) a Delphi study of treatment components of Virginia’s drug court programs; (4) a cost assessment study; and (5) a summative analysis of participant variables related to successful drug court outcomes. Each type of drug addiction (alcoholism, crack addiction, narcotics addition, etc.) has different treatment protocols and different rates of success. In addition to differences in treatment needs, participant profiles vary between Virginia’s drug court programs. For example, a post-dispositional program may accept only probation violators who have exhausted other sentencing alternatives and are facing lengthy incarceration. A predispositional drug court may catch addicts earlier in their criminal history. Another drug court may accept homeless people or those with mental illness as well as addiction. Because of the wide variability in participant populations among Virginia’s drug courts, the reader is urged to resist comparing one drug court program with another. Rather than compare programs, it is important to ask the “big picture” questions: (1) do drug courts reduce subsequent drug-fueled crime overall?; (2) what is the longevity of program impact on sobriety and criminal offending?; (3) which program elements increase program success measures of increased retention and reduced recidivism?; and, (4) which participant profiles are most amenable to success in drug treatment courts? Virginia drug court programs require offenders to plead guilty prior to drug court admittance. Some drug court programs are primarily pre-dispositional (facts are found sufficient for conviction, adjudication is deferred pending program outcome, and, with program graduation, admitting charges may be reduced or dismissed) while other programs are primarily post-dispositional (participant is found guilty, sentenced, and drug court success may earn reduction or dismissal of sentence). Newer drug court programs tend to follow the post-dispositional model. Of the operational adult drug court programs, two are predispositional, six are post-dispositional, and seven are a combination of the pre-dispositional and post-dispositional models. Of the 3216 Virginians admitted to adult felony drug court programs between November 1995 and December 2004, a total of 2002 have graduated or are currently enrolled in the programs. The resulting retention rate is 62.25%. Juvenile drug courts have admitted 371 youths. Of this total, 217 have graduated or are currently enrolled resulting in a retention rate of 58.49%. An additional 66 addicted parents have been admitted to Virginia’s family drug treatment court programs. Twenty-seven have graduated or are currently enrolled for a retention rate of 40.9%. Retention is an important benefit of drug court programs. Lower recidivism rates correlate with longer periods of drug treatment. Drug court participants stay in treatment longer and have higher program completion rates than other criminal justiceinvolved addicts who voluntarily enter substance abuse treatment. Virginia drug court participants stay a minimum of twelve months in judicially-supervised treatment programs. Research indicates that addicts who stay in treatment over a year have twice the recovery rates as those who fail to stay in treatment at least a year. National studies indicate that recidivism rates of drug court graduates are half or less than half the recidivism rates of other addicted offenders not participating in drug courts. The 2004 Virginia drug court impact study included 2,056 adult drug court participants. Of these, 647 participants have graduated from a drug court program. Of the total number of graduates, 103 have been arrested for felony offenses after drug court graduation. This represents a statewide felony recidivism rate of 15.9% for adult drug court graduates. There were 59 drug court graduates who had misdemeanor arrests resulting in a misdemeanor recidivism rate of 9.1%. Recidivism rates of drug court non-graduates were also examined. Non-graduates include former drug court participants who withdrew or were involuntarily terminated from drug court programs. Of the total sample of 2,056, 918 former participants are drug court non-graduates. Of these, 303 were arrested for felony offenses after leaving drug court. This results in a felony recidivism rate for non-graduates of 33.0%. There were 72 non-graduates who were arrested for subsequent misdemeanor offenses. This represents a 7.8% misdemeanor recidivism rate for nongraduates. It is apparent that adult drug court graduates have significantly lower felony recidivism than non-graduates. Details: Richmond, VA: Supreme Court of Virginia, 2005(?). 128p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 17, 2013 at: http://leg2.state.va.us/dls/h&sdocs.nsf/fc86c2b17a1cf388852570f9006f1299/82c03793ce42b31785256ec500553b91/$FILE/RD40.pdf Year: 2005 Country: United States URL: http://leg2.state.va.us/dls/h&sdocs.nsf/fc86c2b17a1cf388852570f9006f1299/82c03793ce42b31785256ec500553b91/$FILE/RD40.pdf Shelf Number: 128395 Keywords: Drug Courts (Virginia, U.S.)Drug OffendersProblem Solving Courts |