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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:08 am
Time: 12:08 am
Results for drunk driving courts
2 results foundAuthor: Taylor, Emily Title: Michigan DUI Courts Outcome Evaluation: Final Report Summary: In the past 18 years, one of the most dramatic developments in the movement to reduce substance abuse among the U.S. criminal justice population has been the implementation of drug courts across the country. The first drug court was established in Florida in 1989. There are now well over 1,500 drug courts operating in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. The purpose of drug courts is to guide offenders identified as drug-addicted into treatment that reduces drug dependence and improves the quality of life for offenders and their families. In the typical drug court program, participants are closely supervised by a judge who is supported by a team of agency representatives that operate outside of their traditional adversarial roles. Addiction treatment providers, prosecuting attorneys, public defenders, law enforcement officers, and parole and probation officers work together to provide needed services to drug court participants. The Michigan Community Corrections Act was enacted in 1988 to investigate and develop alternatives to incarceration. Four years later, in June 1992, the first female drug treatment court in the nation was established in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Since then, Michigan has implemented 75 drug courts, including expanding into further specialized courts (also called “problem solving courts”) for adults, juveniles, family dependency, and DUI offenders. In FY2004, 12 courts in Michigan identified as DUI courts. Of these, 10 were operational and 2 courts were in the early planning phase. SCAO assisted in funding 9 of these courts. At the time this study was proposed, comprehensive outcome evaluation with comparison groups and longitudinal analyses had not been conducted for Michigan DUI courts. Consequently, little was known about the relative effectiveness of these courts in reducing drunk driving or the characteristics that affect client outcomes. SCAO proposed to conduct an outcome evaluation of DUI courts. The evaluation was designed as a longitudinal study that included tracking and collecting data on DUI court participants for a minimum of one year following either program completion or termination from DUI Court and a comparison group of offenders who were eligible for DUI court in the year prior to DUI court implementation. Data were abstracted from several sources including site visits, the Criminal History Records (CHR) database maintained by the Michigan State Police and the Michigan Judicial Warehouse (JDW). All of these data were entered into a database created in Microsoft Access. In 2007, SCAO contracted with NPC Research to perform the data analysis and report writing for three of the DUI courts that participated in this study, Ottawa and Bay County and Clarkston DUI courts. The evaluation was guided by five research questions which were answered by a careful analysis of the data by NPC Research. These questions were: 1. What is the impact of participation in a DUI court on recidivism (re-arrests) compared to traditional court processing? 2. Does participation in DUI court reduce levels of alcohol and other substance abuse? 3. How successful is the program in bringing program participants to completion and graduation within the expected time frame? 4. What participant characteristics predict successful outcomes (program completion, decreased recidivism)? 5. How does the use of resources differ between DUI treatment court versus traditional probation? Details: Lansing, MI: Michigan Supreme Court; Portland, OR: NPC Research, 2008. 67p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 15, 2011 at: http://council.legislature.mi.gov/files/sdtcac/mi_dui_outcome_eval_final_report_0308.pdf Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: http://council.legislature.mi.gov/files/sdtcac/mi_dui_outcome_eval_final_report_0308.pdf Shelf Number: 122371 Keywords: Alternatives to IncarcerationDriving Under the InfluenceDriving While IntoxicatedDrug CourtsDrunk Driving CourtsProblem-Solving Courts (Michigan)Recidivism |
Author: Harrison, Paige M. Title: Otter Tail County DWI Court Fergus Falls, MN. Process, Outcomes, and Cost Evaluation Report Summary: WI courts are complex programs designed to deal with some of the most challenging problems that communities face. DWI courts bring together multiple and traditionally adversarial roles plus stakeholders from different systems with different training, proessional 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 programs. This is the site-specific report for the Otter Tail County DWI Court (OTC-DWI). The OTC-DWI was implemented in February 2008. This program, designed to take 18 months to complete, takes post-conviction participants, but also allows some participants to enter the pro-gram pre-plea (offenders who know they are pleading guilty and want to start the program before their court hearing). The general program population consists of repeat DWI offenders (with two or more DWI offenses) charged in Otter Tail County with a gross misdemeanor or felony level DWI, who are determined substance dependent. Process Evaluation Summary. The OTC-DWI has been responsive to the community needs and strives to meet the challenges presented by substance-dependant individuals. This program is demonstrating some exemplary practices within each of the 10 Key Components of Drug Courts including good communication between team members, rapid results from drug testing, an appropriate range of services, written incentive and sanctions guidelines, and swift response to participant behaviors. The process evaluation did reveal some recommendations that could further enhance program outcomes that the court was considering or was in the process of implementing in our last discussion. These recommendations included the following: - Flexible hours for the probation officer. The probation officer currently works 24 hours per week on a set schedule of every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It is strongly recommended that the probation officer position have flexible hours. This would allow for more random drug testing (especially for the female participants) and allow the probation officer to do more home and workplace visits. - Ensure that the home and workplace visits are truly random and ensure appropriate training for the surveillance position. Participants reported that the visits mostly occur in the evening and they are often able to determine when the visit will occur (or were actually told when the next visit would occur). It is recommended that the OTC-DWI develop procedures to ensure that participants are unable to determine the visit schedule. In addition, due to reports of frequent turnover in the surveillance officer position, it is recommended that guidelines be created for this role and training instituted to ensure that all surveillance officers are following appropriate procedures. - Schedule staffing meetings and court sessions for a recurring day and time when all team members are able to attend. Participant feedback and site visit observations indicated that many team members do not regularly attend court sessions. It is strongly recommended that the staffing meeting and court session be held at a time when all team members are able to regularly attend. - Continue efforts toward getting a defense attorney on the team. It was reported that some public defenders support the program and some do not (because they feel their clients do not receive due process and are better served by taking jail time instead of participating in DWI court). The OTC-DWI has made efforts to reach out to and educate the public defenders about DWI court, but due to a severe lack of funding the public defender office does not have time or resources to participate. - Consider sentencing more offenders into the program, specifically felons and high-risk offenders. It was reported that the option of sentencing an offender into the OTC-DWI is rarely used. It is recommended that the program be explained to all judges and that they consider it among their sentencing options. In addition, the OTC-DWI currently has only two felons in the program, and only four felons have been in the program over the past year. It is recommended that the team make an effort to take on more felons in the program since it is the higher risk offenders who most need the services and intensive supervision provided in the OTC-DWI. Outcome Evaluation Summary. The outcome analyses were primarily performed on OTC-DWI participants who entered the DWI court program from January 2009 through December 2011, and a matched comparison group of offenders eligible for DWI court but who received the traditional court process rather than OTC-DWI. Figure A illustrates the average number at 1 year and 2 years after program entry for OTC-DWI graduates, all OTC-DWI participants, and the comparison group. DWI court participants were rearrested about half as often as comparison group members across both years; this difference was statistically significant in Year 1 (p <.05). The results of the outcome analysis for the OTC-DWI are positive. Overall the data showed few-er average arrests among DWI court participants than the comparison group. While most differences were not statistically significant, some of this is attributable to the small sample size. We recommend the program continue to track participants and perhaps conduct another study several years hence. Cost Evaluation Summary. Although the OTC-DWI is a substantial taxpayer investment, over time it results in significant cost savings and a return on its investment. Recommendations. Based on the outcome and cost evaluation, there are some key possibilities for program adjustments that may improve program outcomes. These include: - Ensuring that the program is targeting high-risk/high-need offenders (e.g., felony DWIs) - Decreasing the frequency of court sessions in Phase 2, or seeing some participants who are doing well less often so that the judge can spend at least 3 minutes per participant and also decrease the costs of court appearances. Details: Portland, OR: NPC Research, 2014. 120p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 28, 2015 at: http://npcresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/MN-DWI-Process-Outcome-and-Cost-Report_Otter-Tail-FINAL-FOR-OTS.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://npcresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/MN-DWI-Process-Outcome-and-Cost-Report_Otter-Tail-FINAL-FOR-OTS.pdf Shelf Number: 137164 Keywords: Alternatives to IncarcerationCost-Benefit AnalysisDriving While IntoxicatedDrugged DrivingDrunk DrivingDrunk Driving CourtsProblem-Solving Courts |