Moving From Efficacy to Effectiveness: Implementing the Drug Market Intervention Across Multiple Sites

In 2012, the editors of Criminology & Public Policy (CPP) published an exchange about the Drug Market Intervention (DMI) in High Point, NC, concluding that it may be a promising approach to crime control but questioning whether it could be implemented across different settings. In responding to this concern, the current evaluation of the subsequent attempt to implement DMI in seven sites determined that three sites were unable to implement the DMI; and implementation fidelity varied across the four sites that did implement DMI. Of the four sites that held at least one call-in, only one was successful in reducing overall crime and drug crime (by 28 percent and 56 percent, respectively). This brings the DMI implementation rate to 57 percent, with an average overall crime reduction of 16 percent (treatment on the treated) or 4 percent (intent to treat). The authors conclude that these findings demonstrate the importance of replication and the careful study of implementation fidelity prior to wide dissemination. (Publisher abstract modified)