Building Better Evidence for Policy and Practice (From Juvenile Drug Courts and Teen Substance Abuse, P 267-277, 2004, Jeffrey A. Butts and John Roman, eds. -- See NCJ-208175)

• NCJ Number: 208183
• Author(s): John Roman; Jeffrey A. Butts
• Date Published: 2004
• Length: 11 pages
• Sale Source: Urban Institute Press
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper considers the significance of juvenile drug court evaluation research for future policy and practice and proposes steps for advancing the quality and applicability of research evidence.

Abstract

The findings of drug court evaluation research to date are sufficiently strong to continue funding for drug courts; however, in the next decade, evaluators must test explicit hypotheses about the impact of various drug court components, not just overall program impact. Some research of this type has begun on adult drug courts. The Treatment Research Institute in Philadelphia has two ongoing studies that are testing the effects of individual drug court components on participant outcomes. Randomized designs are being used to model the effects of different sanctioning strategies and court hearing procedures. Once the findings of such evaluations are available, court practitioners can use them to shape program designs and operations. Once such evaluations are being reported for juvenile drug courts, a national entity should manage juvenile drug court accreditation, backed by a panel of experienced practitioners and researchers. This accreditation body would synthesize and update drug court research, create a theoretically driven and empirically proven juvenile drug court model, use that model to create a set of standards, and determine whether individual juvenile drug courts meet the standards. 4 references