Print | E-mail

 

NIJ's Multisite Adult Drug Court Evaluation

Research to Practice Initiative

The Adult Drug Court Research to Practice Initiative promotes the dissemination of emerging research on drug courts.

NIJ funded an unprecedented drug court evaluation called the Multisite Adult Drug Court Evaluation (MADCE).

On this page find:

• Description of the Evaluation
• Research Questions
• Data Collection
• Results From the Evaluation

Description of the Evaluation

This five-year longitudinal process, impact and cost evaluation of adult treatment drug court programs employed a hierarchical model and sampled nearly 1,800 drug court and non-drug-court probationers from 29 rural, suburban and urban jurisdictions across the United States.

The sample includes 23 drug courts and six comparison groups in eight states: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina and Washington.

A conceptual framework for this study, similar in layout to a program logic model, conveys how resources are invested or input to generate activities designed to produce program outputs.

The framework proposes that program activities collectively will result in immediate or short-term outcomes for the participants, typically measured while they are in the program. The expectation then is that program participation will result in long-term outcomes, which include changes in drug use, criminal behavior and other functions.

Research Questions

The MADCE study addresses several research questions:

• What is the impact of adult drug courts on alcohol and other drug use, criminal recidivism, employment and other functional outcomes?
• What community, program and offender characteristics predict these short- and long-term outcomes?
• How do changes in short-term outcomes — such as offender perceptions and attitudes — mediate the impact of programs on long-term outcomes?
• Are there cost savings attributable to drug court programs?

Data Collection

Data from MADCE include:

• Three waves of interviews using Computer Assisted Personal Interview technology.
• Administrative records on treatment and recidivism and drug detection tests for offenders.
• Court observation and interviews with site staff and other stakeholders.
• Detailed budget and other information for cost studies.

Results From the Evaluation

NIJ does not exercise control over external Web sites. Read our Exit Notice.

The findings from NIJ's Multi-site Adult Drug Court Evaluation are available in the following executive summary and reports as well as in presentations at professional conferences.

Publications

• What Have We Learned from the Multisite Adult Drug Court Evaluation? Implications for Practice and Policy (pdf, 8 pages), by Rossman, S.B. and J.M. Zweig, National Association fo Drug Court Professionals, May 2012.
• The Multi-site Adult Drug Court Evaluation: Executive Summary (pdf, 16 pages), by Rossman S.B., J. Roman, J.M. Zweig, M. Rempel, C. Lindquist. Urban Institute, June 2011.
• The Multi-site Adult Drug Court Evaluation: Study Overview and Design — Volume 1 (pdf, 293 pages), by Rossman S.B., J. Roman, J.M. Zweig, M. Rempel, C. Lindquist. Urban Institute, June 2011.
• The Multi-site Adult Drug Court Evaluation: What's Happening with Drug Courts? A Portrait of Adult Drug Courts in 2004 — Volume 2 (pdf, 143 pages), by Rossman S.B., J. Roman, J.M. Zweig, M. Rempel, C. Lindquist. Urban Institute, June 2011.
• The Multi-site Adult Drug Court Evaluation: The Drug Courts Experience — Volume 3 (pdf,140 pages), by Rossman S.B., J. Roman, J.M. Zweig, M. Rempel, C. Lindquist. Urban Institute, June 2011.
• The Multi-site Adult Drug Court Evaluation: The Impact of Drug Courts — Volume 4 (pdf, 367 pages), by Rossman S.B., J. Roman, J.M. Zweig, M. Rempel, C. Lindquist. Urban Institute, June 2011.

Presentations

• National Association of Drug Court Professionals, July 2011
  • Findings and Implications of NIJ's Multi-Site Adult Drug Court Evaluation (MADCE), by M. Rempel and  J.M. Zweig
• 2010 American Society of Criminology Conference, November 17-20, 2010
  • Net Benefits of Drug Court (pdf, 16 pages), by P. Mitchell Downey and John K. Roman of the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center.
  • Do Adult Drug Courts Work? Drugs, Crime and Other Psychosocial Outcomes (pdf, 28 pages), by Dana Kralstein of the Center for Court Innovation with Michael Rempel and Mia Green of the Center for Court Innovation and Shelli Rossman and P. Mitchell Downey of RTI International.
  • How Do Drug Courts Work? (pdf, 22 pages), by John Roman, Jennifer Yahner and Janine M. Zweig of the Urban Institute.
  • Drug Court Policies and Practices and How They Relate to Offender Outcomes (pdf, 46 pages), by Janine M. Zweig of the Urban Institute Justice Policy Center with Christine Lindquist of RTI International and Mitchell Downey, John Roman and Shelli Rossman of the Urban Institute.
• 2010 NIJ Conference
  • Do Adult Drug Courts Work? National Results from the Multi-Site Adult Drug Court Evaluation (MADCE), by Mia Green and Mike Rempel of the Center for Court Innovation.
  • Drug Court Policies, Practices: How are They Related to Participant Outcomes? Preliminary Results, by Christine Lindquist, Janine M. Zweig, P. Mitchell Downey, John Roman and Shelli B. Rossman of RTI International.
  • How do Drug Courts Work? by John Roman, Jennifer Yahner, Janine M. Zweig and Ritadhi Chakravarti of the Urban Institute.
• NADCP 16th Annual Training Conference
  • Drug Court Policies, Practices, and Offenders' Program Experiences, by Janine M. Zweig, P. Mitchell Downey, John Roman and Shelli B. Rossman of the Urban Institute.
  • The Impact on Drug Use and Other Psychosocial Outcomes: Results from NIJ's Multi-Site Adult Drug Court Evaluation, Part I, by Dana Kralstein, Mike Rempel and Mia Green from the Center for Court Innovation.
  • The Impact on Criminal Behavior and Participant Attitudes: Results from NIJ's Multi-Site Adult Drug Court Evaluation, by Mike Rempel, Mia Green and Kelli Henry from the Center for Court Innovation.