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Perspectives on the Drug Court Model Across Systems: A Process Evaluation

Drug courts have been in existence since 1989, yet few process evaluations have appeared in the literature to help inform the discussion about their effectiveness. This article reports findings from a process evaluation of a drug court program in San Mateo, California. The evaluation was designed to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of psychoactive drugs 2004-09, Vol.36 (3), p.379-386
Main Authors: Wolfe, Ellen L., Guydish, Joseph, Woods, William, Tajima, Barbara
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Drug courts have been in existence since 1989, yet few process evaluations have appeared in the literature to help inform the discussion about their effectiveness. This article reports findings from a process evaluation of a drug court program in San Mateo, California. The evaluation was designed to document the history of the program, to examine program strengths and areas of improvement, to assess the roles and relationships among the various agencies involved and to describe the impact of the drug court on the justice and drug treatment systems. Methods included review of available drug court program documents, interviews with key stakeholders, and focus groups with drug court participants. The main findings were: support for the continuation of drug court, enhanced collaboration among all agencies, and an increased awareness of the needs of substance-using clients in the criminal justice system. Potential lessons for other drug courts include the importance of building strong collaborations and maintaining good communication, recognizing competing interests in developing procedures for drug court, and considering changes in eligibility criteria as experience with the drug court model expands.
ISSN:0279-1072
2159-9777
0279-1072
DOI:10.1080/02791072.2004.10400037