Communities throughout the country have come to realize that drugs and drug-related crimes have a devastating impact on their criminal justice systems. In response to this concern, OJP investigated innovative approaches to address the needs of the substance-abusing offender. Drug courts integrated substance abuse treatment, sanctions, and incentives with case management to place nonviolent drug-involved defendants in judicially supervised rehabilitation programs. The 1994 Crime Act created the drug court program and authorized a technical assistance initiative administered by the Drug Courts Program Office (DCPO). As part of the OJP reorganization, DCPO joined BJA in November 2002. We are committed to continuing that office’s work to strengthen the drug court movement and increase the effectiveness of local drug courts.

Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program

The Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program provides financial and technical assistance to states, local and state courts, units of local government, and American Indian tribal governments to develop and implement treatment drug courts that effectively integrate substance abuse treatment, mandatory drug testing, sanctions and incentives, and transitional services in a judicially supervised court setting with jurisdiction over nonviolent, substance-abusing offenders.

BJA-funded drug court programs are required by law to target nonviolent offenders and must implement a drug court based on either the adult drug court 10 key components or the juvenile drug court 16 strategies. These elements, which are detailed in the documents Defining Drug Courts: The Key Components and Juvenile Drug Courts: Strategies in Practice, respectively, describe the basic elements that define drug courts and provide drug courts with general, practical guidance on how to get established, what to consider, whom to include, and how to proceed. The drug court program supports the following drug court activities: adult drug court implementation, juvenile drug court implementation, family drug court implementation, single jurisdiction drug court enhancement, and statewide drug court enhancement.

The overall goal of the drug court strategy is to build capacity at the local and state levels by:

1. Providing direct funding to local courts to implement or enhance a drug court.

2. Providing an array of training and technical assistance opportunities to implement best practices.

3. Supporting the evaluation of drug courts to demonstrate their effectiveness.

4. Partnering with the drug court field to integrate the drug court movement into the mainstream court system.

Under the first component, BJA awarded approximately $34.3 million in FY 2002 to plan, implement, or enhance a drug court. Ninety-four jurisdictions in 31 states and 2 territories received funding:

• Planning: 10 awards were made for a total of nearly $300,000.

• Implementation: 66 awards were made for a total of nearly $30 million.

• Enhancement: 18 awards were made for a total of more than $4 million.

To implement the second component of the strategy, the National Drug Court Training and Technical Assistance Program helps drug court practitioners plan, implement, and sustain effective drug court programs. It also builds capacity at the local and state levels to provide comprehensive practitioner-based training and technical assistance. In FY 2002, 160 communities attended training on how to implement an adult, a juvenile, a tribal, or a family drug court. From 1995 through 2002, 94 percent of the communities that have attended the training have either implemented a drug court or are currently planning to implement a drug court. BJA also has furthered the goal of integrating drug courts into the mainstream court system by developing a statewide training initiative, which will be implemented in FY 2003.

In support of BJA’s evaluation program, BJA provided the National Institute of Justice with FY 2002 funding to conduct a recidivism study on drug court graduates. The study collected data from 100 of the largest drug courts, randomly selected a representative sample of more than 2,000 graduates, and determined that 1 year after graduation there was only a 16.7 percent rate of recidivism. The final report of the study, Recidivism Rates for Drug Court Graduates: Nationally Based Estimates, was released in July 2003.

In FY 2002, a videotape, “Sixteen Steps,” which describes the 16 strategies or recommendations for a juvenile drug court, was released. The tape teaches communities to adapt the core drug court program to their courts’ unique characteristics and community. Another videotape, “Recovering Lives, Uncovering Hope,” highlights the successful juvenile drug courts of Missoula, Montana; Las Cruces, New Mexico; and San Francisco, California to show viewers how each jurisdiction has a unique way of assessing each offender’s full potential.

Residential Substance Abuse Treatment for State Prisoners Formula Grant Program

The Residential Substance Abuse Treatment for State Prisoners (RSAT) Formula Grant Program assists states and units of local government in developing and implementing residential substance abuse treatment programs within state and local correctional and detention facilities. RSAT programs provide individual and group treatment activities for offenders. Each program must last between 6 and 12 months; provide residential treatment facilities set apart from the general population; focus on the substance abuse problems of the inmate; and develop the inmate’s cognitive, behavioral, social, vocational, and other skills to solve the substance abuse and related problems.

During FY 2002, 56 states and territories received a total of $70 million in RSAT funding. The RSAT Program has funded a number of successful initiatives nationwide. One such initiative is the WINGS therapeutic community program located within the Warm Springs Correctional Center of Carson City, Nevada. This program is based on a biopsychosocial model of addiction recovery. It treats up to 105 inmates at a time, for a period of 9–12 months. The daily regimen includes group and individual counseling, substance abuse education, self-help groups, life-skills development, and release planning.

Methamphetamine/Drug Hot Spots Program

In FY 2000, Congress appropriated money to the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) to assist state and local law enforcement agencies in combating methamphetamine production, distribution, and use and to reimburse the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for properly removing and disposing of hazardous materials from clandestine methamphetamine laboratories. The resulting Methamphetamine/Drug Hot Spots Program is administered by both BJA and COPS, in cooperation with DEA.

The Methamphetamine/Drug Hot Spots Program addresses a broad array of law enforcement initiatives pertaining to the investigation of methamphetamine trafficking in many heavily affected areas of the country. Among the many challenges that law enforcement agencies face are the discovery, interdiction, and dismantling of clandestine drug laboratories. BJA continued to work with each grantee, as well as with the federal partners in this program—DEA and the Environmental Protection Agency—to ensure that hazardous waste cleanup was accomplished in the most effective and efficient ways possible.

In FY 2002, BJA oversaw a total of $6.75 million in grants to 10 designated sites. The Arizona Methamphetamine Program received funding to continue training investigators throughout Arizona to become certified clandestine laboratory investigators. The grantee’s goals are to certify 80 new clandestine laboratory investigators, provide laboratory investigators with the necessary safety and investigative equipment, and offer an advanced class in laboratory investigation to investigators statewide.

The East Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force also received funding in FY 2002. The task force worked with county sheriffs, prosecutors, and local, state, and federal law enforcement officers from 18 counties in eastern Tennessee to provide the training, equipment, and support that law enforcement agents need to fight the producers and traffickers of methamphetamine.

BJA also continued to provide training to law enforcement officers who deal with clandestine methamphetamine laboratory enforcement. Training programs included the Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement Training Program, the Center for Task Force Training Program, and the Clandestine Methamphetamine Laboratory Enforcement Training and Technical Assistance Program.

Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program

In FYs 2001 and 2002, Congress appropriated a total of more than $9 million to OJP to establish an initiative to help prevent and control alcohol and substance abuse in tribal communities. Administered by BJA, the Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program was made available to federally recognized tribes that were interested in competing for federal funds to either develop a comprehensive public safety strategy or enhance an existing plan.

This program has three components. The Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Law Enforcement component focuses on the illegal possession, distribution, and trafficking of alcohol and controlled substances. Law enforcement partnerships and strategies are emphasized to prevent and control illegal activity in tribal communities. The Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services component of the program focuses on breaking the cycle of alcohol consumption, substance abuse, and crime. The third component combines these two efforts. BJA also awarded a grant to a technical assistance provider who will plan and conduct training seminars and help build grantees’ evaluation capacities.

Twenty-five tribal governments were selected in FY 2002 to receive a total of nearly $5 million, with awards made in FY 2003, and one $700,000 award was made to a technical assistance provider. The technical assistance consortium that was identified to provide program services is administered by Fox Valley Technical College of Appleton, Wisconsin, in conjunction with the Northern Plains Indian Law Center of the University of North Dakota, the National Judicial College, and the National Crime Prevention Council.

Center for Task Force Training

BJA developed and implemented the Center for Task Force Training (CenTF) Program in the early 1990s to increase the effectiveness of multijurisdictional narcotics task force management and enforcement efforts throughout the nation. The program’s objectives are to develop and refine curricula, deliver training, produce multimedia resources, and develop and maintain an informational web site and web-based resource center. Currently, the CenTF Program addresses three primary areas: narcotics task force command and management, methamphetamine investigation management, and rave/club drugs awareness.

Narcotics Task Force Workshop. This workshop on multijurisdictional narcotics enforcement operations is a 3-day course designed for commanders of multijurisdictional narcotics task forces and supervisory personnel. This training focuses on the administrative and operational issues unique to multijurisdictional narcotics enforcement efforts and includes the use of practical exercises. In FY 2002, 5 workshops were held by request and were attended by a total of 243 state and local law enforcement officers.

Methamphetamine Investigation Management Workshop. This 3-day workshop is designed for state and local law enforcement officers and addresses the operational aspects of managing methamphetamine investigations and other problems specific to these types of investigations. The training addresses the methamphetamine problem, clandestine labs, manufacturing methamphetamine, first response procedures, investigation techniques, raid issues, child-welfare issues, and information on other commonly manufactured drugs of abuse. In FY 2002, 7 workshops were held by request and attended by a total of 659 state and local law enforcement officers.

Rave/Club Drugs Awareness Seminar. This 1-day seminar for state and local law enforcement officers focuses on a relatively new problem facing law enforcement—the proliferation of synthetic illicit drugs commonly associated with the nightclub or “rave” scene. Training for this program includes information on the rave culture, investigation techniques, and drug and user identification. In FY 2002, 7 classes were held and attended by a total of 711 state and local law enforcement officers.

The CenTF Resource Center is a centralized, secure source of current narcotics investigative information and techniques that is available only to authorized law enforcement agencies and investigators. The CenTF Resource Center was developed in FY 2002 and includes a general information section and an investigative information section that will be available through the Regional Information Sharing Systems (RISS) secure intranet (riss.net). The general information section was implemented in December 2002, and the investigative information section will be available in FY 2003.