I. Drug Court Program Monitoring
and Process Evaluations

Program monitoring is closely related to evaluation, but it is not the same thing. Monitoring is fundamentally a management activity. Effective leaders of a program monitor the program's operations to ensure that the program stays on course and that operational procedures are revised if necessary. Monitoring data should enable program managers to describe the scope of the program and its major activities, assess operations and performance in relation to goals, identify potential problems and make any necessary changes, and use available resources effectively. Effective monitoring should enable program managers to answer the following key questions:

Target population: What is the drug court's target population? To what extent is that population being reached, as evidenced by relevant characteristics of the drug court participants (e.g., current charge, prior record, nature and severity of substance abuse problem, race, age, and gender)? How do drug court participants compare to defendants not in drug court with respect to these characteristics?

Use of testing and treatment resources: How frequently are participants tested for specific types of drugs? What treatment services are provided? What specific treatment modalities are used for participants with particular types of addictions or substance abuse problems? To what extent, and under what circumstances, does the drug court use residential treatment services?

Retention in program: To what extent is the drug court successful in retaining participants in the program (and in treatment), as evidenced by the number of persons (a) accepted into the program; (b) graduated; (c) currently active (and length of time in program); and (d) terminated?

Impact on criminal behavior: To what extent have program participants been arrested on new charges while they are active in the program? When participants have been arrested, what are the types of charges (e.g., drug possession, traffic infraction, violent offense)? How many arrests (and on what types of charges) have occurred after graduation? To what extent have drug court participants remained arrest-free after their admission to the program?

Impact on substance abusing behavior: What do drug test results show concerning the use of drugs by program participants during different phases of the program? Do the data show trends that evidence progress by participants in overcoming their dependence on drugs?

Impact on participants' life circumstances: To what extent has the program succeeded in enhancing participants' capacity to function in the community? Enhancing their educational levels? Job skills? Actual employment? Physical health? To what extent have program participants been able to be reunited with families from whom they had been separated because of their drug problems? How many drug-free babies have been born to program participants?

To answer these types of questions, drug courts must maintain or have ready access to a considerable amount of information about individuals and must be able to aggregate relevant data in appropriate categories at reasonably frequent intervals. The information needed for monitoring purposes should be obtainable from the records used in the program's day-to-day operations, including records of screening activities, assessments, drug court dockets, treatment progress reports, drug test results, and criminal history "rap sheets." Optimally, program managersshould be able to review reports that aggregate and present this type of information in easy-to-read report formats at least once a month. They should also be able to generate ad hoc reports that provide relevant information on all of the topics listed above and many others as well. Unfortunately, that is not generally the case. Sometimes the information is simply not in the files. More often, the information is in the possession of the program, but not easily retrievable in a usable format.

Optimally, drug courts should be able to monitor their own operations internally, routinely producing information that enables them to assess their performance in relation to their goals. Additionally, however, it may be desirable to arrange for a process evaluation to be conducted by an independent -- external -- evaluator. A process evaluation uses much of the same information needed for effective internal program monitoring, focusing mainly on assessing the program's effectiveness in meeting its operational and administrative goals. A process evaluation supplements good internal management and monitoring, providing an independent and objective appraisal of operational performance.

Addressing the question of what types of information drug courts should routinely collect and be able to provide and analyze for purposes of monitoring and process evaluation, a list was developed that expands somewhat on the list contained in the section on program monitoring in the 1997 DCPO publication entitled Defining Drug Courts: The Key Components. It includes the following:

> Number of persons screened for program eligibility

> Number of persons found eligible for the program

> Current charges and criminal histories of persons found eligible

> Number of persons admitted to the program

> Number of eligible persons who were not admitted to the program (Note: If at all possible, the reasons for nonadmission should be obtained and demographic, case, and criminal history information should be collected for these persons, for comparison purposes.)

> Characteristics of persons admitted to the program, including date of arrest, date of admission to the drug court program, age, sex, race/ethnicity, family status, employment status, educational level, current charge(s), criminal justice history, drug use history, alcohol and other drug treatment history, mental health treatment history, medical needs (including
detoxification), and nature and severity of substance abuse problem

> Treatment recommendations (from initial assessment and any follow-up assessments) and record of treatment regimen followed by each participant

> Number of participants currently active in
the program, with appropriate categorization to reflect the number of persons in specific program phases, duration of time in program, principal types of treatment being provided, etc.

> Number and characteristics of persons who successfully complete the program

> Number and characteristics of persons who have been terminated from the program, reasons for termination, and length of time in the program before termination

> Criminal justice sanctions imposed on noncompleters

> Number of participants who fail to appear at drug court hearings and number of bench warrants issued for participants, by stage of participation in the program

> Rearrests during involvement in the drug court program and for a period of at least one year thereafter, and the types of arrests (e.g., drug possession, other nonviolent offense, violent offense)

> Fees, fines, costs, and restitution paid by each participant

> Community service hours provided by each participant

> Drug test histories of each participant while in the drug court program

> Record of attendance and treatment progress for each participant

> Record of program sanctions imposed on each participant in response to positive drug test or other evidence of noncompliance with program requirements

> Principal accomplishments of each participant while in the program (e.g., advancement to new phase, attainment of GED or other educational objective, employment, family reunification, birth of drug-free baby)

> Costs of drug court operations, and the source(s) of funding for each operational component

It is important, if possible, to collect or have access to data on program participants' behavior after their active participation ended, whether by graduation or for other reasons. There are, however, formidable obstacles to collecting much of the kind of information that would be useful to have for postprogram monitoring. For example, once drug court participants have completed the program it is not always feasible to routinely test them for drug use or to obtain information on their employment, family situation, or physical health. It should be possible, however, to check criminal history repositories to learn of new arrests or convictions during a 6-to-24-month period after participation in the drug court has ended.

In addition to having access to monitoring data for internal management purposes, it is important to be able to provide monitoring information, in well-organized form, to external funding sources and others with a legitimate interest in learning about the drug court's operations and performance. Working in collaboration with staff of the DCPO, a number of the focus group participants helped to develop and pilot-test a prototype Drug Court Grantee Data Collection Survey that draws on the data elements outlined above. The survey form, a copy of which is attached to this report as appendix A, can be used by drug courts to describe their programs and their performance in periodic reports to DCPO and other funding sources.