Introduction and Executive Summary

This report outlines the principal themes and ideas that emerged from two focus group meetings involving drug court practitioners, public health officials, researchers, court managers, and management information system (MIS) experts that were convened during 1997 by the Justice Management Institute (JMI) in cooperation
with the Drug Courts Program Office (DCPO). The first meeting, held March 26-27, 1997, in Washington, D.C., was on Monitoring and Evaluating Drug Courts. The second meeting, conducted September 4-5, 1997, in New York City, was on Drug Court Management Information Systems. These topical areas are obviously closely interrelated, since sound monitoring and evaluation are heavily dependent on the availability of relevant and reliable information about program operations and participant outcomes.

A great deal of ground was covered in the two meetings, and a number of very thoughtful and useful ideas were generated. There was strong consensus on several key points:

1. Monitoring and evaluation of drug courts are critically important functions. Drug court practitioners recognize the importance of these functions, but many drug courts need help -- through education and training, technical assistance, and resource augmentation -- to make effective monitoring and evaluation a reality.

2. There is a substantial amount of basic information that every drug court program should collect and analyze on a regular basis as the foundation for effective program monitoring. A list of the principal types of information needed for monitoring purposes can be found on pages 4-5 of this report. Additionally, a prototype survey form, providing basic descriptive information about drug court programs, has been developed by focus group participants working with the DCPO. It will be completed and submitted with the semi-annual progress reports that drug court grantees are required to submit to DCPO.

3. Evaluation is a particularly troublesome area for many drug court program leaders. They recognize the importance of having methodologically sound evaluations conducted but are also aware of the obstacles to this accomplishment. These include the following:

> Difficulty identifying appropriate comparison groups and, even if such groups can be identified, difficulty obtaining relevant data on the behavior and life circumstances of members of the comparison group -- especially over an extended period of time

> The fact that drug courts are changing rapidly in terms of eligibility criteria, drug testing and treatment regimens, operational procedures, personnel, support services, and other variables

> Lack of a cadre of experienced evaluation researchers who are knowledgeable about both criminal justice and substance abuse treatment

> Lack of resources with which to pay for a methodologically sophisticated evaluation

> Management information systems that lack the capacity to readily provide information needed for evaluation

> Lack of clarity concerning what should be the top priorities for local-level evaluation, especially in view of resource constraints

4. Development of effective drug court management information systems is a top priority issue for drug court practitioners. The management information systems currently in use in most American courts and criminal justice systems do not provide the basic information needed for operational decisionmaking in individual drug court cases, overall management of the drug court's caseload, sound program monitoring, or useful evaluation. However, some drug courts have already undertaken significant MIS development efforts that may have broad applicability. Four examples of locally developed drug court management information systems were demonstrated at the September focus group meeting and prompted a great deal of interest. While none of the four systems met all of the information needs of a full range of drug courts, focus group members felt that they provided a good foundation for further development efforts.

5. The following key characteristics should be incorporated into management information systems supporting drug courts:

> Ability to rapidly record and transmit a wide range of information about individuals subject to the court's authority

> Effective linkage -- integration -- with existing criminal justice, treatment, public health, and social services agency information systems, to enable rapid retrieval and exchange of information between and among courts and other agencies

> Ability to provide comprehensive information about individuals at very early stages of a court case

> Designed to provide information needed for rapid operational decisionmaking in court, at pre-court stages, and during periods of supervision

> Capable of being expanded and modified to meet emerging needs

> User-friendly; suitable for users with widely varying levels of sophistication

> Capable of being easily programmed to provide reports needed for monitoring and evaluation purposes

> Appropriate in scale and cost to the size and scope of the drug court

The remainder of this report is organized in four main sections. Section I summarizes focus group discussions concerning drug court program monitoring, with particular attention to the basic data set developed by focus group participants. Section II focuses on the discussions about evaluation of drug courts, especially the participants' ideas about the different audiences for evaluation and about ways to overcome the obstacles to good evaluation. Section III outlines the discussions about MIS development, with special attention to ideas about how to foster development of effective drug court management information systems. Section IV provides recommendations for follow-up.