Three felony courts -- in Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Miami -- were studied in terms of how they implemented a particular type of reform and the likelihood that the reform was achieving the intended effects. The analysis of each court was based on four samples of at least 100 cases each; samples included drug cases filed in the court approximately 1 year before the given court strategy began, drug cases filed after the program began, and nondrug cases filed both before and after program implementation. A measure of time to disposition was developed using data related to charge, case disposition and sentence, arrest date, filing data, disposition or sentence date, and subsequent case filings. In addition, the analysis employed two measures of recidivism. The results indicated that faster processing of drug cases is possible using case management strategies that do not segregate drug cases. However, segregating drug cases and adopting case management strategies may lead to speedier disposition. The analysis showed that lenient sentences are often associated with quicker dispositions. Drug cases can be given priority without building up a backlog of other types of cases. Finally, drug treatment was not an effective way of reducing recidivism rates. 7 tables, 6 figures, 2 notes, and 10 references