NCJ Number
171138
Date Published
September 1998
Length
50 pages
Annotation
This report presents the best thinking of drug court practitioners and experts regarding the importance of data collection and management information systems to drug court daily operation, as well as to drug court process and impact evaluations.
Abstract
This report outlines the principal themes and ideas that emerged from two 1997 focus group meetings of drug court practitioners, public health officials, researchers, court managers, and management information system experts. There was agreement that monitoring and evaluation of drug courts are critically important, but many drug courts need help in these areas through education and training, technical assistance, and resource augmentation. A list of the principal types of information needed for monitoring purposes is provided in this report. There are a number of obstacles to conducting methodologically sound evaluations of drug courts. They include difficulty in identifying appropriate comparison groups; rapid change in eligibility criteria, drug testing and treatment regimens, and other operational procedures; lack of a cadre of experienced evaluation researchers; lack of resources; and management information systems that lack the capacity to provide information needed for evaluation. This report suggests ways to overcome these obstacles to evaluation, outlines focus-group discussions about the development of management information systems, and provides recommendations for follow-up. Appended drug court grantee data collection survey and participant lists for the two focus group meetings