Evaluation of the Impact of System-Wide Drug Testing in Multnomah County, Oregon, 1991-1992
Description
The Multnomah County Drug Testing and Evaluation (DTE)
program was established to help clients rid themselves of drug abusing
behavior. To that end, the DTE program provided random, weekly drug
tests to all clients in the program. These urinalysis tests allowed
DTE to monitor each client's compliance with release conditions and
progress in treatment programs, and to intervene appropriately when a
client showed signs of a drug abuse problem. The DTE program
supplemented drug testing with client drug evaluations and treatment
recommendations, which were provided to the client's probation officer
or case manager. This study was a program evaluation of two of DTE's
divisions: the Pretrial Release Supervision Program (PRSP) and the
probation and parole program. The pretrial division was chosen because
it was the first opportunity for the criminal justice system to
supervise and control the drug use of potential DTE clients. The
probation and parole program was selected for three reasons: it was
the largest component of the DTE program, it linked the pretrial and
post-sentence DTE programs, and the experience of this program could
be readily applied to the development of other such programs in other
jurisdictions. The programs were evaluated using administrative data
collected by corrections technicians, case managers, probation and
parole officers, and the DTE central office. Part 1 (Pretrial Data)
variables include dates of entry into and exit from the program,
number of drug tests, number of positive tests for various drugs, type
of offense and arrest date for each offense, and need assessment
rating for medical, employment, legal, family, psychological, and drug
addiction problems. Part 2 (Probation and Parole Data) variables
include a probation or parole indicator, prior drug arrests, prior
non-drug arrests, prior convictions, technical violations, drug use,
and new drug crimes committed during the program. Demographic
variables for both files include age, race, and gender.