National Evaluation of Operation Drug Test, 1998-1999
Description
This study is an evaluation of Operation Drug TEST (ODT), a
pretrial intervention program that was implemented in fiscal year 1997
in 25 of the 94 federal judicial districts in the United States. The
name of the program, "TEST," is both a reference to testing and an
acronym representing the program's three objectives: (1) Testing to
identify drug-involved defendants before their first court appearance,
(2) Effective Sanctions when defendants on release were found to be
using drugs, and (3) Treatment referrals for drug-using defendants, as
needed. The program was based on the view that drug testing, when
closely linked to sanctions and treatment placements in response to
ongoing drug use, can reduce drug use among defendants on pretrial
release. The overall goal of the program was to deter drug use and its
adverse consequences among defendants on pretrial release. The
purposes of the evaluation were to describe the process of program
implementation and to document ODT's impact on sanctioning and
treatment. Data for this evaluation were gathered from official
records collected from the ODT database, which was maintained by the
Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC). Parts 1 and
2 contain data from fiscal year 1998 for initial drug tests and
subsequent drug tests, respectively. Data from fiscal year 1999 (Parts
3 and 4) were divided into two groups, depending on the model of ODT
implementation and the stage at which initial drug testing took place.
DOJ and AOUSC determined that districts could choose to implement the
program under either of two models. Model 1 (Part 3) followed the
original concept, namely, initial testing at the pre-bail stage. In
Model 2 (Part 4), the initial test was to occur as soon as possible
after the defendant's first court appearance, if he/she was being
released, but before release into the community. Variables unique to
Part 1 include date of birth, arrest date, initial hearing date,
hearing date, decision date, and release date. Variables for all parts
include the district name, its circuit and office, which model a
defendant conformed to, current or prior drug charges, and drug
history. Additional variables for all parts include whether the
defendant tested positive for amphetamines, cocaine, cannabis,
opiates, PCP, and other drugs, whether testing had increased, type of
test administered, if treatment was added or had increased, whether a
test was taken by pretrial services or by a contractor, and if by
pretrial services, where it was taken, testing devices used, whether
an outside laboratory was used, and if results were reported to the
court.
Resources
| Name |
Format |
Description |
Link |
|
0 |
ICPSR03259.v1 |
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR03259.v1 |
Tags
- treatment-compliance
- program-evaluation
- drug-testing
- pretrial-intervention
- pretrial-release
- pretrial-procedures
- drug-treatment
- drug-abuse