Program Outcomes
- Adult Crime
- Delinquency and Criminal Behavior
Program Type
- Adult Crime Prevention
- Drug Court/Teen Court
- Drug Prevention/Treatment
Program Setting
- Adult Corrections
- Mental Health/Treatment Center
- Transitional Between Contexts
Continuum of Intervention
- Indicated Prevention (Early Symptoms of Problem)
Age
Gender
Race/Ethnicity
Endorsements
- Blueprints: Promising
- Crime Solutions: Promising
Program Information Contact
Gray Barton, Director
Office of Problem-Solving Courts
Administrative Office of the Courts
2001 E/F Commerce Park Drive
Annapolis, MD 21401
Phone: 410-260-3617
richard.barton@mdcourts.gov
Brief Description of the Program
The Baltimore City Drug Treatment Court is a program for district and circuit court cases that are supervised by the Baltimore City Division of Parole and Probation. District Court cases involve misdemeanor charges, while the Circuit Court deals with felony cases, and these two tracks of entry into Drug Court both occur post-conviction. In other words, clients generally enter the program as a condition of probation. During the evaluation, the Drug Court also received clients on a pre-conviction (diversion) track. In such cases, clients typically enter the program on the condition that their charges would be dropped after successful completion.
To be eligible to participate in the Baltimore Drug Court, individuals must be at least 18 years old, must live in Baltimore City, and must not have any violent offenses (prior or current). Potential clients are informed of the availability of the Drug Court by public defenders. The state's attorney completes record checks to ensure eligibility and meets with the public defender to discuss which individuals would be best served by Drug Court. As a part of this decision making process, individuals complete the Psychopathy Checklist and the Addiction Severity Index, both administered by staff in the Drug Court Assessment Unit. Information regarding drug history, medical history, employment status, and other aspects of the individual's family and social relationships are also collected. Individuals who are recommended for participation, as well as those involved in the decision making process, then appear before the Drug Court judge to discuss the case. The Drug Court judge makes the final decision as to whether or not the individual will be placed in the program.
Program participation involves intensive supervision combined with drug testing, drug treatment, and judicial monitoring over the course of two to three years.
Description of Program
The Baltimore City Drug Treatment Court is a program for district and circuit court cases that are supervised by the Baltimore City Division of Parole and Probation. District Court cases involve misdemeanor charges, while the Circuit Court deals with felony cases, and these two tracks of entry into Drug Court both occur post-conviction. In other words, clients generally enter the program as a condition of probation. During the evaluation, the Drug Court also received clients on a pre-conviction (diversion) track. In such cases, clients typically enter the program on the condition that their charges would be dropped after successful completion.
To be eligible to participate in the Baltimore Drug Court, individuals must be at least 18 years old, must live in Baltimore City, and must not have any violent offenses (prior or current). Potential clients are informed of the availability of the Drug Court by public defenders. The state's attorney completes record checks to ensure eligibility and meets with the public defender to discuss which individuals would be best served by Drug Court. As a part of this decision making process, individuals complete the Psychopathy Checklist and the Addiction Severity Index, both administered by staff in the Drug Court Assessment Unit. Information regarding drug history, medical history, employment status, and other aspects of the individual's family and social relationships are also collected. Individuals who are recommended for participation, as well as those involved in the decision making process, then appear before the Drug Court judge to discuss the case. The Drug Court judge makes the final decision as to whether or not the individual will be placed in the program.
Program participation involves intensive supervision combined with drug testing, drug treatment, and judicial monitoring over the course of about two years. To facilitate intensive supervision, participants must allow probation officers to conduct two home visits per month and meet with them outside the home at least three times per month. As clients progress through treatment, these visits are required less often. Clients also submit verification of employment status once per month.
The frequency of drug testing varies based on which phase of the Drug Court program the client is in. In other words, and similar to probation officer visits, drug testing is required less often as clients progress through the program. During Phase I, clients submit two urine samples per week for three months; in Phase II they submit one sample per week for three months; and in Phase III, once-monthly tests are required for a period of 6 months. After this point, if the client remains in Drug Court, drug tests are conducted only at random until program completion. Most clients finish the program between two and three years after initiation. Prior to establishing the standard schedule, during the early implementation of the program, the testing schedule was somewhat more individualized and less structured, and as described in Gottfredson et al. (2003), this covered a portion of the program evaluation period.
In addition to supervision and testing, clients receive substance abuse treatment services from one of eight possible treatment providers. Three of these treatment programs provide intensive outpatient counseling, two provide methadone maintenance, two provide inpatient care, and one provides transitional housing. Decisions regarding these programs are made based on the type of treatment required, the treatment center's availability, and the treatment center's proximity to the client's residence.
Finally, the judicial status hearings allow a Drug Court judge to monitor a client's progress through the program. These hearings are held once every two weeks and allow the judge to also sanction individual clients based on noncompliance or problematic/lack of progress through treatment. Sanctions typically involve increased contacts with probation officers, increased status hearings, or increased drug testing. Severe violations can result in probation revocation.
Outcomes
Significant program effects for those randomized to Drug Court, relative to controls, on:
- Likelihood of rearrest, in interim (Gottfredson & Exum, 2002; Gottfredson et al., 2003)
- Number of new arrests and new charges, at 12-year follow-up (Kearley, 2017)
Subgroup Details
The majority of participants in Gottfredson and Exum (2002), and subsequent experiments involving the same sample, were Black males. However, the Drug Court is designed for use with both genders and individuals of all ethnic backgrounds.
Risk and Protective Factors
Risk Factors
- Individual: Favorable attitudes towards drug use, Substance use
Brief Evaluation Methodology
From February 1997 to August 1998, referrals from district court, circuit court, and the Alternative Sentencing Unit were randomly assigned to the Drug Court treatment condition or a control condition which consisted of typical intensive supervision probation. A total of 235 participants were randomized, with data collection taking place at baseline, after one and two years of implementation, at three years (posttest), and at 12-year follow-up. Data included information on demographics, prior offenses, and recidivism as assessed through self-reports and official records of rearrest, reconviction, and reincarceration.
References
Banks, D., & Gottfredson, D. C. (2003). The effects of drug treatment and supervision on time to rearrest among drug treatment court participants. Journal of Drug Issues, 33, 385-412.
Banks, D., & Gottfredson, D. C. (2004). Participation in drug treatment court and time to rearrest. Justice Quarterly, 21(3), 637-658.
Gottfredson, D. C., & Exum, M. L. (2002). The Baltimore city drug treatment court: One-year results from a randomized study. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 39(3), 337-356.
Gottfredson, D. C., Kearley, B., Najaka, S. S., & Rocha, C. M. (2005). The Baltimore City drug treatment court: 3-year self-report outcome study. Evaluation Review, 29(1), 42-64.
Gottfredson, D. C., Kearley, B., Najaka, S. S., & Rocha, C. M. (2007). How drug treatment courts work: An analysis of mediators. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 44(1), 3-35.
Gottfredson, D. C., Najaka, S. S., & Kearley, B. (2003). Effectiveness of drug treatment courts: Evidence from a randomized trial. Criminology & Public Policy, 2(2), 171-196.
Gottfredson, D. C., Najaka, S. S., Kearley, B., & Rocha, C. M. (2006). Long-term effects of participation in the Baltimore City drug treatment court: Results from an experimental study. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 2, 67-98.
