Drug Court Appraisal

Issues pertaining to the availability of resources were also a concern amongst drug court participants. They were grateful for the resources available through their drug court program but believed there could be more services and other support systems (Farole & Cissner, 2005; Goldkamp et al., 2001). Some of those extra resources wanted by drug court participants were enhanced access to employment, job training, education, transportation and housing services. A good proportion of drug court participants or recent grads have difficulties retaining employment, housing, or even transportation. Some organizations may not want to hire previous substance abusers or rent their homes out to them. For example, Robin Kimbrough Melton, a drug court judge,
With drug courts existing for over 25 years, some of the research presenting tangible results have been scarce. Because the structure of drug courts varies, not all of them are concerned with monitoring and improving their individual program even if it is imperative among the 10 key components. Some may find it challenging to implement strategies that will continuously evaluate programs due to lack of time and expertise (Rempel, 2010). Drug court professionals believe that the few evaluations that do exist do not necessarily influence practices or grant support from the public. However, what drug court professionals fail to realize is that there are ways for them to implement action research, a form of research that “provides immediate and useful feedback about everyday program operations and performance”, with limited resources and still retain information that can identify areas of success along with problem areas that need improvement (Rempel,
However, developers of drug courts would only be aware of such if they currently have their own evaluation or feedback procedure put in place. From some of the findings, it is evident that most do not have these sorts of procedures and are not aware of their lack of enforcement nor are they aware of some of the concern areas that participants have with their individual programs. The only way for participants to voice their concerns with the drug court program they are members of is by randomly being selected for some of the focus groups. However, these do not occur that often and what about the concerns of those who have not been chosen to participate. With that being said, implementing a form of “action research” would be a great idea to evaluate whether a drug court is working, how, why, for whom, and how can it improve (Rempel, 2010). According to Rempel (2010), a form of action research that can provide drug court staff with valuable information is through the use of survey instruments that are designed to produce participant recommendations and feedback. An easy way to do so would be to implement a treatment program feedback survey. This form of survey will provide information about each participant’s drug court experience and their treatment programs. It would