Research Questions: NPC Research in partnership with Oregon’s Criminal Justice Commission and the Oregon Judicial Department performed a detailed statewide cost evaluation that included analyses of agency-specific cost-benefits and the cost-benefits of specific drug court practices, as well as providing the first direct comparison of the relative usefulness of two differing cost-benefit methodologies, the Washington State Institute for Public Policy approach (WSIPP), and NPC Research’s Transactional Institutional Analysis (TICA) approach. This project, built on Oregon’s existing investments in drug court implementation and evaluation, was designed to answer six research questions:
- What are the resources and costs invested in Oregon’s drug courts?
- Where do the resources come from (what are the funding streams) that pay for the court and treatment in these programs?
- What agencies contribute significant resources to drug courts and is this a good use of those agency resources?
- What is the impact of adult drug courts on recidivism and recidivism related costs, locally and on a statewide level?
- What are the benefit/cost ratios of drug court in Oregon?
- What are promising (or best) practices of drug courts? (What drug court practices relate to lower recidivism and larger cost-benefits?)
Project Design: The project includes:
- A Web-based survey of all Oregon Drug Courts
- An in depth process study of selected courts, including site visits
- Analysis of administrative data
- Detailed cost analysis, including application of NPC’s TICA Model
- Comparison of the TICA approach to the WSIPP Model
Funding Source: Bureau of Justice Assistance
Start Date: December 2008
Project Team
Principal Investigator
Project Staff
Mary Beth Sanders, B.S.