Programmatic, Counselor, and Client-Level Comparison of Rural Versus Urban Drug Court¹ Treatment

Abstract

Despite a number of recent evaluations demonstrating the effectiveness of “drug court” programs for reducing both substance abuse and criminal behavior, some authors have recently called for more thorough process evaluations (inside the “black box” of treatment) of these programs. Specifically, this article describes the need for thorough process evaluation to examine differences in program implementation across rural and urban drug courts. The delivery of substance-user treatment and allied social services is examined in a sample of four adult drug courts (two urban and two rural), using a direct observation methodology, as well as traditional surveys and interviews of treatment staff and administrators. Results reveal that there are, in fact, differences in implementation, and staff and client characteristics between courts in each type of geographic region and suggest that these differences may impact the effectiveness of the court programs in meeting their goals of reduced substance use and criminal behavior.

Keywords:

• drug courts
• evaluation
• rural
• substance use
• treatment
• treatment utilization

Notes

³Sites 1, 2, and 4 also utilized residential treatment services in their drug court programs, however in each of these sites only approximately 5% of clients participated in these residential services during their tenure in the drug court. As a result, the current article presents information only on the delivery of services in outpatient treatment, as most clients in these programs received only this type of service. Interestingly, in Site 1 drug court clients were assigned to residential treatment (a more intensive type of treatment) based on whether or not they had housing, not based on the severity of their substance abuse problem. In the other two sites, residential treatment was used only in cases where a client had experienced some difficulty in outpatient treatment and was referred for a brief period of residential treatment to try to manage the difficulties and maintain the client in the drug court program. No site reported using residential treatment as a primary intervention for clients.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jeffrey A. Bouffard

Jeffrey A. Bouffard, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Political Science at North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND. In addition to research on rational choice theory, he has conducted numerous evaluations of criminal justice-based drug treatment programs and juvenile delinquency prevention programs; as well as research on police investigations and the predictors of sexual offending among male college students.

Shamayne Smith

Shamayne Smith is a Doctoral student in Criminal Justice in the Department of Criminal Justice and Political Science at North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND. She has recently been involved in evaluation research examining the delivery of services in drug court programs and after school delinquency prevention programs, and is also interested in restorative justice and rural/urban disparity.