Office of Justice Programs Drug Courts Program Office Fact Sheet.

OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS DRUG COURTS PROGRAM OFFICE
FACT SHEET

Published: August 1995
4 pages
5,818 bytes

Overview

Title V of the Violent Crime Control and Law
Enforcement Act of 1994 (P.L. 103-322) authorizes
the Attorney General to make grants to states,
state courts, local courts, units of local
government, and Indian tribal governments to
establish drug courts.  That authority has been
delegated to the Assistant Attorney General,
Office of Justice Programs (OJP).  

The OJP Drug Courts Program Office was established
to administer the drug court grant program and to
provide financial and technical assistance,
training, related programmatic guidance, and
leadership.  In conjunction with other federal
agencies, especially the National Institute of
Justice, the Drug Courts Program Office also will
conduct comparative evaluations of drug court
programs to identify the most effective program
elements and designs to combat drug abuse and
crime.    

In FY 1995, Congress appropriated $29 million for
the Drug Court Grant program, but then reduced the
funding level to $11.9 million through the
rescissions bill.  

Background

Because our criminal justice system often fails to
subject nonviolent, substance-abusing adult and
juvenile offenders to intervention measures that
provide the sanctions and services necessary to
change their deviant behaviors, many of these
individuals repeatedly cycle through our courts,
corrections, and probation systems.  

To address this problem some communities have
established drug courts.  Local coalitions of
judges, prosecutors, attorneys, law enforcement
officials, and others are using the coercive power
of the court to force abstinence and alter
behavior with a combination of escalating
sanctions, mandatory drug testing, treatment, and
strong aftercare programs to teach responsibility
and to transition offenders back into the
community.  Drug courts represent one of few,
recent criminal justice initiatives that has
started at the grassroots level and spread across
the nation.  There are over 30 programs now in
operation and many more in the planning and early
implementation stages.     

A study sponsored by the National Institute of
Justice of the nation's first drug court in Miami,
Florida showed a 33 percent reduction in rearrests
for drug court graduates compared with non-drug
court offenders.  Preliminary results from the
Portland, Oregon and Oakland, California drug
court programs have also indicated lower rates of
recidivism.

The Drug Courts Grant Program

OJP received 130 grant applications from 41
states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia
requesting funding totaling over $59 million. 
Recent rescission action by Congress, however, has
significantly reduced the number of awards
possible under this program.  The Crime Law
authorizes a total of $971 million for the Drug
Courts Discretionary Grant Program for Fiscal
Years 1996-2000.  The Attorney General has
requested that Congress appropriate $150 million
for FY 1996.

FY 1995 funds are for three purposes:  planning,
implementing or enhancing drug court programs. 
Approximately 50 planning grants will be awarded
to those jurisdictions interested in developing
plans for a drug court.  These grants may be for
up to $35,000 for an 8-month period. 

Implementation grants will go to approximately
five jurisdictions committed to developing a drug
court program and that have identified their
target populations and case processing procedures. 
These grants may be for up to $2 million for an
18-month period.  Finally, about seven sites,
which have established drug courts and want to
improve the delivery of and/or add services to
their drug court programs, will receive
enhancement grants of up to $1 million for an 18-
month period.

Grant recipients must provide a 25 percent cash
match, and federal funds must be used to
supplement and not supplant other federal, state
or local funds.  Grant recipients also must
conduct a process evaluation that will provide
information to improve the program design.  In
addition, recipients of implementation and
enhancement grants are required to participate in
a national evaluation of the Drug Court Grant
Program to be conducted by the National Institute
of Justice.  

Programs must: 

o Target nonviolent substance-abusing offenders; 

o Involve mandatory periodic drug testing during
any period of supervised release or probation; 

o Provide substance abuse treatment for each
participant; 

o Include the possibility of prosecution,
confinement, or incarceration based on
noncompliance with program requirements or failure
to show satisfactory progress; 

o Provide strong aftercare services, such as
relapse prevention, health care, education,
vocational training, job placement, housing
placement, and child care or other family support
services for each participant who requires such
services.  

Awards will be granted on a geographically
equitable basis that will address the needs of
smaller jurisdictions, as well as large urban
centers.  Grantees in federally designated
Empowerment Zones or Enterprise Communities will
coordinate their drug court effort within the
designated area.  

For Further Information:

Drug Courts Program Office
Office of Justice Programs
(202) 616-5001

Drug Courts Clearinghouse
The American University
(202) 885-2875

National Criminal Justice Reference Service 
(800) 688-4252

U.S. Department of Justice Response Center
(800) 421-6770
 
Office of Congressional and Public Affairs
Office of Justice Programs
(202) 307-0703
  
FS000099
August 1995