Drug court utilization of medications for opioid use disorder in high opioid mortality communities.

Introduction: A 2012 national survey found low utilization of medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) in US drug courts. This study provides an update on MOUD policies and practices among drug courts in communities that the opioid epidemic has substantially impacted.

Methods: The study surveyed adult drug courts (N = 169, 80 % response rate) in US counties with high opioid mortality rates or numbers of opioid-related deaths about their policies and practices relating to MOUD and the overdose-reversal medication, naloxone.

Employing standardized risk assessment in pretrial release decisions: Association with criminal justice outcomes and racial equity.

Objective: We examined efforts by a Mississippi court to base pretrial release decisions on risk assessment rather than primarily on bond.

Hypotheses: (a) Pretrial detention will be shorter than that associated with prevailing bond practices in the same counties. (b) Rearrest rates will be lower than a similar pretrial population in a nearby southern state.

Developing an index to measure the voluntariness of consent to research.

The goals of the current study were to expand the content domain and further validate the Coercion Assessment Scale (CAS), a measure of perceived coercion for criminally involved substance abusers being recruited into research. Unlike the few existing measures of this construct, the CAS identifies specific external sources of pressure that may influence one's decision to participate. In Phase 1, we conducted focus groups with criminal justice clients and stakeholders to expand the instrument by identifying additional sources of pressure.

An Experimental Trial of Adaptive Programming in Drug Court: Outcomes at 6, 12 and 18 Months.

Objectives: Test whether an adaptive program improves outcomes in drug court by adjusting the schedule of court hearings and clinical case-management sessions pursuant to performance criteria.

Methods: Consenting participants in a misdemeanor drug court were randomly assigned to the adaptive program (n = 62) or to a baseline-matching condition (n = 63) in which they attended court hearings based on the results of a criminal risk assessment. Outcome measures were re-arrest rates at 18 months post-entry to the drug court and urine drug test results and structured interview results at 6 and 12 months post-entry.