Drug Courts Program Office
Fiscal Year 1998 Program Plan
The OJP Drug Courts Program Office (DCPO) administers the discretionary drug court grant program authorized by Title V of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (P.L. 103-322). The purpose of the grant program is to provide support for the development, implementation, and improvement of drug courts through grants to local or state governments, courts, and tribal governments and through technical assistance and training. States and territories (including Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia), state courts, local courts, units of local government, and Indian tribal governments may apply for funding.
As of November 24, 1997, there were over 207 drug courts implemented nationwide and another 164 drug courts being planned. There is drug court activity in 48 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and two federal districts. In the last two years, there has been an increase of over 150 percent in the number of operational drug courts. This increase in drug court activity is a direct result of the success of individual drug court programs throughout the country and the contributions of the OJP Drug Court Grant Program.
Drug Courts Grant Program
Since its inception the Drug Courts Program Office has awarded over $45 million to approximately 270 jurisdictions to either plan, implement, or enhance a drug court from FY 1995 through FY 1997. With these funds, as of December 4, 1997 over 94 drug courts have been implemented nationwide, and an additional 57 drug courts will be implemented by FY 1999 through DCPO support.
Based on the experience of the drug court field and the work of DCPO, in January 1997, DOJ released, Defining Drug Courts: The Key Components. The report describes the 10 key components of a drug court and performance benchmarks for each component. The document represents the best thinking of the field about the best practices, design, and operation of drug courts. This document has been endorsed by the Conference of Chief Justices, Conference of State Court Administrators, and National Association of Pretrial Service Agencies. The key components provide the foundation for national drug court training and is the centerpiece of the FY 1998 Application Kit and Guideline.
Grant Program Requirements
Drug courts funded under this program must include the following critical elements:
Continuing judicial supervision over offenders with substance abuse problems who are not violent offenders;
Mandatory periodic testing for the use of controlled substances during any period of supervised release or probation for each participant;
Substance abuse treatment for each participant;
Diversion, probation, or other supervised release involving the possibility of prosecution, confinement, or incarceration based on noncompliance with program requirements or failure to show satisfactory progress; and
Programmatic offender management and aftercare services.
In addition, for this program, the term "drug court" is a specially designed court calendar or docket, the purposes of which are: to achieve a reduction in recidivism and substance abuse among nonviolent adult and juvenile substance abusing offenders; and to increase their likelihood for successful rehabilitation through early, continuous, and intensive judicially supervised treatment, mandatory periodic drug testing, and the use of graduated sanctions and other rehabilitation services. A separate or special jurisdiction court is neither necessary nor encouraged.
Grant recipients are expected to conduct a process evaluation that will provide information to improve the program design. Recipients of implementation or enhancement grants are also required to participate in a national evaluation of the Drug Courts Grant Program conducted by the National Institute of Justice.
Program Categories
Grants are provided for three purposes: planning, implementation, and enhancement/improvement.
Planning grants are for jurisdictions interested in establishing drug courts and that are in the early stages of planning for that effort. Planning grants up to $30,000 will be awarded for 12- month projects for single jurisdictions and up to $50,000 for multijurisdictional efforts.
Implementation grants for new drug court programs will be awarded to jurisdictions that have already made a commitment to develop a drug court program and have identified the target population to be served and the case processing procedures that will be used. These grants will provide for a brief planning period and a subsequent implementation phase. The maximum grant is $400,000 for up to two years for a single jurisdiction and $600,000 for multijurisdictional efforts.
Note: There will be a special Implementation grants category for jurisdictions that received FY 1997 planning grants from the OJP Drug Courts Program Office. Applications for these grants are restricted to those 80 jurisdictions that received FY 1997 Drug Courts planning grants from OJP.
Improvement and enhancement grants will be awarded to jurisdictions to improve or enhance services in existing drug courts. Grants of up to $300,000 will be awarded for up to two years.
Continuation grants will be available for up to $200,000 for up to two years for jurisdictions that received Fiscal Year 1996 funding from the Drug Courts Program Office.
Mini Grants of up to $50,000 will be available for single-focused activities, such as information system or program evaluation development and training.
Applications and Awards
The Drug Courts Grant Program is funded in the amount of $30 million for FY 1998.
The application deadline will be late February 1998.