Oregon Statewide Adult Drug Court Screening Tool Implementation

The Office of the State Court Administrator (OSCA) on behalf of the Oregon Judicial Department (OJD) is pleased to submit this Category 3 Statewide support application in response to the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Adult Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program FY 2022 Competitive Grant solicitation. The OJD requests $1,999,863.63 to fund its Risk and Needs Triage (“RANT”) Project to improve its existing 26 adult drug courts located in 24 of its 27 judicial districts.

Project funds will be used over 48 months to prioritize the following primary activities:

1) implement the statewide use of the RANT screening tool to quickly identify High Risk/High Need individuals who may be appropriate for the adult drug court programs;

2) improve the collection of eligible participant data into OJD’s statewide management information system to analyze and address referral to resolution timeliness, including through an equity lens, and to track reinvolvement data that contributes to determining recidivism rates;

3) deliver training and technical assistance (TTA) to drug court team members specific to best practices for screening, referral, and acceptance; and

4) better align individual appropriateness with eligibility determinations in result of recent changes in Oregon law.  

Oregon’s drug court population spreads across urban, rural, and frontier communities. Project funds will support Oregon’s adult drug courts whose target population is High Risk/High Need non-violent justice-involved individuals and accept post-adjudication cases.

OJD proposes to improve statewide support to the drug courts as they strive to identify eligible participants timely access to the program (and treatment), reevaluate their target populations to reduce disparities, and increase adherence to best practice standards.

The Project will provide both statewide and local TTA and evaluate the efficacy of the drug courts in reducing recidivism rates.

Expected outcomes include: 1) improve adherence to Best Practice Standards, 2) reduced number of days from referral to entry of eligible participants into the adult drug court programs; 3) better-quality collection of data to inform OJD on needed improvements for its adult drug courts; and 4) fully integrate the RANT screening tool into each programs’ referral process.

OSCA will ensure the drug courts follow the Adult Drug Court Best Practice Standards in the implementation of the Project. No other federal funding sources will be leveraged to support this statewide project.