Texas Department of Health Courts Management Information System (MIS)

The Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program is designed to assist states, state courts, local courts, units of local government, and Indian tribal governments in developing and establishing drug courts for substance-abusing adult and juvenile offenders. Drug court programs funded by the Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program are required by law to target nonviolent offenders. The program supports the following activities: adult drug court implementation, single jurisdiction drug court enhancement, statewide drug court enhancement, and planning efforts.

The State of Texas will use their Fiscal Year 2007 Drug Court Discretionary Grant enhancement funds to create a uniform, statewide Management Information System (MIS) for Texas' drug, DWI, and mental health courts. This statewide MIS will provide a comprehensive overview of the specialty courts' performance as well as the impact of drug treatment on the state's criminal, juvenile, and civil justice systems. Currently the state does not have a central registry of drug court information. Each jurisdiction maintains a separate, local system for case management and data collection that presents a challenge for a statewide analysis of specialty court trends. The MIS will also improve functionality for local jurisdictions by providing uniform case management tools and improve quality assurance for existing drug court programs. The MIS will allow local drug court officials to access aggregate information regarding participant demographics, type of treatment, length of stay, and treatment outcomes.

CA/NCF