An Evaluation of the Chester County (PA) Drug Court Program

The Chester County (PA) Drug Court Program was implemented in October of 1997. By the end of January of 1999, 184 drug offenders had participated in the program. This evaluation of the Chester County Drug Court Program compares the 184 drug court participants to 51 comparable offenders who were placed on probation at some point between December 1996 and September 1997. These comparison subjects were selected based upon the drug court program eligibility criteria (i.e., offenders charged with non-mandatory drug offenses; offenders not under probation or parole supervision when charged with drug offenses; and no prior record for violent offenses). Drug court and comparison samples were compared in terms of current status, new arrests, revocation/removal from program, and drug testing results. Findings reveal a lower rate of positive results for drug tests taken by the drug court participants as compared to the comparison group. Similarly, there was a lower rate of rearrest during the program among the drug court sample than among the comparison sample. On the other hand, drug court participants were more likely than the comparison group to be unsuccessfully removed from their programs. Survival analysis revealed that the differences in the survival patterns of the drug court and comparison samples approached statistical significance. Additionally, African American drug court participants appeared to do significantly poorer than Caucasian drug court participants. Those drug court graduates for whom follow-up data (n=15) were available appear to be successful in leading productive and drug-free lives.