Implementing and Sustaining Innovations in Criminal Justice-DATS 2 (TCU RC)

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With our Co-Investigators from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Illinois Department of Corrections, and an additional network of 5 State criminal justice systems (AZ, IN, NE, NM, & VA), the Federal BOP, and 4 large agencies that provide CJ contract treatment services (Gateway Foundation, Westcare, CEC/CiviGenics, and Phoenix House), Texas Christian University (TCU) proposes to continue our CJ-DATS Research Center in CJ-DATS 2. With over 35 years experience in the treatment evaluation field, including studies of CJ systems, our qualifications in relation to national and multisite projects include developing measurement strategies and "public domain" instruments and interventions, evaluating treatment process and outcomes, assessing organizational structure and climate that relate to change, conducting cost analyses, and developing and testing integrative models of dynamic relationships in time sequenced data. For the past 5 years, we have worked closely and effectively with NIDA and the other Research Centers in the initial CJ-DATS to establish an administrative and decision-making system involving task-based committees and communication protocols that guide our scientific accomplishments. Our proposed research concepts include 3 implementation studies with the recognition that the final lineup of studies will be determined by NIDA and the Cooperative's Steering Committee with input from all investigators, particularly CJ collaborators. The concepts include: 1) testing strategies to implement and sustain screening and assessment tools established during the initial CJ-DATS, 2) examining the implementation of evidence-based CJ-DATS interventions that are collectively designed to address risks and needs identified by assessments included in the first study, and 3) implementing a comprehensive HIV/AIDS risk assessment and providing a continuum of risk-reduction approaches. An integral implementation component of the second and third concepts involves determining how these interventions are optimally tied into the development and revision of personal treatment plans. Because of the prevalence of alcohol use among offenders and its association with crime and probation and parole technical violations, we propose additional core client intake measures of quantity and frequency of alcohol use, as well as assessments of alcohol policies, services, and attitudes toward offender alcohol use when examining staff and organizations. Our experience and large network of CJ treatment systems offers CJ-DATS 2 an outstanding capacity to assess the implementation and sustainability of evidence-based practices within each of three designated areas (i.e., implementation of screening and assessment, implementation of an intervention, and the development of an HIV and other infectious diseases continuum of care).