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

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Partnering with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), the Institute of Behavioral Research (IBR) at Texas Christian University (TCU) proposes 3 research concepts as a CJ-DATS Research Center. These are a multisite return-to-custody outcome study, specialized study of treatment process, and test of a community re-entry care model. With over 30 years experience in the treatment evaluation field, TCU's multisite research qualifications have included developing measurement strategies and "public domain" instruments, evaluating treatment process and outcomes, assessing organizational structure and climate related to change, and developing and testing integrative models of dynamic relationships in time sequenced data. In addition to earlier NlDA-funded multisite projects, TCU was a collaborating research center for the Cooperative Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Studies (DATOS) project. As part of DATOS, TCU staff worked closely and effectively with other sites and NIDA to establish an administrative and decision-making system involving task-based committees, and both electronic- and paper-based communication protocols that guided and disseminated scientific accomplishments. TCU experience also includes a number of CJ evaluations during the past decade, with an emphasis on developing a portable longitudinal treatment process assessment system, designing and assessing cognitive-based therapeutic interventions appropriate for offenders, assessing the interrelated components of the treatment continuum (including continuation of treatment during community re-entry), and conducting long-term follow-up studies. Currently providing a wide variety of intensive treatment services to over 10,000 inmates in over 60 program locations, our partner, the Texas correctional system, offers a unique opportunity to study a comprehensive multi-staged treatment system involving complex cognitive and behavioral components. TDCJ is ready to assess the effectiveness of these treatment approaches across subgroups (including gender, age, race/ethnicity, rural/urban), willing to implement new interventions, and offers "untreated" comparison samples and the ability to use random assignment when appropriate. TCU has an excellent collaborative relationship with TDCJ. Evidence is presented in this proposal concerning the qualifications, experience, collaborative relationships, and mission of TCU and TDCJ, and our partnership will support a successful and productive CJ-DATS.