National Evaluation of Operation Drug Test, 1998-1999 (ICPSR 3259)

Version Date: Jan 18, 2006

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Principal Investigator(s):
Douglas Longshore, University of California at Los Angeles, Drug Abuse Research Center and RAND, Criminal Justice Program

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR03259.v1

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Summary

This study is an evaluation of Operation Drug TEST (ODT), a pretrial intervention program that was implemented in fiscal year 1997 in 25 of the 94 federal judicial districts in the United States. The name of the program, "TEST," is both a reference to testing and an acronym representing the program's three objectives: (1) Testing to identify drug-involved defendants before their first court appearance, (2) Effective Sanctions when defendants on release were found to be using drugs, and (3) Treatment referrals for drug-using defendants, as needed. The program was based on the view that drug testing, when closely linked to sanctions and treatment placements in response to ongoing drug use, can reduce drug use among defendants on pretrial release. The overall goal of the program was to deter drug use and its adverse consequences among defendants on pretrial release. The purposes of the evaluation were to describe the process of program implementation and to document ODT's impact on sanctioning and treatment. Data for this evaluation were gathered from official records collected from the ODT database, which was maintained by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC). Parts 1 and 2 contain data from fiscal year 1998 for initial drug tests and subsequent drug tests, respectively. Data from fiscal year 1999 (Parts 3 and 4) were divided into two groups, depending on the model of ODT implementation and the stage at which initial drug testing took place. DOJ and AOUSC determined that districts could choose to implement the program under either of two models. Model 1 (Part 3) followed the original concept, namely, initial testing at the pre-bail stage. In Model 2 (Part 4), the initial test was to occur as soon as possible after the defendant's first court appearance, if he/she was being released, but before release into the community. Variables unique to Part 1 include date of birth, arrest date, initial hearing date, hearing date, decision date, and release date. Variables for all parts include the district name, its circuit and office, which model a defendant conformed to, current or prior drug charges, and drug history. Additional variables for all parts include whether the defendant tested positive for amphetamines, cocaine, cannabis, opiates, PCP, and other drugs, whether testing had increased, type of test administered, if treatment was added or had increased, whether a test was taken by pretrial services or by a contractor, and if by pretrial services, where it was taken, testing devices used, whether an outside laboratory was used, and if results were reported to the court.

Citation

Longshore, Douglas. National Evaluation of Operation Drug Test, 1998-1999. [distributor], 2006-01-18. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR03259.v1

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Funding

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. National Institute of Justice (97-IJ-CX-0041)

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Restrictions

Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.

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Time Period(s)

1998 -- 1999

Date of Collection

1997 -- 2000

Data Collection Notes

  1. The user guide, codebook, and data collection instruments are provided by ICPSR as Portable Document Format (PDF) files. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader software, such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is provided on the ICPSR Web site.

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Study Purpose

This study is an evaluation of Operation Drug TEST (ODT), a pretrial intervention program that was implemented in fiscal year 1997 in 25 of the 94 federal judicial districts in the United States. The name of the program, "TEST," is both a reference to testing and an acronym representing the program's three objectives: (1) Testing to identify drug-involved defendants before their first court appearance, (2) Effective Sanctions when defendants on release were found to be using drugs, and (3) Treatment referrals for drug-using defendants, as needed. The program was based on the view that drug testing, when closely linked to sanctions and treatment placements in response to ongoing drug use, can reduce drug use among defendants on pretrial release. The overall goal of the program was to deter drug use and its adverse consequences among defendants on pretrial release. The purposes of the evaluation were to describe the process of program implementation and to document ODT's impact on sanctioning and treatment. In particular, the following research questions were addressed: (1) How many defendants got the initial test before their release? (2) How many "hidden" users were detected on the initial test (i.e., defendants for whom there was no other indication of drug involvement)? (3) How much surveillance testing was done with defendants on release? (4) Did ODT affect districts' responses to defendants who tested positive on release? (5) Was there evidence of change in the likelihood of sanctioning or the types of sanctions applied? (6) How did ODT affect the districts' use of treatment placements for defendants who tested positive on release?

Study Design

The Department of Justice (DOJ) had lead responsibility for launching ODT. The Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC) oversaw program implementation in participating districts and provided training and technical assistance in areas such as selection of the drug test technology, recordkeeping, and reporting. DOJ sent letters inviting participation in ODT to all 94 federal judicial districts. About one-third expressed interest, and the Judicial Conference and DOJ selected 25 districts. One district later dropped out. Each district was assured that their participation in ODT would be compatible with and readily incorporated into pretrial procedures and policies already in place. Data for this evaluation were gathered from official records collected from the ODT database, which was maintained by the AOUSC. Parts 1 and 2 contain data from fiscal year 1998 for initial drug tests and subsequent drug tests, respectively. Data from fiscal year 1999 (Parts 3 and 4) were divided into two groups, depending on the model of ODT implementation. As originally conceived and approved by the Judicial Conference in June 1996, ODT's operational concept or "program model" was to be the same in all districts. The initial drug test was to occur at the pre-bail stage, i.e., before the defendant's first court appearance. Thereafter, defendants on release would undergo further drug testing. In some districts, circumstances precluded drug testing before the defendant's first court appearance. DOJ and AOUSC determined that districts could choose to implement the program under either of two models. Model 1 (Part 3) followed the original concept, namely, initial testing at the pre-bail stage. In Model 2 (Part 4), the initial test was to occur as soon as possible after the defendant's first court appearance, if he/she was being released, but before release into the community. Among the 24 participating districts, 18 adopted Model 1 at the outset and six adopted the alternative, Model 2.

Sample

Not applicable.

Universe

Drug-involved defendants under pretrial supervision within one of 24 participating program districts.

Unit(s) of Observation

Individuals.

Data Source

administrative records

Data Type(s)

Description of Variables

Variables unique to Part 1 include date of birth, arrest date, initial hearing date, hearing date, decision date, and release date. Variables for all parts include the district name, which circuit and office, which model a defendant conformed to, current or prior drug charges, and drug history. Additional variables for both parts include whether the defendant tested positive for amphetamines, cocaine, cannabis, opiates, PCP, and other drugs, whether testing had increased, type of test administered, if treatment was added or had increased, whether a test was taken by pretrial services or by a contractor, and if by pretrial services, where it was taken, testing devices used, whether an outside laboratory was used, and if results were reported to the court.

Response Rates

Not applicable.

Presence of Common Scales

None.

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Original Release Date

2002-06-19

Version History

2018-02-15 The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented. The previous citation was:
  • Longshore, Douglas. NATIONAL EVALUATION OF OPERATION DRUG TEST, 1998-1999. ICPSR version. Los Angeles, CA: University of California, Los Angeles Drug Abuse Research Center/Santa Monica, CA: RAND Criminal Justice Program [producers], 2001. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2002. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR03259.v1

2006-01-18 File UG3259.ALL.PDF was removed from any previous datasets and flagged as a study-level file, so that it will accompany all downloads.

2006-01-18 File CQ3259.ALL.PDF was removed from any previous datasets and flagged as a study-level file, so that it will accompany all downloads.

2002-06-19 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

  • Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
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Notes

  • The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

  • One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.