Implementing Pretrial Drug-Testing Programs in Two Experimental Sites: Some Deterrence and Jail Bed Implications

Abstract

As overcrowding has accelerated the search for more, and more effective, ways of reducing jail populations without unduly jeopardizing public safety and court processes, one of the programmatic responses to the problem of drug-related crime has been the introduction, in several jurisdictions, of systematic drug testing at the pretrial release decision stage. The Bureau of Justice Assistance sponsored evaluations of drug-testing experiments in several demonstration sites. A fundamental objective of the demonstration projects was to test the assumption that intensive monitoring of drug use during pretrial release would reduce levels of pretrial flight and crime. To enforce defendant compliance with the monitoring program, which required frequent drug testing, a system of graduated sanctions was devised for the implementation of the drug-testing programs in each of the sites. The proposed sanctioning systems represented a formal set of agency responses of incremental severity to noncompliance by defendants (positive test results or nonattendance at testing appointments), which ranged from counseling to short-term pretrial detention. This article briefly describes experimental evaluations of pretrial drug-testing programs in two sites—Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Prince George's County, Maryland—examines the problems faced in implementing the sanctioning systems, and speculates on the jail resource implications of such sanctions if fully enforced.