Perceived and Actual Knowledge Gain among Juvenile Drug Treatment Court Team Members: A Pre‐Post Analysis of On‐Site Training and Technical Assistance

• Published date: 01 October 2021
• Author: Jasmine Victoria Idrogo,Logan A. Yelderman,Martha‐Elin Blomquist,Angela D. Broadus
• Date: 01 October 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12545

PERCEIVED AND ACTUAL KNOWLEDGE GAIN AMONG JUVENILE

DRUG TREATMENT COURT TEAM MEMBERS: A Pre-Post ANALYSIS

OF On-Site TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

Jasmine Victoria Idrogo, Logan A. Yelderman, Martha-Elin Blomquist, and Angela D. Broadus

Juvenile drug treatment courts (JDTCs), in large part, are a product of the therapeutic jurisprudence movement. When they

were established in 1993 in the U.S., JDTCs were initially modeled after adult drug treatment courts but insufficiently

addressed unique characteristics of adolescence. In 2003, recommended practices, known as the 16 Strategies, for JDTCs

working with adolescent offenders with substance use disorders were introduced to the field by the National Drug Court Insti-

tute (NDCI) and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ). Recently, the Office of Juvenile Jus-

tice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the American Institute of Research (AIR), proposed a set of evidence-based,

recommended practices outlined in the Juvenile Drug Treatment Court Guidelines (JDTC Guideline). However, little research

examines the effectiveness of training and technical assistance on recommended, evidence-based practices for JDTC teams.

The current study uses a pre/post-training survey design to examine perceived and actual knowledge gain of JDTC practi-

tioners who receive targeted training and technical assistance on recommended practices for JDTCs. The data demonstrate

significantly higher perceived knowledge gain, post-training, on the topics of recommended practice (as outlined in the

16 Strategies and JDTC Guidelines). Implications are discussed.

Key Points for the Family Court Community

Juvenile Drug Treatment Courts (JDTCs) can receive onsite training and technical assistance (TTA)

TTA can increase JDTC team members’perceived knowledge in various domains such as adolescent development,

JDTC best practices, and role discrimination

TTA can also increase awareness and knowledge of local JDTC eligibility criteria

There is need for JDTCs to constantly improve and update practices to comport with current best practices, and TTA

might be a way for courts to accomplish this

Keywords: Action Planning; Eligibility Criteria; Juvenile Drug Treatment Court; Juvenile Justice; Knowledge;

Problem-Solving Court; Substance Use; Technical Assistance; Training.

I. INTRODUCTION

Juvenile drug treatment courts (JDTCs) are programs that are specifically designed for youth

with substance use disorders who are also involved in illegal behavior that brings them under the

jurisdiction of the juvenile court. JDTC programs are intended to keep youth in the community and

school system while they are receiving substance use treatment and other services and supervision

to support desired behavior change and healthy adolescent development. JDTCs are, in large part, a

product of the therapeutic jurisprudence movement. Initially, in the 1990s, JDTCs in the

U.S. followed the adult drug court model; however, the model shifted to a juvenile-specific model

that accounts for adolescent developmental considerations (Bureau of Justice Assistance, 2003).

Specifically, in 2003, the National Drug Court Institute (NDCI) and the National Council of Juve-

nile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) collaborated and co-developed recommended practice,

known as the 16 Strategies, for JDTCs to employ in order to promote positive outcomes for

juveniles with substance use disorders who are also engaged in other juvenile delinquent behavior

Corresponding: layelderman@pvamu.edu

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 59 No. 4, October 2021 769–789, doi: 10.1111/fcre.12545

© 2021 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.

(Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2016). The 16 Strategies sought to distin-

guish JDTCs from adult drug courts (Bureau of Justice Assistance, 2003).

More recently, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (Office of Juvenile

Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2016), working with the American Institute of Research

(AIR), reviewed the original 16 Strategies and the field of research on effective JDTC practices.

This review of data-driven and empirically supported practices led to the promulgation of the Juve-

nile and Drug Treatment Court Guidelines (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency

Prevention, 2016). The Guidelines include seven core objectives and 31 statements on best practices

in JDTCs. Both the 16 Strategies for JDTCs (Bureau of Justice Assistance, 2003) and the JDTC

Guidelines (2016) identify training and technical assistance (TTA) for JDTC team members as

essential for the effective functioning of a JDTC and for achieving positive outcomes for JDTC par-

ticipants. Specifically, training and technical assistance (TTA) is listed as the first and second rec-

ommended practice in the 16 Strategies and a recommended practice in Objective One in the JDTC

Guidelines, emphasizing its importance and priority. Much of the current research on JDTCs

focuses on their effectiveness in reducing drug use and delinquent behavior; however, little research

examines the effectiveness of TTA for JDTC team members. The purpose of the current study is to

examine the extent to which training and technical assistance improves JDTC team members’per-

ceived knowledge gains and actual knowledge gains related to JDTC practices using a research-

based framework for understanding training effectiveness (Hatton-Bowers, Pecora, Johnson,

Brooks, & Schindell, 2015; Isenberg, 1986; White & Cicmil, 2016).

II. THERAPEUTIC JURISPRUDENCE AND JUVENILE DRUG TREATMENT COURTS

JDTCs emerged after the inception of adult drug courts to address substance use and juvenile

delinquency (Belenko & Logan, 2003). A JDTC is a specialized court docket intended to provide

specialized treatment services and supervision in the community for youth who have substance use

disorders (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2016). As compared to traditional

juvenile probation, JDTCs provide more intense oversight and support to juveniles (Bureau of

Justice Assistance, 2003). JDTCs draw on community treatment services and community partner-

ships to provide a well-rounded rehabilitative program for youth with substance use disorders

(Bureau of Justice Assistance, 2003).

Specialty courts like JDTCs, also known as problem-solving courts, are informed by therapeutic

jurisprudence perspective, which is defined as “the study of law as a therapeutic agent”(Hora,

Schma, & Rosenthal, 1999, pp. 5–6). Therapeutic jurisprudence was implemented initially in adult

drug courts to focus on providing offenders with substance use treatment, partly because criminal

justice practitioners realized that incarceration was insufficient to reduce and prevent drug use that

was also associated with repetitive criminal activity (Hora et al., 1999). Therapeutic jurisprudence,

in the broad sense, involves an optimistic outlook of legal processes and framework of criminal

justice to be able to achieve positive outcomes in behavior change for offenders by applying clinical

and behavioral science and treatment interventions (Geary, 2005).

Adult drug courts focus on addressing substance use with chemical treatment therapy and use

incentives and sanctions to respond to participant behavior to encourage and sustain abstinence.

Like adult drug courts, JDTCs provide a judicially monitored program of supervision and services

that are most effective when applied to youth who have been diagnosed as having a substance use

disorder. These programs usually include identification and referral of youth after adjudication. The

intense supervision they provide requires program participants to have frequent contact with the

judge, have frequent contact with a probation officer, participate in periodic mandatory drug testing,

be involved in substance use treatment, and be involved in school or vocational training

(Belenko & Logan, 2003; Gummelt & Sullivan, 2016; Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency

Prevention, 2016). JDTCs use incentives and sanctions to motivate and sustain desired behavior

changes. They are organized around a team approach to case planning and services and having

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