Understanding the Role of Cross-Sector Collaborations on the Success of Florida’s Drug Courts

• Author: Natasha V. Christie
• DOI: 10.1177/0887403414559044
• Published date: 01 March 2016
• Date: 01 March 2016
• Subject Matter: Articles

559044CJPXXX10.1177/0887403414559044Criminal Justice Policy ReviewChristie
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Criminal Justice Policy Review
2016, Vol. 27(2) 119 –137
Understanding the Role of
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DOI: 10.1177/0887403414559044
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on the Success of Florida’s
Drug Courts
Natasha V. Christie1
Abstract
Many have lauded the success of the Florida Adult Drug Court Model in terms of
recidivism, sobriety, and court processes. Yet, none seems to focus on the cross-
sector collaborations. Most studies on the evaluation of drug courts underplay the
role of this relationship; however, those relationships are a key component to the
success of drug courts. Using Bryson, Crosby, and Stone’s theoretical framework
for understanding cross-sector collaborations, this work examines what factors and
mechanisms are in place within the Florida Drug Court Model that give us insight
into how these cross-sector partnerships are able to be successful. In addition, the
framework also allows us to examine any necessary factors and mechanisms not
currently present, which may further strengthen the role of these partnerships in the
success of the current drug court model. Ultimately, the broader goal of this research
is to shed light on the role that cross-sector collaborations play in the success of drug
courts in the Florida Drug Court Model. Given the lack of emphasis afforded to these
relationships in the academic literature, our understanding of the success of the drug
court model may be incomplete.
Keywords
cross-sector collaborations, Florida drug courts, cross-sector frameworks
1University of North Florida, Jacksonville, USA
Corresponding Author:
Natasha V. Christie, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and Public Administration,
University of North Florida, 1 UNF Drive, Bldg. 51, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA.
Email: n.christie@unf.edu

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Criminal Justice Policy Review 27(2)
Cross-Sector Collaborations and the Success of Florida’s
Drug Courts
Although some have documented the involvement of the courts in therapeutic treat-
ment back to the 1920s (Belenko, 2002), it was not until Miami’s formalized Drug
Court Program in 1989 when nationwide court involvement in the therapeutic treat-
ment of drug offenders gained national attention. Such innovative court programs
challenged the traditional role of the judiciary and led to dynamic cross-sector collabo-
rations in Florida’s judicial system. Cross-sector collaborations are at the heart of drug
courts in Florida. The Florida State Legislature explicitly called for multiple agency
involvement—public, private, and nonprofit agencies—in the support and enhance-
ment of drug court programs’ effectiveness. They argue that these agencies working
together enables them to better meet client needs through shared responsibilities and
resources (FL. STAT. 397.334). In 2001, the legislature mandated an operational drug
court in each judicial circuit in Florida. Two years later, in 2003, that mandate was
lifted and now more than 10 years later, each judicial circuit continues to maintain at
least one operating drug court.
When discussing crime in the United States, the 1980s stands out as being a time
of increased awareness of drug use, punitive criminal justice responses, and the clos-
ing of mental health facilities, all of which helped contribute to the need for a thera-
peutic remedy to the growing drug problem across urban America. Fighting a growing
caseload and overflowing jail system, the courts were compelled to develop strategies
to deal with the problem. The response of the Dade County Court in Miami, Florida,
was a diversionary court, which intertwined alternate case processing with treatment
(Goldkamp, 1999). It offered participants the ability to obtain treatment for their drug
addiction as an alternative to the traditional court related sanctions of jail time or
probation. This work sets out to use an established framework for successful cross-
sector collaborations to examine the specific factors and mechanisms present in or
deficient from the Florida Drug Court Model. On a larger scale, it attempts to give
policy makers and practitioners a glimpse into the practical uses of theoretical frame-
works, such as this, in guiding the formation and maintenance of successful cross-
sector partnerships. Yet, Bryson, Crosby, and Stone (2006) caution that there are
challenges involved in providing such practical guidance to policy makers (and in
this case practitioners as well) regarding the design and implementation of such
cross-sector collaborations.
Cross-Sector Collaborations in Drug Courts
Public–private partnerships and cross-sector collaborations are words used to describe
the dynamic relationships that occur when organizations in two or more sectors link
together to share “ . . . information, resources, activities, and capabilities to achieve
jointly an outcome that could not be achieved by organizations in one sector sepa-
rately” (Bryson et al., 2006, p. 44). Such partnerships involve the government and
profit or nonprofit entities who perform a traditionally public activity (Bryson et al.,

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2006; Savas, 2000). Consequently, this work uses the words partnership, cross-sector
partnership, and cross-sector collaborations interchangeably throughout the text.
One of the views offered by Linder (1999) depicts these partnerships as power shar-
ing where control is spread horizontally instead of vertically between members involv-
ing shared responsibility, knowledge, and risk. Among these diverse actors, there must
be a “careful balance between synergy and respective autonomy, which incorporates
mutual respect, equal participation in decision making, and mutual accountability and
transparency” (Brinkerhoff, 2002, p. 21).
Thompson and Perry (2006) sum these parts as,
A process in which autonomous actors interact through formal and informal negotiation,
jointly creating rules and structures governing their relationships and ways to act or
decide on the issues that brought them together; it is a process involving shared norms
and mutually beneficial interactions. (p. 23)
The actors in these cross-sector collaborations join together to produce what each
individual entity could not produce on their own with respect to capital, resources, and
expertise (Ghere, 2001; Goldsmith & Eggers, 2004; Salamon, 1995). Bryson et al.
(2006) notes that, in earlier times, environmental complexity provided the impetus for
organizations forming such partnerships to decrease uncertainty and increase stability.
Currently, scholars still believe that environmental complexity still plays a role as
problems have simultaneously become more global and more local, thereby “inviting
customized approaches” to complicated problems (Goldsmith & Eggers, 2004, p. 7).
Goldkamp, White, and Robinson (2001) note that an important challenge for drug
court research is to determine the relative contribution of individual drug court com-
ponents, in this case, these cross-sector collaborations, on the overall impact of the
program. Similarly, Taxman and Bouffard (2005) suggest that additional research is
needed in this area to “optimize the effectiveness of the drug court model as a tool for
addressing the needs of substance abusing offenders” (p. 47). Shaffer (2011) takes up
the suggestion made by Taxman and Bouffard (2005) and conducts a meta-evaluation
of the drug court literature to determine how the drug court’s structure and processes
are associated with their effectiveness. She concludes that based on the peer-reviewed
literature, few studies have been conducted that focus specifically on how the pro-
grammatic components of the drug court model impact its success.
Hiller et al. (2010) offer, “The operational components of drug courts and how
these affect participant outcomes remain largely unknown. However, a number of
characteristics are considered distinctive to drug courts” (p. 934). I would argue that
cross-sector collaborations are one of those characteristics, which, to my knowledge,
has not been acknowledged as a programmatic component of the drug court model that
has the potential to influence the program’s success. As such, this study aims to begin
this discussion by looking specifically at the collaborative partnerships that exists
between actors in the drug court model. The quality of such relationships has a direct
impact on the outcomes and accountabilities of the drug court model. If the actors have
differing or conflicting priorities and/or perspectives or exhibit other characteristics of

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a dysfunctional relationship, it can negatively affect drug court processes, offender
rehabilitation, and the overall success of the drug court model.
Why Form Partnerships in Drug Courts?
Both the state court system and the municipal governments fund and administer the
state’s drug courts (Florida Supreme Court Task Force on Treatment-Based Drug
Courts, 2004a). However, Florida Statutes 397.334 states, “If a county chooses to fund
a treatment-based drug court program, the county must secure funding from sources
other than the state for those costs not otherwise assumed by the state pursuant to
s.29.004.” Consequently, if the courts cannot provide drug treatment services, often
there is a municipal government counterpart, such as the...