Performance Incentive Funding For Prison Diversion: An Implementation Evaluation of the Winnebago County Adult Redeploy Illinois Program

Key Findings

Research demonstrates the effectiveness of drug courts, which have been linked to a reduction of recidivism rates among participants. A meta-analytic review of 154 drug courts, including 92 adult drug courts, conducted by Mitchell, Wilson, Eggers, & Mackenzie (2012) found that the majority of adult drug court participants had lower rates of recidivism compared to nonparticipants. Drug court participants had a recidivism rate of 38 percent compared to 50 percent for non-participants. A more recent study found significantly lower rates of recidivism for drug court graduates: 21 percent compared to 60 percent for those who were terminated from a drug court program (Lutz & VanWormer, 2014).

Adult Redeploy Illinois (ARI) awards funds to counties to divert adult non-violent individuals from state prisons by developing and implementing evidence-based supervision programs which are linked to treatment and supportive services in their communities. ARI is a performance incentive funding program whereby continued funding is based on meeting performance measures including a reduction in the number of prison admissions from a defined eligible target population. A monetary penalty may be assessed by the ARI Oversight Board when a program fails to meet its target reduction.

This report presents an implementation evaluation of the ARI-funded Winnebago County Drug Court (WCDC) using qualitative and quantitative approaches. It covers the initial pilot phase of the program, which ran from October 1, 2011 to December 31, 2012. Data collection included four components: (1) interviews with staff and stakeholders, (2) interviews with probationers, (3) analysis of program administrative data, and (4) criminal history record information.