Maricopa County Demand Reduction Program: An Evaluation Report

• NCJ Number: 138225
• Author(s): J R Hepburn; C W Johnston; S Rogers
• Date Published: 1992
• Length: 226 pages
• Grant Number(s): 89-DD-CX-0055
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation

Annotation

The 1989 national drug control strategy was designed to bring legal and social sanctions to bear against drug users in general, with a particular focus on recreational and occasional drug users. The Maricopa County (Arizona) Demand Reduction Program, initiated in the same year, is being touted as a model program for targeting casual drug users. Data set archived by the NIJ Data Resources Program at the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data, located at URL http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/nacjd.

Abstract

The specific goals of the program are to promote a community-based commitment toward achieving a drug-free county; increase public awareness of the consequences of drug use; assist employers in creating drug-free workplaces; develop and incorporate educational programs; identify and target illegal drug users for enhanced law enforcement efforts; and provide low-cost counseling and treatment programs for drug users. The components of this user accountability program cover heightened law enforcement, increased prosecution, and diversion to treatment. This evaluation discusses police implementation and support of the program, program impact on case processing and outcomes, determinants of prosecutorial decisionmaking in the program, and program impact on recidivism. The assessment indicates that the Maricopa County program has succeeded in establishing a high publicity profile for itself, meeting its objective of net widening, expanding the use of diversion to treatment, generating funds through fees collected from persons who opt for treatment, and slowing the return to recidivism of program participants. 22 figures, 28 tables, and 5 appendixes