Measuring Drug Court Adherence to the What Works Literature: The Creation of the Evidence-Based Correctional Program Checklist-Drug Court.

Quality correctional programming is important, particularly for drug courts. In this article, we chronicle the development of a tool designed to evaluate juvenile and adult drug courts, the Evidence-Based Correctional Program Checklist-Drug Court (CPC-DC). The history of the CPC-DC is traced by exploring research that indicates why program evaluation is important. This article also discusses the development of two predecessor assessment tools designed to measure how closely correctional programs adhere to evidence-based practice, the Correctional Program Assessment Inventory (CPAI) and the Evidence-Based Correctional Program Checklist (CPC). Results are briefly presented on the outcomes of the CPC-DC assessments completed to date by the University of Cincinnati (UC). Finally, recommendations are offered for operating an evidence-based drug court.