Lane County Youth Services RAP Court

The OJJDP FY 2014 Enhancements to Juvenile Drug Courts solicitation provides funding for currently operating juvenile drug courts to enhance capacity and services. A juvenile drug court provides comprehensive, developmentally appropriate, community-based services for youth who are younger than 18 years old and come in contact with the juvenile justice system due to alcohol or other drug use. The goal of this program is to enhance the capacity of juvenile drug courts and ultimately improve the outcome for the youth involved in the juvenile drug court program. Enhancements to juvenile drug courts will focus on one or more of the following key components of a juvenile drug court: (1) increase the use of scientifically based screening and assessment procedures for youth in contact with the juvenile justice system to identify youth in need of mental health and substance abuse services; (2) expand the range of developmentally appropriate and evidence-based programs and services to ensure a continuum of care is available for these youth; (3) enhance or develop family engagement; and/or (4) expand the outcome monitoring of the juvenile drug court.

Lane County's Recovery and Progress (RAP) juvenile drug court is a court-supervised, comprehensive treatment program for youth and their families. The program includes drug testing, treatment which involves individual/family/group counseling, regular attendance in support and skills groups and regular court appearances. The juvenile drug court (RAP Court) program is a combined effort of the District Attorney, Defense Attorney, Youth Services, Circuit Court, treatment providers and other community-based organizations. The program length is determined by each participant's progress and placement in treatment, but is designed to last approximately nine months. RAP Court is for those youth who are abusing substances (alcohol and drugs) and are involved with Lane County Youth Services because they have received a criminal referral. The proposed project would enable the program to serve more youth, with approximately 50 youth being screened for participation each year. The addition of a Drug Court Coordinator will provide stronger family engagement and support, improved communication among the RAP court team, and improved coordination of treatment and community-based supports and accountability for youth participants. This primary intervention is for high risk juvenile offenders with drug and alcohol risk factors that are medium to low risk, and has several goals: to create an opportunity for youth to be clean and sober; provide support to aid youth in resisting further criminal activity; provide support, education, and treatment to youth and their family; provide youth with support to perform well in school and develop positive relationships in the community; and to help youth build skills that will aid them in leading productive, substance-free, and crime-free lives. The proposed project will expand the treatment options available, emphasizing culturally relevant treatment options for youth, and enhancing the role of the family. The project will also incorporate incentives for youth, and the increased rigor of program evaluation, including conducting propensity score match analysis for creating a comparison group. The RAP Court program seeks to enhance these services in an effort to address the significant substance use of youth in our area, as well as to keep youth with substance-related issues from penetrating further into the juvenile justice system and beyond. CA/NCF