Maintaining fidelity to the treatment court model through evaluation: The racial and ethnic disparities (RED) program assessment tool

Treatment courts have played a key role in criminal justice reform by offering an alternative to incarceration for individuals who have substance use and mental health disorders. The treatment court model requires programs to complete evaluations, as well as measure potential racial and ethnic disparities in outcomes. This study contributes to literature by using the Racial and Ethnic Disparities (RED) Program Assessment Tool to see if treatment courts (n = 151) have fidelity to the model by completing regular evaluation and to assess for racial and ethnic disparities in graduation rates. Treatment courts in this study, for the most part, were not faithful to the model by completing regular evaluation. Specifically, only 34% of the programs regularly examined graduation outcomes by race and ethnicity. Additionally, racial and ethnic disparities did exist where white participants were more likely than African American and Hispanic participants to graduate treatment court. Implications for policy advocacy, treatment court practice, and future research are discussed.