San Francisco Drug Court

2009 Annual Report

Executive Summary

Volume

  • In 2009, 434 defendants entered San Francisco Drug Court. At any given time, there are between 200 and 250 active Drug Court clients.

Participant Characteristics

  • Most Drug Court clients entering in 2009 were single African American men with no dependent children. The average age at entry was 38.
  • The majority of clients had no source of income and were daily users of cocaine, methamphetamine or heroin.
  • In 2009, 50 percent of Drug Court clients cited cocaine as their primary drug of choice, followed by heroin (18 percent) and methamphetamine (18 percent).
  • Seventy percent of clients had a drug treatment history.

Case Processing Time

  • In 2009, the median time between arrest and Drug Court entry was 34 days. The median time between program entry and assessment was 15 days.

Time in Program/Time to Graduation

  • Among Drug Court clients exiting the program in 2009, the median program time was 136 days.The median time to graduation was 278 days: 50 percent of graduates completed within 278 days.

Retention & Completion Rates

  • 2007 is the most recent year for which retention and graduation rates are available. The 6-month Retention Rate was 39 percent. The 1-year Retention Rate was 26%. The 2007 Graduation Rate was 24 percent.

Who Succeeds in Drug Court

  • Drug Court Clients receiving Assistance as their primary source of income, parents, older clients, and clients with a history of drug treatment were more likely to graduate.

Drug Court Volume: Clients Entering in 2009

In 2009, 434 defendants entered San Francisco Drug Court (SFDC). Because clients are allowed to re-enter SFDC following an unsuccessful episode,[1] episode volume is greater than client volume. The 434 defendants entering in 2009 constituted 475 Drug Court episodes. Drug Court volume remained relatively stable in 2009, with a two percent drop in client volume since 2008. At any given time, there are between 200 and 250 active Drug Court clients.

Figure 1: 2007, 2008 & 2009 Clients and Episode Volume

In 2009, 476 Drug Court episodes ended through either termination or graduation (clients exiting Drug Court), and 475 episodes commenced (clients entering Drug Court). This one to one ratio of entering and exiting episodes engendered a relatively stable volume of clients throughout the year. In Figure 2 (page 3), entering episodes are represented as positive (above the center line) and exiting episodes are negative (below the line). Exits spike at each of the quarterly graduations—at which large numbers of clients exit the program on one day—in January, April, July and October.

Figure 2: 2009 Entering and Exiting Drug Court Episodes by Month

2009 Client Characteristics

Most Drug Court clients entering in 2009 were single African American men with no dependent children. The average age at entry was 38. The majority of clients had no source of income and were daily users of cocaine, methamphetamine or heroin. In 2009, 50 percent of Drug Court clients cited cocaine as their primary drug of choice, followed by heroin (18 percent) and methamphetamine (18 percent). Seventy percent of clients had a drug treatment history.

Figure 3: 2009, Primary Drug of Choice at Program Entry

Table 1: 2009 Drug Court Client Characteristics at Program Entry

Gender / Male / 73%
Female / 25%
MTF Transgender / 2%
Ethnicity / African American / 52%
White / 25%
Latino / 11%
Other* / 12%
*Includes Asian American/Pacific Islander; Native American, and Other
Age / average / 38
range / 19 to 67
Sexual Orientation / Heterosexual / 91%
Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual / 9%
Pregnant (at Intake) / count / 2 women
Living Situation / Apartment/House / 36%
Streets/Shelters / 25%
Relative(s) / 25%
Hotel/SRO / 13%
Income / None / 69%
Disability / 12%
Employed / 8%
Assistance / 8%
Other / 3%
Education / High School Diploma / 35%
Some High School / 30%
GED / 19%
Higher Education / 9%
Middle School / 4%
Other/Unknown / 3%
Married/Significant Other / 17%
#Minor Children / average / 0
range / 0 to 7
Language Preference / English / 94.5%
Spanish / 4.5%
Other / 0.8%
Cantonese / 0.2%
Tagalog / 0.1%
Veteran / 6%
Probationer / (MTR entry) / 17%
Parolee / 15%
Incarcerated at Program Entry / 64%
Primary Drug of Choice / Cocaine / 50%
Heroin / 18%
Methamphetamine / 18%
Marijuana/Hashish / 4%
Alcohol / 4%
Prescription Drugs / 2%
Other / 2%
Frequency of Drug Use / Daily / 68%
3-6 Times Per Week / 14%
No Past Month Use / 10%
1-2 times Per Week / 5%
Monthly / 3%

Table 2 continued

Route of Administration
(consumption method) / Smoking / 60%
Injection / 20%
Inhalant / 10%
Oral / 10
Age at Onset of Drug Use / average / 22
range / 5 to 59
Psychiatric Disorder / (self-reported) / 33%
Medical Disorder / (self-reported) / 55%
Drug Treatment History / (self-reported) / 71%
HIV Positive / (self-reported) / 10%
Hepatitis C / (self-reported) / 22%
ASI Scores
Medical / median / 2
Employment / median / 3
Alcohol / median / 2
Drug / median / 5
Legal / median / 5
Family / median / 3

Further analysis reveals a more complete picture of the 2009 Drug Court population:

Ethnicity. African Americans are over-represented in Drug Court as they are throughout the criminal justice system: only 8 percent of San Franciscans are African American, while 52 percent of 2009 Drug Court clients were. This disparity was even greater among female Drug Court clients, 62 percent of whom were African American.

Drug of Choice. Men were nearly two times more likely to use heroin than women (20% of male Drug Court clients vs. 11% of female Drug Court clients). Men were also more likely to use methamphetamine than women (19% vs. 12%).

African Americans and Latinos were nearly three times more likely to use cocaine than whites (63% vs. 23%). Whites were more likely to use heroin than African Americans (37.5% vs. 14%) and Latinos (4%). Whites were also more likely to use methamphetamine than African Americans (28% vs. 10%) and Latinos (21%).

Cocaine users tended to be older (62% were over 39), while methamphetamine users tended to be younger (67% were under 39), as did marijuana users (71% were under 29).Heroin use wasfairly evenly distributed across age groups (22% under 29; 27% between 30 and 38; 26% between 39 and 46; 25% over 47).

Income.Women were nearly three times more likely to be on assistance than men (16% vs. 5.5%). Seventy-nine percent of Latinos in Drug Court had no income, and 77percent of whites had no income, while 62 percent of African Americans had no income.Conversely, African Americans were more likely to receive assistance or disability than Whites and Latinos. Collectively, only 9 to 10 percent of African Americans, Latinos and Whites were employed.

Living Situation. Whites were the most likely to be homeless: 35 percent of whites were homeless as compared to 22 percent of African Americans and 13 percent of Latinos.

2009 Case Processing Time

Drug Court has recently boosted efforts to track case processing time between arrest, program entry and assessment. Case processing data is available for roughly 50 percent of 2009 Drug Court episodes.

In 2009, the median time between arrest and Drug Court entry was 34 days. The median time between program entry and assessment was 15 days.

Time in Program/ Time to Graduation

(Clients exiting in 2009)

Among all clients who exited Drug Court in 2009, whether bytermination or graduation, the median program time was four and a half months (range: 2 to 817 days). The median program time for clients who terminated from Drug Court (“non-completers”) was 79 days (range: 2 to 675).

The median time to graduation was roughly 9 months: fifty percent of 2009 graduates completed within 278 days. Seventy-five percent completed within a year.

Table 3: Median Drug Court Program Days

2007 Retention & Completion

The most recent year for which a Drug Court graduation rate is available is 2007. All clients entering Drug Court in 2007 have exited the program, either by termination or graduation. This section evaluates the 6-month and 1-year retention rates, as well as the graduation rate for 2007 Drug Court episodes (Figure 4).

Within six months of entering Drug Court, 39 percent of 2007 clientsremained actively engaged, while 43 percent had been terminated by the court, and 18 percent had self-terminated (6-month retention rate: 39%). Within 1 year of program entry, 15 percent of 2007 clients had graduated, and 11 percent remained active (1-year retention rate: 26 percent). By 2010, all 2007 participants had exited the program, with 24 percent (73 clients) successfully completing the program (2007 graduation rate: 24 percent).

Figure 4: 2007 6-month (39%) and 1-year (26%) Retention Rates, and Graduation Rate (24%)

Who Succeeds in Drug Court?

(Clients entering in 2007)

Among clients entering in 2007, several characteristics were significantly related to Drug Court outcome.

Income.Clients receiving disability were the least likely to graduate from Drug Court (18% of clients receiving Disability graduated vs. 24% all Drug Court clients).This may be due to the considerable challenges faced by individuals with mental and physical disabilities

Clients receiving Assistance were the most likely to graduate, with a rate more than two times higher than the 2007 graduation rate (56% vs. 24%). It is unclear why clients receiving Assistance graduate at a higher rate, though it may be related to parenthood: 24 percent of clients on Assistance had minor children as compared to 14 percent of 2007 clients.

Parenthood.Parents of minor children were 1.5 times as likely as those without minor children to graduate (34% vs. 22%).

Age.Age is significantly related to outcome, with older Drug Court clients graduating at a higher rate than younger clients.

Age Group / Graduation Rate
Less than 29 years / 14.3%
30 to 38 years / 28.1%
39 to 46 years / 25.6%
47 or more years / 30.8%

Drug Treatment History. Clients with a history of Drug Treatment are 1.3 times more likely to graduate than those who have never participated in treatment (31% vs. 22%). This relationship between treatment history and outcome may be due to age, as older Drug Court clients are more likely to have previously participated in substance abuse treatment.

1

[1]After terminating from Drug Court, defendants are given up to three additional chances to participate in Drug Court. However, Drug Court graduates may not re-enter the program for five years after successful completion.