Achieving Racial and Ethnic Fairness in Drug Courts

In June 2010, the Board of Directors of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP) passed a unanimous resolution directing drug courts to examine whether unfair disparities exist in their programs for racial or ethnic minority participants, and if so, to take reasonable corrective measures to eliminate such disparities.1 The resolution places an affirmative obligation on drug courts to continuously monitor whether minority participants have equal access to the programs, receive substantially equivalent services in the programs, and successfully complete the programs at equivalent rates to non-minorities.2 The resolution further directs drug courts to adopt evidence-based assessment tools and clinical interventions that are scientifically proven to be valid and effective for minority participants, and to instruct staff members to attend up-to-date training events on the provision of culturally sensitive and culturally proficient services.

Developing a Culturally Proficient Intervention for Young African American Men in Drug Court: Examining Feasibility and Estimating an Effect Size for Habilitation Empowerment Accountability Therapy (HEAT)

African American males between 18 and 29 years of age are substantially less likely than many other participants to graduate successfully from drug court. Unsuccessful termination from drug court can have serious repercussions for these young men, including possible incarceration and negative collateral consequences associated with having a criminal record. This article reports preliminary results from two pilot studies that examined the feasibility of implementing a culturally proficient intervention for young African American men in drug court, and estimated an effect size for the intervention in improving treatment retention and reducing termination rates. Results confirmed that participants with serious criminal and substance use histories were willing and able to complete the lengthy 9-month curriculum, were satisfied with the intervention, and graduated from drug court at substantially higher rates than are commonly observed in this at-risk population. A sufficient basis has been established to justify the effort and expense of examining this intervention — Habilitation Empowerment Accountability Therapy (HEAT) — in fully powered randomized controlled trials

Sorl1 as an Alzheimer's disease predisposition gene?

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressively disabling impairments in memory, cognition, and non-cognitive behavioural symptoms. Sporadic AD is multifactorial and genetically complex. While several monogenic mutations cause early-onset AD and gene alleles have been suggested as AD susceptibility factors, the only extensively validated susceptibility gene for late-onset AD is the apolipoprotein E (APOE) epsilon4 allele. Alleles of the APOE gene do not account for all of the genetic load calculated to be responsible for AD predisposition. Recently, polymorphisms across the neuronal sortilin-related receptor (SORL1) gene were shown to be significantly associated with AD in several cohorts. Here we present the results of our large case-control whole-genome scan at over 500,000 polymorphisms which presents weak evidence for association and potentially narrows the association interval

Achieving Racial and Ethnic Fairness in Drug Courts

In June 2010, the Board of Directors of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP) passed a unanimous resolution directing drug courts to examine whether unfair disparities exist in their programs for racial or ethnic minority participants, and if so, to take reasonable corrective measures to eliminate such disparities.1 The resolution places an affirmative obligation on drug courts to continuously monitor whether minority participants have equal access to the programs, receive substantially equivalent services in the programs, and successfully complete the programs at equivalent rates to non-minorities.2 The resolution further directs drug courts to adopt evidence-based assessment tools and clinical interventions that are scientifically proven to be valid and effective for minority participants, and to instruct staff members to attend up-to-date training events on the provision of culturally sensitive and culturally proficient services.