By definition, persons with the dual diagnosis of both substance use disorders and mental illnesses have co-occurring disorders … every adult drug court can achieve positive outcomes for persons with co-occurring disorders-if the court is committed to doing so. “One of the biggest challenges for drug courts is effectively working with participants with co-occurring disorders. Appendixes provide: description of an arrangement for a multi-disciplinary or collaborative structure a facilitator’s guide with sample tools and exercises that will help organizations in the collaborative process and the evidence for the effective strategies for each recommendation. The recommendations made are: create a shared mission and vision develop interagency partnerships create effective communication protocols for sharing information ensure cross-system knowledge develop an early identification and assessment process address the needs of parents address the needs of children garner community support implement funding and sustainability strategies and evaluate shared outcomes to ensure accountability. The authors hope that this document will help jurisdictions select and improve practices and, ultimately, outcomes for children and families” (p. This publication “provides guidance for implementing an FDC, including the development of FDC partnerships and a common vocabulary for describing FDC components, with a focus on improving services to families who are involved with the child welfare system and are affected by substance use disorders. This report is comprised of three sections: the basics of cost-benefit analysis-what and why, considerations in valuing time, what CBA can and can't do, and the four steps of a CBA cost-benefit analysis in action-NIJ's Multi-site Adult Drug Court Evaluation (MADCE) and results from the MADCE cost-benefit analysis. It must be stressed that a CBA estimates social benefits not fiscal savings. This is required reading for those individuals tasked with determining what the social impact of a criminal justice program will be (whether a benefit or not).

We believe research that can inform decisions about resource allocation will be a central focus of criminal justice research in the years to come, with cost-benefit analysis (CBA) among the key tools' (p. 'As resource constraints have tightened, the role of researchers in informing evidence-based and cost-effective decisions about the use of funds, labor, materials and equipment - and even the skills of workers - has increased.

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