In 1990, I was the first judge of Oakland’s F.I.R.S.T (Fast, Immediate, Rehabilitation, Supervision, and Treatment) Drug Court Program. Groping for things that made sense in the world of substance abuse and the courts, I found partners like then Probation officer Frank Tapia and Doctor Alex Stalcup to help design and implement what was a common sense approach to the problem of drug abusers.
The following documents provide a glimpse at the evolving world of drug courts and Evidence Based Practices that were to emerge out of them:
Evaluation of The Oakland Drug Court After Three Years (Fast, Immediate, Rehabilitation, Supervision, Treatment) Judge Jeff Tauber, 1995 (finding the number of successful graduations nearly doubled and the number of days spent in custody and felony arrests nearly halved)
NCSC Evaluation of Oakland’s F.I.R.S.T. Drug Court Program at Five Years,1996 (“finding that …. “the Drug Court continues to perform admirably. The conviction data is strikingly positive”)
