Contingency Contracting in Oakland: Implementing Structural Accountability in a Drug Court Program
Judge Jeffrey Tauber; 1995
Before HOPE, there were attempts at implementing minimalist, behavior based programs that placed a premium on swift and certain responses to the offenders progress in court-based rehabilitiaiton programs. Oakland’s F.I.R.S.T Drug Court Program, initiated in the fall of 1990, provided immediacy as well as a contingency contract that defined the substantial rewards and minimal sanctions applied in response to an offender’s behaviors. The F.I.R.S.T program had great success at first (according to a NCSC study) but was discontinued in 2007.
