Drug testing in probation and parole supervision casts a wide and costly net, subjecting most people on supervision to random drug tests regardless of their substance use, recovery, or conviction history. Drug testing is a leading driver of returns to incarceration, with few indications that it is linked to success on supervision or recidivism in general.

ICH received a grant from Arnold Ventures to build a research and evaluation portfolio that identifies promising existing practices and innovations in drug testing. In Phase 1, ICH and the American Probation and Parole Association used a mixed-methods design to explore 1) the current landscape of drug testing in probation and parole supervision, 2) how that landscape may have shifted in recent years, and 3) how agencies are thinking about drug testing practices in the future.

In Phase 2, ICH will conduct evaluability assessments with agencies in selected jurisdictions to identify opportunities to test the effectiveness of drug testing practices. We will simultaneously probe the extent to which 1) a theoretical evaluation would advance equity, 2) whether an evaluation could be participant-oriented and valid for people on supervision, and 3) whether an evaluation could determine the effectiveness of drug testing for populations who have been historically harmed by the justice system (i.e., Black, Brown, and Indigenous people). By incorporating equitable evaluation practices, this project offers the opportunity to establish a new, more just framework for evaluation of community supervision practices.