UNCW Researchers Awarded $1.75 Million to Continue National Drug Court Resource Center

Since 2019, the National Drug Court Resource Center, housed at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, has provided treatment court practitioners with myriad resources to design, implement, expand, and enhance treatment court programs across America and US territories. 

In September 2023, UNCW was awarded an additional $1.75 million from the Bureau of Justice Assistance to continue the work of the NDCRC for the next two years. “Adult Treatment Court Planning, Training, Technical Assistance, and Resources Center Initiative” funding will allow the center to expand the resources, innovative experiences, and research base available to treatment court practitioners, legislators, funders, and researchers. 

UNCW Department of Sociology and Criminology Professors Drs. Kristen DeVall and Christina Lanier co-direct the NDCRC and are the principal investigators of the grant. Dr. Ron Vetter, professor of computer science and founding dean of the College of Science and Engineering; Dr. Sally MacKain, professor of psychology; and Dr. Jeanne M. Persuit, professor of communication studies, are the co-PIs.   

The latest grant brings the total awarded to Drs. DeVall and Lanier for their work with the NDCRC to $5,086,565 (2019-present). 

Notable accomplishments to date include:

• Curating materials featured on the NDCRC website 
• Developing and maintaining an interactive map which includes treatment court programs by state/county and data from multiple sources
• Conducting the annual count of treatment court programs by state/territory 
• Publishing the biennial Painting the Current Picture: A National Report on Treatment Courts in the United States monograph
• Published the monograph Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts: Inaugural Survey of the Field 
• Editing and publishing in The Drug Court Review 
• Hosting and producing the podcast “Justice to Healing” (available on all podcast platforms)
• Serving as subject matter experts for conferences and trainings 

The NDCRC is in the process of being rebranded as the National Treatment Court Resource Center (NTCRC). The name change reflects the breadth of courts supported by the center to include adult and juvenile drug treatment courts, adult and juvenile mental health courts, veterans treatment courts, DWI/DUI courts, co-occurring disorder courts, reentry courts and family treatment courts.