New! Risk and Needs Triage, RANT™, can assist judges and other law enforcement officials match drug-involved offenders to the community corrections programs best suited to their need for supervision and treatment. More.

Dr. Festinger is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of

Dr. Festinger's research has focused primarily on empirically isolating the active mechanisms of drug courts, developing empirically based dispositional procedures for substance abusing offenders, and bringing experimental research methods to bear on major ethical questions facing research participants in substance abuse research. Dr. Festinger has served as Principal Investigator and Co-Principal Investigator on numerous grants from the National Institute of Drug Abuse and has authored numerous articles and chapters, as well as a widely used introductory text on research methods. 

Section Mission: To evaluate the impact of criminal justice programs, legal policies, and ethical mandates on substance abuse clients, their families, and the community.

Research and Evaluation: Dr. Festinger and TRI colleagues are evaluating the operative ingredients of interventions for substance-abusing offenders, for DUI clients and for others whose substance abuse has placed them under judicial supervision. Because offender research subjects are among the most vulnerable to coercion, investigators in the Law & Ethics Section evaluate alternative consent and payment procedures to foster important research without ethical jeopardy to subjects. In this section TRI researchers are assessing the number and type of Internet sites where teenagers can purchase drugs of abuse, as well as the impact of exposure to drug-promoting websites. View selected projects

Policy Development: Through research, policy makers now understand that treatment must be among the mix of interventions for those whose substance abuse has placed them or their families under criminal justice scrutiny. Researchers in this TRI Section have documented the cost-effectiveness of treatment for substance abuse, particularly in criminal justice settings. Empirically-derived white papers and legal documents are developed to help shape criminal justice policy at the state level. View selected projects

Practice Improvement: Drs. Festinger and Marlowe and other investigators in the Section have developed empirically-derived tools to inform the placements and dispositions of substance abusing offenders (RANT™), and provide judges with real-time information on offenders' ongoing progress in drug court programs (TRI-CEP™). View selected projects