The Treatment Alternatives and Diversion (TAD) Admission Cohort Report public dashboard serves as a live companion to the yearly static reports on referrals and admissions to TAD-funded treatment courts and diversion programs located below. This dashboard is connected directly to the Comprehensive Outcome, Research and Evaluation (CORE) database where TAD-funded sites are required to input data on their program referrals, eligibility determinations, program admissions, program discharges, and other information about participants while they are in the program. The dashboard refreshes every morning and can be used to examine statewide aggregate data for TAD-funded programs. Currently, the dashboard contains data for the past 5 years’ of CORE data entries (2019-2023). Sites are instructed on the usage and elements of CORE through training materials and annual conferences and are advised to enter in applicable participant information within a 48-hour window of occurrence. However, due to various circumstances, the data here may not always be entirely accurate and/or up to date.
Treatment Alternatives and Diversion (TAD)
Wisconsin treatment courts and diversion programs that receive Treatment Alternatives and Diversion (TAD) funding are required under Wis. Stat. §165.95 to submit participant data to the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Reports created by BJIA summarizing those data are included below.
2019 Progress Report: Admission Cohort Status Update
2020 Progress Report: Admission Cohort Status Update
2021 Progress Report: Admission Cohort Status Update
2022 Progress Report: Admission Cohort Status Update
Evaluations
2014-2018 Participant Outcome Summary and Cost-Benefit Report
Key Terms:
Treatment Alternatives and Diversion (TAD): a statewide program that funds treatment and diversion programs for non-violent adult offenders whose substance abuse is a contributing factor in their criminal activity – more information about the TAD program is available on the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) website.
CORE: Comprehensive Outcome, Research and Evaluation Reporting System created by the DOJ for the purpose of collecting performance measure and evaluation data for TAD programs. CORE is provided to sites for free and is open for use to non-TAD funded programs statewide as well.
Site: refers to an entire county or recognized tribe in Wisconsin that has received funding to operate one or more programs in their jurisdiction.
Program: refers to one operation within a site, typically limited in scope to one or two areas of treatment/diversion. For example, one site may have a TAD-funded OWI Drug Court and a TAD-funded Post-Charge Diversion program.
Treatment Court: programs that promote recovery through a coordinated response to participants who are dependent on alcohol and other drugs (AOD) and/or living with severe or persistent mental illness or organic brain disorders. A team approach is required, including the collaboration of judges, treatment court coordinators, prosecutors, defense counsel, probation authorities, law enforcement, treatment providers, and evaluators. Treatment courts employ a multi-phased treatment process. The goal of treatment courts is to engage individuals in treatment long enough to experience the benefits in order to end the cycle of recidivism and successfully intervene on the addiction. Treatment courts encompass adult drug court, hybrid courts, OWI courts, mental health courts, juvenile drug courts, family dependency courts, and veteran courts
Diversion Program: a global term used to describe pre-arrest, pre-charge, post-charge, and treatment/specialty court programs (which can be pre- or post-conviction) that are an alternative to the formal prosecution process and that divert participants into voluntary programs of supervision and services, based on established criteria and a screening or assessment process. Participants who successfully complete the program will receive a beneficial outcome (no charges filed, charges reduced or dismissed, averted incarceration, etc.).
- Pre-Charge Diversion: Following a referral for prosecution, the prosecutor has discretion to withhold filing of charges and provide an alternative in the form of a diversion agreement which may include certain program requirements (e.g., do not commit a new crime for a specified period of time, participate in education classes, complete community service, and/or receive an assessment for treatment needs). Satisfactory completion of program requirements results in charges not being issued (no formal criminal complaint is filed).
- Post-Charge Diversion: Following the filing of charges, the prosecutor can exercise discretion to suspend formal prosecution and provide an alternative in the form of a diversion agreement including certain program requirements (e.g., do not commit a new crime for a specified period of time, participate in one or more programs or services). Satisfactory completion of program requirements results in reduced charges or the dismissal of formal charges.
General Data Notes:
Individuals are referred to TAD-funded programs from either an external source (typically defense/district attorneys or other criminal justice staff) or through self-referral. Individuals can be found ineligible for participation in a program based on a variety of criteria determined by each site, and the criteria established by Wis. Stat.§165.95 such as TAD funds cannot be allocated to an individual’s treatment if they are considered a violent offender.
There can be multiple reasons listed for an individual’s ineligibility within CORE, and as such ineligibility counts may not equal referral and/or admission counts. Individuals can be referred and admitted to programs multiple times, and are treated as new entries for each referral and admission.
It is possible for an individual’s eligibility to not be determined when they are referred to a program; this is predominantly due to an individual declining to participate in a program after their referral but before their eligibility can be determined. Other potential reasons for a ‘not determined’ eligibility status include a site/program’s data not being fully up to date, death while waiting for eligibility determination, and other circumstances.
Counts may differ slightly between pages due to the different dates included in each page and cohort displayed on each page. The total number of active participants on the cover page include all TAD-funded participants who currently have an active status regardless of their date they were admitted. Subsequent pages of the dashboard contain information pertaining to program referrals to TAD-funded programs (funding as of 2024) that were made from 2019-2023 (filtered to those years by referral date), as well as admissions information for individuals admitted to a program who were TAD-funded individuals from 2019-2023 (filtered to those years by admission date). For example, an individual may have been referred to a program in 2018 but not admitted until 2019; they would not be included in the referrals information within the dashboard, but would be among the admissions information. Likewise, a person referred in 2023 to a TAD-funded program but not admitted until 2024 would be included in the referral information but not the admission information. Finally, the total number of active participants on the first page will be larger than the total number of active participants with 2019-2023 admission years because the first page is not limited to 2019-2023 admissions.
All participants admitted to TAD-funded programs provide their written consent for their data to be collected within the CORE Reporting System, and allow for their information to be shared in a de-identified manner for the purposes of grant mandated evaluations of the TAD program statewide and for the analysis of performance measures (based upon the Wisconsin Statewide Drug and Hybrid Court Performance Measures).