Selection of youth to participate in a substance-testing program will be based, in part, on the agency and the purpose for testing. Testing could be conducted at every point in the juvenile justice continuum. For example, the following illustrates options for testing juveniles:

• At intake to detention. All youth could be tested to detect possible health or safety concerns, to help in considering (with other factors) which youth might be released before adjudication with minimal risk to themselves or the community, and to assist in making case plans for treatment, supervision, or placement.

• During probation supervision. Probation agencies might adopt policies to test every youth at intake to probation or limit testing to those with court orders for testing. Testing should be adjusted to the case situation on an ongoing basis. For example, if a youth tests negative several times, stopping or diminishing drug testing should be considered. On the other hand, if a youth who was not previously subject to testing begins showing signs of substance abuse (e.g., declining grades, absenteeism, getting in trouble), initiating testing should be deliberated.

• In residential placement. Testing in a residential facility might be done when youth are admitted, when they have been away from the facility (e.g., furloughs, work release) and might have had access to psychoactive substances, and when behavior or evidence (e.g., discovery of contraband) suggests they may have used chemicals.

• During aftercare or parole. Youth who have been in placement usually are supervised during their reintegration into the community. This may be a time when they are vulnerable to resuming substance use, and testing can provide needed information for personnel supervising them. Awareness that testing will occur may also serve as a deterrent when youth are deciding on drug usage. Many youth released from placement may need ongoing substance abuse treatment and relapse prevention in the community, and substance testing provides a method of monitoring their compliance and progress.

We will let the State and local governments make the determination of what the appropriate categories of juveniles are. Our research shows that most drug testing occurs as a result of local policies and so I expect that whether there is drug testing at the local level will vary not only from State to State, but also within the State. The determination of who should be tested will depend, in part, upon what kind of program interventions are available or can be developed for juveniles who test positive for drug use. It doesn't make any programmatic sense to test somebody for drug use unless you're going to do something with the results. So, in part, it will depend upon the capacity of the State or local government to use those results in a meaningful way.