Correctional Treatment in Delaware: Strategies for Success

• NCJ Number: 209180
• Author(s): Elizabeth A. Peyton
• Date Published: June 2004
• Length: 89 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2003DBBX0010
• Sponsoring Agency: Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA); Delaware Criminal Justice Council
• Corporate Author: Delaware Statistical Analysis Ctr
• Sale Source: Delaware Sentencing Accountability Cmssn
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: A report to the Joint Finance Committee of the Delaware General Assembly

Annotation

In supplementing the 2002 report entitled "Sentencing Trends and Correctional Treatment in Delaware," this current report further explores issues related to treatment for adult offenders and its impact on Delaware's justice system.

Abstract

A summary description of treatment services and activities focuses on corrections-based substance abuse programming and community-based programs, followed by an overview of Delaware's efforts to base treatment program structures and methods in empirically based proven strategies. Barriers to the success of these efforts are listed. Progress is assessed in Delaware's efforts to improve screening and assessment of offenders, to develop comprehensive treatment plans, to provide long-term and intensive substance abuse treatment services, to establish a wide range of supervision options, to use a management information system for tracking and managing offender treatment, and to conduct rigorous performance evaluations. A section on the placement of offenders in treatment presents a system overview and an overview of a tracking study. The study concluded that given the relatively informal mechanisms for placing court-ordered offenders in treatment, notably the lack of electronic recordkeeping and communication, overall the system is apparently working in many cases. Next, results are presented from a survey of the judiciary regarding adult offender treatment services. Based on the findings presented in this report, it recommends establishing a system of screening and assessment that will enable judges to order treatment conditions based on offender clinical and risk characteristics. It also recommends expanding community-based services for substance-involved offenders to include residential and intensive outpatient services. Further, the report recommends examining outcomes of level IV and level V correctional and community-based programs, as well as the development of policies, procedures, interagency agreements, and data capabilities for managing substance-involved offenders. 2 tables, 11 figures, 28 references, and appended supplementary reports and study instruments