CRIMINAL JUSTICE CLIENTS (FROM HANDBOOK ON DRUG ABUSE, 1979 BY ROBERT DUPONT AND AVRAM GOLDSTEIN - SEE NCJ-57805)

• NCJ Number: 57823
• Author(s): W H MCGLOTHLIN
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 7 pages
• Grant Number(s): K05-DA70182
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health, Education, and Welfare
• Corporate Author: US Dept of Health, Education, and Welfare
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

THE EFFECTIVENESS AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE CLIENT POPULATION OF COMPULSORY DRUG TREATMENT PROGRAMS ARE DISCUSSED ALONG WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH.

Abstract

THE TERM 'CRIMINAL JUSTICE CLIENT' REFERS TO AN INDIVIDUAL ENTERING A DRUG TREATMENT PROGRAM UNDER COERCION FROM THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE (CJ) SYSTEM. A BROADER DEFINITION WOULD INCLUDE THOSE WHO ARE INCARCERATED, SOME OF WHOM ARE ALSO INVOLVED IN INSTITUTIONAL TREATMENT PROGRAMS, AS WELL AS THOSE WHO ARE ON PROBATATION OR PAROLE, BUT NOT INVOLVED WITH OUTSIDE TREATMENT PROGRAMS. COERCION IS THE CENTRAL ELEMENT OF CJ INTERVENTION. THERE ARE THREE GENERAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON THE COMPULSORY TREATMENT OF DRUG USERS: CJ PROGRAMS (SUCH AS INSTITUTIONS ANND HALFWAY HOUSES), NON-CJ TREATMENT PROGRAMS WHICH ADMIT CLIENTS REGARDLESS OF CJ LEGAL STATUS, AND TREATMENT ALTERNATIVES TO STREET CRIME (TASC). WITH REGARD TO CJ PROGRAMS, A SURVEY OF STATE PRISONS FOUND VERY FEW CONTAINED COMPREHENSIVE DRUG TREATMENT; INSTITUTIONS ARE MINIMALLY EFFECTIVE IN THE PREVENTION OF RESUMED DRUG USE FOLLOWING RELEASE. ANALYSIS OF NON-CJ PROGRAMS REVEALED THAT OUTCOMES ARE NOT APPRECIABLY BETTER THAN THAT EXPECTED FROM CLOSE PAROLE SUPERVISION ALONE. TASC, ORIGINALLY DESIGNED TO CHANNEL HEROIN ADDICTS BEING PROCESSED BY THE CJ SYSTEM INTO TREATMENT PROGRAMS, HAS BEEN BROADENED TO INCLUDE OTHER DRUG USERS. TASC SCREENS ARRESTEES TO IDENTIFY DRUG USERS, DIAGNOSES AND REFERS CLIENTS TO APPROPRIATE TREATMENT PROGRAMS, AND MONITORS TASC CLIENTS, REPORTING VIOLATORS TO THE CJ SYSTEM. ALTHOUGH THE TASC APPROACH HAS NOT YET BEEN FULLY ASSESSED AS TO EFFECTIVENESS, IT HAS GENERALLY BEEN WELL RECEIVED BY THE COURTS. IN CONCLUSION, THERE IS A NEED FOR CONTROLLED RESEARCH ON THE EFFECTS OF COMPULSORY TREATMENT IN COMMUNITY PROGRAMS. MOST RECENT STUDIES HAVE SIMPLY COMPARED OUTCOMES FOR CJ AND NON-CJ CLIENTS IN EXISTING TREATMENT POPULATIONS WITHOUT DEFINING THE NATURE OF COOERCION OR ASSURING THE PRETREATMENT COMPARABILITY OF THE TWO GROUPS. REFERENCES ARE INCLUDED. (LWM)