title: High-risk offenders participating in court-supervised substance abuse treatment: characteristics, treatment received, and factors associated with recidivism.
abstract: High-risk offenders treated by California's Proposition 36 court-supervised drug treatment initiative account for a disproportionate number of re-arrests (Hawken 2008) undermining the many successes of the program, yet little is known about their characteristics, treatment experiences, or factors that influence re-arrest. To better understand this group, self-reported and administrative data were analyzed on 78 high-risk (five or more convictions in the previous 5 years) and 1,009 low-risk offenders enrolled during 2004. At intake, high-risk offenders were younger, more were male, and more had prior contact with psychiatric and criminal justice systems. Treatment received and the proportion recidivated during the 30-months after treatment assessment were similar across groups, but high-risk offenders had a greater number of re-arrests. The number of re-arrests was increased by high-risk classification, but decreased by receipt of more treatment services and longer treatment length. Moreover, the number of re-arrests was highest among high-risk offenders with shorter treatment lengths, whereas it was similar to that among low-risk offenders if treatment length was longer. To reduce recidivism among high-risk offenders in court-supervised drug treatment, consideration of psychiatric problems and criminal history is needed, as is receipt of sufficient treatment.
authors.affiliation: UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, 1640 S. Sepulveda Blvd, 200, Los Angeles, CA 90025, USA. laevans@ucla.edu
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Yih-Ing
authors.initials: YI
authors.lastname: Hser
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003415:Crime / Q000523:psychology*; D057237:Criminals / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D035846:Law Enforcement; D008297:Male; D012008:Recurrence; D057566:Self Report; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome