title: Using the level of Service Inventory-Revised to improve assessment and treatment in drug court.
abstract: More than 2,000 drug courts in the United States provide supervision and substance-abuse treatment to thousands of offenders. Yet the treatment continuum from assessment to aftercare is underexplored. The effectiveness of the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R) as a risk assessment tool is well established. However, fewer studies have considered its use in guiding treatment strategies. In using the LSI-R, the drug court program relied on the structured interview protocol (not the risk classification scores) to identify criminogenic needs that then helped determine placement in a high- or low-needs treatment track. To evaluate the effectiveness of these treatment placement decisions, this research used the LSI-R scores to examine individual and group differences (N = 182). Significant and substantive differences at the individual and group levels were found thus providing empirical support for using the LSI-R as a link between assessment and treatment. Implications for developing standards and practice protocols for drug courts are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Criminal Justice, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302, USA. wpguastaferro@gsu.edu
authors.forename: Wendy P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Guastaferro
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000359:Aftercare / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003415:Crime / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D005260:Female; D005845:Georgia; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D033222:Judicial Role; D035846:Law Enforcement; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D012307:Risk Factors; D055502:Secondary Prevention; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D063189:Symptom Assessment / Q000523:psychology*
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs