Managing Addiction in Offenders through Court-Mandated Treatment

Managing Addiction in Offenders through Court-Mandated Treatment

Presenter: Ekaterina (Kate) Pivovarova, Ph.D.

Date: May 17, 2018

Presentation Slides

Description:
Up to 65% of individuals involved with the criminal justice meet criteria for substance use disorders. Former inmates are at increased risk of death once released to the community. Accordingly, it is critical to provider proper addictions treatment for individuals involved with the criminal justice in the community. One approach is through the use of drug treatment courts, or specialty courts that mandate treatment in the community in exchange for a reduction of or avoidance of incarceration. Although drug treatment court programs are effective in reducing criminal recidivism and drug and alcohol abuse, rates of program non-completion (or dropout) are unacceptably high, with some as high as 75%. Researchers have sought to identify variables that impact program dropout, to date with limited success. A novel approach to examining program attrition will be discussed by focusing on the impact of chronic conditions and health-related quality of life in drug court participants. The discussion will focus on developing interventions that could be used to improve program retention and thereby reduction in substance use and criminal recidivism for individuals involved with the criminal justice system.

*data used in this presentation is preliminary and is subject to change

Read more about this study in The Impact of Health-Related Quality of Life on Retention in Drug Treatment Courts.