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Closing the Revolving Door?Substance Abuse Treatment as an Alternative to Traditional Sentencing for Drug-Dependent OffendersBowling Green State University RTI International, twarner{at}bgsu.edu
Pennsylvania State University The criminal justice system is often viewed as a revolving door for drug-dependent offenders due to its failure to recognize the association between addiction and offending, and repeated incarceration of drug-dependent offenders has contributed to prison overcrowding. The authors evaluated the effectiveness of Pennsylvania's drug and alcohol treatment-based intermediate punishment, Restrictive Intermediate Punishments (RIP/D&A), at reducing the risk of rearrest. Rearrest was compared at 12, 24, and 36 months postrelease. Offenders who successfully completed treatment had a lower risk of rearrest than traditionally sentenced offenders in general and county jail and probation offenders specifically. However, offenders sentenced to RIP/D&A who did not successfully complete treatment were more at risk for rearrest than traditionally sentenced offenders in general. Also, offenders sentenced to state incarceration had a lower risk of rearrest than RIP/D&A participants, regardless of program completion.
Key Words: intermediate punishments drug treatment recidivism sentencing guidelines
Criminal Justice and Behavior, Vol. 36, No. 1,
89-109 (2009) |
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