Abstract
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.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 89-109 |
Number of pages | 21 |
Journal | Criminal Justice and Behavior |
Volume | 36 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 2009 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- drug treatment
- intermediate punishments
- recidivism
- sentencing guidelines
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pathology and Forensic Medicine
- General Psychology
- Law