NCJ Number
122282
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 53 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1989) Pages: 51-56
Date Published
1989
Length
6 pages
Annotation
To date, the most effective treatment programs with addicted offenders have consisted of intensive, moderate-term programs designed as modified therapeutic communities. This article presents a followup study on reduction of criminal recidivism by inmates treated in the Cornerstone Program in Oregon.
Abstract
The participants in this program spent the last 10 to 12 months of their sentence at the Oregon State Hospital, were paroled directly from the program, and returned for aftercare/transitional services for the first six months of their parole. The program operates on several principles: separating patients from the general inmate population, establishing clearly understood rules and consequences, establishing a clear system for earning privileges and gradual freedom, maintaining formal participation by inmates in running the program, applying intensive treatment, treating addiction and criminality, and providing transition and aftercare. The Law Enforcement Data System (LEDS) was used to study criminal recidivism of the program participants; arrests, convictions, and incarcerations were the dependent variables. Absence of any of these factors for three years after parole was compared across the four groups (program graduates, non-graduates who spent more than six months in the program, non-graduates who spent between two and six months in it, and non-graduates who spent between one day and two months in it). The second phase examined rates of arrest, conviction, and incarceration for a three-year interval after parole and for two three-year periods before incarceration for the offense that led the offender to the program. Program graduates do much better than non-graduate groups, although many do have some contact with the criminal justice system. The two partial treatment groups show similar results, while the less than 60 day group is nearly a no-treatment comparison group. In comparing post-treatment rates with pre-treatment rates, it was found that the four groups were nearly identical in the pre-treatment intervals, showing accelerating criminal activity. In each case, the treated groups reduced their criminal activity in correlation with time in treatment; program graduates do better than non-graduates. The study results are limited in that subject motivation for change is not controlled for and because the measurement requirements necessitated dropping significant numbers of subjects from parts of the study. 2 tables, 3 figures, 6 references.