NCJ Number
195195
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 46 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2002 Pages: 220-230
Date Published
2002
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This article presents a statistical analysis of the effects of substance abuse treatment programs on recidivism rates of adult female prisoners committed to the Federal custody of the Correctional Service of Canada.
Abstract
Based upon data collected from 98 adult female prisoners sentenced in the Canadian Federal Correctional System, the authors studied the correlation, between substance abuse treatment program provision to incarcerated adult females and a reduction in recidivism among treated prisoners upon their release. The study sample consisted of 58 treated and 40 untreated prisoners who had been released from custody no later than May 31, 1999. The general statistical data showed that the recidivism rate for treated offenders was lowered to a statistically significant degree. In more detailed analyses of the data, rates of violent recidivism were not effected in a statistically significant proportion between treated and untreated offenders. The overall findings, however, support a link between substance abuse treatment for female offenders while incarcerated to a lowered recidivism rate, even when the data is studied across offender risk level and ethnicity. 3 tables, 24 references