NCJ Number
221718
Journal
Journal of Offender Rehabilitation Volume: 45 Issue: 3/4 Dated: 2007 Pages: 109-130
Date Published
2007
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This study examined the impact of the drug court by gender on a group of high-risk/high-need methamphetamine (meth) users.
Abstract
The results indicate that men have a higher probability of failure over an 18-month followup period, and that drug court can be an effective strategy for women meth users even with an assortment of needs. Despite the fact that women meth users had higher LSI-R mean scores and were more likely to have other needs such as physical and sexual abuse issues, and dependent children, they were less likely to fail than men on several outcome measures. Moreover, gender was significantly related to the probability of outcome above and beyond the variation explained by the risk variable. Implications of the study suggest that not only are drug courts a reasonable solution to the growing meth epidemic, they also provide the structure and wraparound service approach that is more likely to be effective for clients with an assortment of needs. The finding that women can be effectively treated in the community is a positive result for women in light of concerns that punitive drug policies have become a war on women as women are more likely than men to serve a sentence for a drug charge, and the rate of incarceration for women has grown at nearly double the rate that for men over the past two decades. And finally, rather than relying on incarceration to change behavior, the drug court model emphasizes supervision, treatment, and accountability; women receive more intensive levels of treatment in a drug court model than they would typically be exposed to either in an institutional or even basic probation setting. Participants were 153 men (50.3 percent) and 151 women (49.7 percent) who entered a drug court between January 2001 and July 2005. Tables, figures, notes, references