NCJ Number
75790
Journal
Drug and Alcohol Dependence Volume: 18 Issue: 3 Dated: (1980) Pages: 311-319
Date Published
1980
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Unsupervised and untreated addicts are compared to nonaddict defendants and successfully treated addicts as bond risks in relation to court appearance and rearrest.
Abstract
The relationship between addiction and pretrial performance has attracted increasing attention in the diversion and bail study literature. Many jurisdictions have imposed special restrictive bail conditions upon the bail agreements of addict defendants on the heretofore unproven assumption that appropriate remedial conditions of release (for example, supervised drug abuse treatment) will improve the pretrial release performance of addict defendants. To determine the validity of these assumptions, the pretrial release performance of three groups (addict defendants without treatment supervision, addict defendants involved in a supervised drug abuse treatment program, and nonaddict unsupervised felony defendants) was examined in the Denver Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime (TASC) program. Analysis of the data by three different methods to determine the relative success of each group in attending required court appearances shows that there was a significantly greater failure rate for non-TASC addicts than for TASC clients. There was no statistically significant difference between the mean rates of TASC clients and nonaddict felons. Rearrest data showed virtually no difference between the groups for nondrug offenses; but when drug offenses were considered, rearrest rates for addict groups were significantly higher than for nonaddicted felons. Statistical significance, however, was not achieved when rearrest measures between the two addict groups were compared. The data, therefore, support the proponents of TASC-type addict diversion programs as a condition of granting bail bonds. Six references and four tables are provided. (Author abstract modified)