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Drug Treatment Accessed through the Criminal Justice System: Participants’ Perspectives and Uses

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Abstract

The criminal justice system has become a major pathway to drug treatment across the USA. Millions of criminal justice dollars are spent on an array of treatment programs for justice-involved populations, from pre-sentence diversionary programs to outpatient services for those on community supervision. This study uses 235 qualitative, longitudinal interviews with 45 people convicted of drug offenses to describe participants’ perspectives on criminal justice-related drug treatment (programs within correctional facilities; court, probation, or parole-ordered mandates and referrals; and self-referrals made with the goal of reducing criminal justice involvement), beyond discourses about help with addiction. Interviews took place in New Haven, CT, between 2011 and 2014 every 6 months, for a maximum of five interviews with each participant. Many participants who were referred to drug treatment did not consider these programs appropriate for their needs, as many did not perceive themselves to have a drug problem, or did not consider substance use to be their primary problem. Frustrations regarding the ill-fitting nature of mandated programs were coupled with theories about non-health-related policy goals of criminal justice-mandated drug treatment, such as prison overflow management and increased profit for the state. Nonetheless, participants used drug treatment to advance their own goals of coping with life’s challenges, reducing their criminal justice system involvement, proving worthiness through rehabilitation, and accessing other resources. These participants’ perspectives offer a wide lens through which to view the system of criminal justice-related drug treatment, a view that can guide us in critically evaluating provision of drug treatment and developing more effective systems of appropriate rehabilitative services for people who are justice involved.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the study participants for their time and contribution to this project and the Connecticut Department of Correction and Connecticut Court Support Services Division for their cooperation with this research. We also wish to acknowledge Penelope Schlesinger and Amy Smoyer for their helpful comments on earlier versions of the paper.

Funding

Funding for this study was provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (5R01DA025021-05, Kim M. Blankenship, Ph.D., Principal Investigator). Additional support was received from the Yale's Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (National Institute of Mental Health Grant No. P30MH062294, Paul D. Cleary, Ph.D., Principal Investigator) and the Center on Health, Risk and Society at American University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA

    Alana Rosenberg & Robert Heimer

  2. Keene, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA

    Danya E. Keene

  3. Community Health and Prevention, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Allison K. Groves

  4. Department of Sociology, American University, Washington, DC, USA

    Kim M. Blankenship

Authors
  1. Alana Rosenberg
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  2. Robert Heimer
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  3. Danya E. Keene
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  4. Allison K. Groves
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  5. Kim M. Blankenship
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alana Rosenberg.

Ethics declarations

The study protocol, recruitment materials, and consent forms and procedures were approved by Institutional Review Boards at Yale University and American University. In addition, the study was approved by the Connecticut Department of Correction’s Research and Advisory Committee and the Internal Research Review Committee of the Court Support Services Division of the Connecticut Judicial Branch. 

Disclaimer

The National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, the Connecticut Department of Correction, and the Connecticut Court Support Services Division did not play a role in the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of project funders or partners.

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Rosenberg, A., Heimer, R., Keene, D.E. et al. Drug Treatment Accessed through the Criminal Justice System: Participants’ Perspectives and Uses. J Urban Health 96, 390–399 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-018-0308-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-018-0308-9

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