Treatment retention and outcome among cocaine-dependent patients with and without active criminal justice involvement.

Full Abstract

In this study, we examined differences between cocaine- and alcohol-dependent patients with and without active criminal justice involvement. Data were combined from two randomized controlled trials, in which 243 participants were randomly assigned to manual-guided behavioral therapies and medication (either disulfiram or placebo). Fifty-five (23%) participants of the combined sample had active criminal justice involvement, defined as being referred to treatment by a court official or a probation or parole officer. Regarding treatment outcome, there were no significant differences between participants with and without criminal justice involvement with regard to frequency of cocaine or other substance use during the three months of study treatment or the one-year follow-up. Although the criminal justice-referred group had significantly more new arrests during the one-year follow-up, when antisocial personality disorder was utilized as a covariate, there were no significant differences between criminal justice groups in number of arrests at the one-year follow-up. These data suggest that participants with active criminal justice involvement do not necessarily have poorer retention or substance use outcomes than do individuals who are self-referred or referred by other sources when treated in well-defined protocols.

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Author information

Author/s: Easton, Caroline J (CJ); Babuscio, Theresa (T); Carroll, Kathleen M (KM);

Affiliation: Division of Substance Abuse, ASAP/SATU, Box 18, 1 Long Wharf, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. caroline.easton(-atsign-)yale.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: The journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (J Am Acad Psychiatry Law), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-; vol 35 (issue 1) : pp 83-91

Dates: Created 2007/03/28; Completed 2007/07/16; Revised 2007/11/15;

PMID: 17389349, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Alcoholism - epidemiology; rehabilitation
Antisocial Personality Disorder - epidemiology; rehabilitation
Cocaine-Related Disorders - epidemiology; rehabilitation
Comorbidity
Crime - legislation & jurisprudence; statistics & numerical data
Data Interpretation, Statistical
Female

Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Male
Outcome Assessment (Health Care) - statistics & numerical data
Patient Dropouts - legislation & jurisprudence; statistics & numerical data
Prognosis
Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
Substance Abuse Detection - legislation & jurisprudence; statistics & numerical data

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