Driving while intoxicated (DWI) courts have recently gained traction as a potential solution to the problem of repeat DWI offending. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of peer-reviewed studies that have examined their effectiveness. Thus, the current study compared DWI court graduates to a group of similar offenders who completed probation.…

As DUI Courts continue to expand through the United States, research needs to match the growth to inform administrators and the public on the effectiveness of these courts. The current study found that participation in a DUI or Misdemeanor/DUI Drug Court (23%) reduced recidivism compared to a comparison group (37%) with court filing records that…

The durability of the psychosocial benefits of Life Skills programming on outpatient adults with mental health/forensic issues was examined. Participants were 52 adults (28 males, 24 females) who completed 16 weeks of Life Skills at a psychiatric outpatient clinic and were re-assessed between six months and six years following treatment.…

An evaluation is presented of "Changing Lives Through Literature," a program designed as an alternative to jail. The study followed up the first 32 men to complete the program and compared them to a matched group of 40 probationers. Reconviction rate was favorable. Interview information and other influences on recidivism are considered.…

The effectiveness of the Reasoning and Rehabilitation (R and R) program with juvenile offenders in an English prison was evaluated using reconviction and reimprisonment at eighteen months post-release as outcomes. A group of offenders who completed the program (n = 31) were compared with a group of offenders who did not receive the program (n =…

This paper reports on the net cost-savings benefits (loss) to the criminal justice system of one rural and one urban day reporting center, both of which serve high risk/high need probationers. It also discusses issues of conducting criminal justice system cost studies of community corrections programs. The average DRC participant in the rural…

STOP is a classroom-based program for adult shoplifters on probation intended to provide education and esteem-building treatment to facilitate productive self-improvement. This article reports findings from an evaluation of the program. Using a treatment group of shoplifters ordered to the program over a twelve-month period and a comparison group…

The effects of "Problem Solving" (Taymans & Parese, 1998) are compared across small diversion and prison samples for men and women. A second program, "Pathfinders" (Hansen, 1993), was compared to the Problem Solving program among incarcerated women offenders to determine whether its focus upon empowerment and relationships enhanced the effects of…

Over the past two decades, the criminal justice population in the US has grown by over 200%, most of this due to an increase in drug-involved offenders. Although there is good evidence that prison-based substance abuse treatment programs can be effective in reducing rearrest, few cost-effectiveness studies have been conducted. Using data from the…

Treatment outcomes 1 year after release from prison were compared for two subgroups of male inmates with co-occurring serious mental illness and chemical abuse (MICA) disorders, those with a diagnosis for Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD), and those without a diagnosis of APD. The foundation study had randomly assigned inmates to either…

Recent interest in increasing access to substance abuse treatment for drug-involved offenders has been spurred by concerns over expanding prison and jail populations, high recidivism rates for drug-involved offenders, and the close link between illegal drug use and criminal activity. Chronic untreated drug and alcohol abuse is likely to result in…