Does mandating offenders to treatment improve completion rates?

Area of Science:

• Forensic Psychology
• Addiction Treatment
• Criminal Justice Studies

Background:

• Community-based outpatient treatment is effective for substance abusing offenders.
• Low treatment completion rates are a challenge, particularly in non-residential settings.
• Prior research often focused on offenders in residential treatment or therapeutic communities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare treatment completion rates between offenders mandated to community-based outpatient treatment and those entering voluntarily.
• To investigate factors influencing treatment adherence in a criminal justice-supervised population.

Main Methods:

• Study included 160 substance abusers under criminal justice supervision (CJS).
• Participants enrolled in an intensive outpatient program from July 2007 to October 2010.
• Weekly cognitive problem-solving therapy sessions were provided; treatment completion was tracked.

Main Results:

• Overall, 45% of participants completed the 6-month treatment program.
• Mandated offenders showed lower initial motivation but higher completion rates.
• Logistic regression revealed court-ordered offenders were over 10 times more likely to complete treatment (OR=10.9).

Conclusions:

• Stipulated community-based outpatient treatment appears effective in increasing offender compliance.
• Mandatory treatment may overcome initial motivational barriers for substance abusing offenders.
• Findings support the use of mandated treatment to improve outcomes for this population.