Interventions for female drug-using offenders.

Area of Science:

• Criminology
• Psychology
• Public Health

Background:

• This review is an update of a previous Cochrane review assessing interventions for female drug-using offenders.
• It is part of a series of reviews examining interventions to reduce drug use and criminal activity in offenders.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing criminal activity and/or drug use in female drug-using offenders.

Main Methods:

• Searched 14 electronic databases and five website resources up to May 2014.
• Included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) focusing on female drug-using offenders and reported cost-effectiveness data.
• Used standard Cochrane Collaboration methodological procedures for data collection and analysis.

Main Results:

• Nine trials (1792 participants) met inclusion criteria; quality and risk of bias varied.
• Low-quality evidence showed no significant difference in arrest rates or drug use for psychosocial treatments versus usual care.
• Moderate-quality evidence indicated a significant reduction in reincarceration with psychosocial treatments (3 studies; 630 participants).
• Buprenorphine did not significantly reduce self-reported drug use compared to placebo (1 study; 36 participants).
• No cost or cost-effectiveness data were reported.

Conclusions:

• Psychosocial treatments showed a positive trend in reducing reincarceration but not arrest rates or drug use.
• Pharmacological interventions did not significantly reduce drug use and did not measure criminal activity.
• High heterogeneity in study designs and outcomes limited data pooling, necessitating further research to identify effective treatment elements for female drug-using offenders.