Effects of Legal Supervision of Chronic Addict Offenders in Southern California, 1974-1981

This study examined the effects of timing and level of
 legal supervision in controlling antisocial behavior and promoting
 prosocial behavior in chronic addict offenders. The study sought to
 answer several questions: (1) What is the effect of legal supervision
 on the criminal behavior of addicts? (2) Does legal supervision have
 time-course effects? (3) What are the differential effects of varying
 types of legal supervision (e.g., probation, parole, urinalysis,
 higher or lower number of contacts per month)? Data were obtained by
 conducting retrospective interviews with four separate groups of
 subjects from four distinct research projects previously conducted in
 Southern California (McGlothlin, Anglin, and Wilson, 1977, Anglin,
 McGlothlin, and Speckart, 1981, Anglin, McGlothlin, Speckart, and Ryan,
 1982, and McGlothlin and Anglin, 1981). The first group were male
 patients in the California Civil Addict Program, admitted in
 1962-1964, who were interviewed for this survey in 1974-1975. The
 second group was a sample of addicts drawn from male first admissions
 between the years 1971-1973 from Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and
 Orange County methadone maintenance programs. These respondents were
 interviewed during the years 1978-1979, an average of 6.6 years after
 admission. The third group consisted of male and female methadone
 maintenance patients selected from rosters of clients active on June
 30, 1976, at clinics in Bakersfield and Tulare, California. These
 subjects were interviewed during 1978 and 1979, an average of 3.5
 years after admission. The fourth group of subjects consisted of males
 and females who were active on September 30, 1978, at San Diego,
 Riverside, San Bernardino, and Orange County clinics and were
 interviewed during the years 1980-1981, an average of six years after
 their admission. Subjects included Anglo-American and Mexican-American
 males and females. The samples were generally representative of
 California methadone maintenance patients except for the second
 sample, which had been selected to study the impact of civil
 commitment parole status on the behavior of patients receiving
 methadone and was not necessarily representative of the overall
 population of admitted patients receiving methodone. Before the
 interview, a schematic time line on each offender was prepared, which
 included all known arrests and intervals of incarceration, legal
 supervision, and methadone treatment, based on criminal justice system
 and treatment program records. In discussion with the subject, the
 interviewer established the date of the first narcotics use on the time
 line, then proceeded chronologically through the time line, marking a
 change in narcotics use from less-than-daily use to daily use (or vice
 versa), or a change in the respondent's legal or treatment status, as
 a time interval. The interviewer repeated this process for successive
 intervals up through the date of the interview. Parts 1-8 consist of the
 interview data, with Forms 2 and 3 corresponding to the various
 intervals. There can be multiple intervals for each individual. 
 Variables cover drug use, employment, criminal behavior, legal
 status, conditions of parole or probation, and drug treatment
 enrollment. Form 1 data contain background information on offenders,
 such as family and substance abuse history, and Form 4 data include
 other personal information as well as self-reported arrest and
 treatment histories. Parts 9 and 10, Master Data, were created from
 selected variables from the interview data. Parts 11 and 12,
 Arrest Data, were collected from official criminal justice records and
 describe each offender's arrests, such as month and year of arrest, charge,
 disposition, and arrest category. The datasets are split between the Southern
 California (Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange County, Bakersfield,
Tulare, and Riverside) and San Diego clinic locations.

Tags: drug-dependence, drug-law-offenses, drug-offenders, drug-related-crimes, methadone-maintenance, supervised-liberty, treatment-programs
Organization: Department of Justice