Recidivism Rates for DCJ Offenders Exiting Residential A&D Treatment August 2005 Kim Pascual Research & Evaluation

Methodology Follow-up to a previous study of 1 year pre- post arrest rates for those exiting treatment in 2001. All DCJ offenders who exited residential A&D treatment in 2001, 2002, and 2003, using the first treatment episode of the year per offender. All SIDS for each sample entered into the DSS-Criminal Justice Data Warehouse to collect pre- and post treatment data. Data collected 1 year prior to treatment and up to 3 years after treatment.

Methodology

Demographics: Gender There was a 9% increase in the proportion of males exiting residential treatment over the previous two years (62% in 2003, up from 57% in 2001 and 2002).

Demographics: Race

Demographics: Average LOS The average Length of Stay decreased by 11 days from 2001 to 2003

Drug of Choice

Drug of Choice (cont.) Slight decrease in the percentage of those reporting cocaine (17% to 13%) and heroin (23% to 19%) as their drug of choice. A two percent increase in the percentage who reported methamphetamines as their drug of choice (31% to 33%). Of those with at least one arrest in the year following treatment, close to 30% for each year reported methamphetamines as their drug of choice.

Treatment Completion

Treatment Completion (cont.) Neutral Exit Type Reasons: Client was arrested for crime committed prior to treatment. Client failed to engage in the program within the first 15 days of entering. Client died while in the program. Client was discharge due to needs being better served by another agency. Suspension of active status. Other

Neutral Exit Types by Year

Post Treatment Arrests For the 2001 sample, post treatment arrest data was collected for 1, 2 and 3 years after exit. For the 2002 sample, 1 and 2 years post treatment arrest data were analyzed and For the 2003 sample, 1 year post treatment data were used.

Post Treatment Arrests Three Years of Arrests by Year for 2001 Sample 61%for all three years 55% for first two years

Post Treatment Arrests Two Years of Arrests by Year for 2002 Sample 50% in two years

Pre- and Post Treatment Arrests Percent of Offenders Arrested in the 1 Year Pre- And Post Treatment This chart shows the PROPORTION of offenders who had AT LEAST one arrest in the year prior to treatment compared with the PROPORTION of offenders who had AT LEAST one arrest in the year after completing treatment.

Pre- and Post Treatment Arrests For each sample, the percent with an arrest ranged between 61 and 67% in the year prior to entering treatment. In the year following treatment, the percent with an arrest ranged from 41 to 46%. Consistently for all three samples, there was at least a 20% reduction in the proportion of offenders with an arrest after exiting treatment.

Engagement & Length of Stay Previous report on the sample of clients exiting treatment in 2001 indicated that the pre-/post arrest reduction was greatest for those successfully completing treatment. Same report also indicated that clients with a LOS greater than 120 days had the highest pre-/post treatment arrest reduction rates. A report on Multnomah County’s Alcohol & Drug data for FY00-04 showed that for all treatment modalities, the rates of completion of treatment were highest for those who had a LOS between 90 and 180 days.

Exit Type of Those with LOS Greater Than 90 Days Engagement & LOS Exit Type of Those with LOS Greater Than 90 Days

Exit Type of Those with LOS Less Than 90 days Engagement & LOS Exit Type of Those with LOS Less Than 90 days

LOS & Arrest Reduction Rates Percent Reduction of Offenders Arrested by LOS

LOS & Arrest Reduction Rates Percent Reduction for Those with LOS > 90 Days Women 2001 39% 2002 45% 2003 46% Anglo 2001 44% 2002 38% 2003 33% Men 2001 38% 2002 29% 2003 24% African American 2001 27% 2003 23%

Limitations Treatment data per offender are limited to the first episode closed during the year under study. Creates the possibility that an offender was in a subsequent treatment episode during the post-study period, thus limiting their time in the community. Did not control for an offender’s opportunity to re-offend. A more accurate portrayal of completion rates would include ALL treatment episodes. Arrest data are only as reliable as the data extracted from the DSS Justice Warehouse.

Conclusions Over the three year period, there was a 12% decrease in the percent completing treatment successfully. There was a 15% increase in the percentage exiting treatment as Neutral with the majority coded as “Failing to Engage.” Comparison of arrest data for one year pre- and post treatment showed at least a 20% reduction in the proportion of offenders with an arrest.

Conclusions (cont.) Clients with an LOS in treatment greater than 90 days had much higher rates of successful completion and a considerably higher rate of reduction in pre- and post arrest rates. African Americans with an LOS greater than 90 days had slightly lower rates of successful completion and lower pre-post arrest reduction rates compared to Anglos.

Recommendations Further investigate the possible reasons for why clients are failing to engage in treatment. Begin discussion with providers about how treatment engagement can be increased for our clients. Determine what factors may contribute to the differences in successful completion and arrest reduction rates between Anglos and African Americans. Resistance to treatment and other reasons obviously exist that keep clients from engaging in treatment. But given that almost a third of the clients who enter Residential treatment are NOT engaging in treatment, it would seem that further investigation of why clients are not engaging and what can be done to try and increase engagement for our population might be beneficial, especially since our data suggest r that there is a treatment effect that which helps to reduce future arrests.

Email: kim.a.pascual@co.multnomah.or.us Questions or Comments? Email: kim.a.pascual@co.multnomah.or.us