Ethnic Differences in Longitudinal Patterns and Consequences of Narcotics Addiction

1998 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 495-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael L. Prendergast ◽  
Yih-Ing Hser ◽  
Virginia Gil-Rivas
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Drug Use ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Ethnic Differences ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Longitudinal Patterns ◽  
Opiate Use ◽  
Over Time

The purpose of this paper is to examine differences in patterns and consequences of narcotics use among Hispanic and white addicts over time. Data were gathered from admission records and from interviews conducted in 1974–75 and 1985–86 from 323 Hispanic and 212 white narcotics addicts admitted to the California Civil Addict Program in 1962 to 1964. Analyses compared the two groups on narcotics use, incarceration, mortality, and other characteristics at each follow-up point and in terms of drug-use status. Compared with white addicts, Hispanic addicts showed a progression of more persistent and severe narcotics addiction. At each interview point, Hispanics were more likely than whites to be using opiates or to be incarcerated. Comparisons of opiate use at the two interview points showed that Hispanics were less likely than whites to remain abstinent and were more likely to relapse to opiate use. Overall, Hispanics also had greater involvement in the criminal justice system, higher rates of cocaine use, and a higher proportion of deaths due to violence and accidents.

scholarly journals Norwegian Youth Punishment - Opportunity or Trap?

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morten Holmboe
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Young People ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Young Offenders

The question of how the criminal justice system should deal with young offenders is an old one. Traditionally, the Norwegian criminal justice system has held that it should treat young offenders less severely than adults. The use of imprisonment is therefore restricted. In 2014, Norway implemented two new kinds of penal reactions directed towards young offenders, youth follow-up and youth punishment, inspired by the ideas underpinning restorative justice. The intention of youth punishment is that it is more severe but better suited than community sentencing when young people commit serious crimes. Consequently, the use of imprisonment for young offenders should be further reduced. In this article, I describe the rules concerning the sentencing and executing of youth punishment. Overall, I am of the opinion that while the premise underlying youth punishment is sound, the rules need to be amended to better reflect the expressed intent of the legislator.

Trouble in the Home, and First Contact with the Criminal Justice System

Caught Up ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry Flores
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Drug Use ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
System P ◽  
Feminist Criminology ◽  
Gender And Crime ◽  
First Contact

In this chapter, I draw on feminist criminology and research on gender and crime to demonstrate how abuse and neglect in the home led the young women in my study to their first contact with the criminal justice system. I pay attention to how home instability is shaped by gendered, racialized, and class-specific challenges. First, I discuss the multiple types of abuse girls experience in the home. This mistreatment led the young women in my study to begin dating at an early age; this new behavior resulted in more abuse at the hands of family members, who viewed their behavior as inappropriate and a violation of “proper” behavior for young Latinas. As this abuse continued, most of the young women in my study began using controlled substances. Soon, they ran away from home. Once on the street, they experienced a new set of challenges, which included finding housing, staying safe, and avoiding physical and sexual abuse. By this point their initial drug use had usually turned into full-blown drug addiction. Drug use and abuse were key factors contributing to first girls’ arrest.

Cost-benefits of a domestic abuse program for Australian offenders

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-74
Author(s):  
Chris Blatch ◽  
Andrew Webber ◽  
Kevin O’Sullivan ◽  
Gerard van Doorn
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Community Correction ◽  
Group Interventions ◽  
Net Benefit ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cost Benefits

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine recidivism costs and benefits for 1,030 community-based male offenders enrolled in a domestic abuse program (DAP) compared to an untreated control group (n=1,030) matched on risk factors. Design/methodology/approach The study time frame was October 1, 2007-June 30, 2010 with reconvictions measured to December 31, 2010. Follow up averaged 19 months. Controls received standard community supervision, but no domestic violence group interventions. Follow up measures included court costs for violent and non-violent reconvictions; re-incarcerations and community-based orders costs measured in days. Findings Adjusting for time at risk, DAP enrollees had 29 percent fewer reconvictions, 46 percent fewer violent reconvictions, 34 percent fewer custodial days, but 23 percent more days on community orders. Costs: DAP enrollment avoided $2.52 M in custodial costs, but higher community correction costs (+$773 K) and court costs (+$5.8 K), reducing the DAP’s criminal justice system cost savings to $1.754 M ($8.92 M for the DAP group compared to $10.67M for controls). Cost benefits: when the 64 DAP program costs were deducted ($602 K), the net benefit to the New South Wales criminal justice system was $1,141 M, or $1,108 per enrollee, providing a net benefit/cost ratio of 2.89. If the DAP was completed, the net benefit was $1,820 per offender. These results compares favorably to economic evaluations of other community-based interventions. Practical implications Group interventions for domestically violent (DV) offenders can provide good investment returns to tax payers and government by reducing demand on scarce criminal justice system resources. The study provides insights into justice costs for DV offenders; a methodological template to determine cost benefits for offender programs and a contribution to cost-effective evidence-based crime reduction interventions. Originality/value Using a rigorous methodology, official court, custodial and community correction services costing data, this is the first Australian cost benefit analysis of a domestic violence group intervention, and the first to justify program expenditure by demonstrating substantial savings to the criminal justice system.

scholarly journals The level of attrition in domestic violence: A valid indicator of the efficiency of a criminal justice system?

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Chopin ◽  
Marcelo F. Aebi
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Attrition Rate ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Swiss Canton ◽  
Police Forces

This article studies the process of attrition through a follow-up of all cases of domestic violence registered by the police forces of one Swiss canton in the first half of 2012 ( N = 592) as they pass to the prosecution and the court stage of criminal justice proceedings. The results show that the attrition rate found in Switzerland (80 percent) is lower than the rate usually found in the United Kingdom. This rate is explained by the fact that domestic violence is usually treated by academics as a homogeneous construct, but it is in fact composed of a large variety of offences and, in practice, the vast majority of those that are reported to the police would not entail a custodial sentence.

Examining the Impact of Prior Criminal Justice History on 2-Year Recidivism Rates: A Comparison of Drug Court Participants and Program Referrals

2016 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa M. Shannon ◽  
Afton Jackson Jones ◽  
Jennifer Newell ◽  
Connie Neal
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Drug Court ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Drug Courts ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Recidivism Rates ◽  
The Impact

Drug courts seek to break the cycle of substance use and crime by providing a community-based intervention to individuals with criminal justice involvement and substance-related issues. This study examined recidivism over a 2-year follow-up period as well as factors associated with recidivism for a sample of drug court participants (i.e., graduates and terminators) and a non-equivalent comparison group (i.e., individuals referred/assessed for the program who did not enter). In the 2-year follow-up window, fewer drug court graduates had any convictions compared with program terminators and referrals; specifically, fewer drug court graduates had drug trafficking convictions compared with program terminators and referrals. Fewer graduates were arrested and incarcerated in jail and/or prison in the 2-year follow-up; furthermore, graduates had spent less time incarcerated compared with program terminators and referrals. Demographics (i.e., age, race, marital status) and prior criminal justice system involvement were associated with recidivism; however, these factors had differential impacts for the three groups (i.e., graduates, terminators, and referrals). Drug court shows promise as a community-based intervention that helps keep individuals out of the criminal justice system during a 2-year follow-up period.

Targets

2018 ◽  
pp. 87-115
Author(s):  
Nikki Jones
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Black Men ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Gender Socialization ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
Forms Of Violence ◽  
Adolescent Period ◽  
Over Time

Chapter 3 illustrates how the crime-fighting community cedes responsibility for the control of young Black men most vulnerable to violence as either victim or perpetrator to the most powerful and punitive member of the community: the criminal justice system. This isolation and vulnerability is evidenced in the daily and routine interactions among a range of law enforcement actors in the neighborhood and young Black men, which makes the adolescent period for today’s youth markedly different than that of Eric and his peers. In places where targeted policing practices persist over time, the juvenile and criminal justice system can become the most significant institutional presence in young men’s lives, which can make it even harder to reach young, Black men in crisis. Routine encounters with the police, which are facilitated and legitimized by the crime-fighting community, also shape the gender socialization of young men and exacerbate the vulnerability of other neighborhood adolescents to gendered forms of violence, including Black women and girls.

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