Treatment Engagement and Time to Recidivism for African-American Male Offenders

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This study will examine factors that predict whether African-American male offenders receive substance abuse treatment during prison and post-release, as well as factors associated with time to recidivism (re-arrest or re- incarceration) post-release. The study will include subgroup comparisons of African-American, White and Latino males in order to better understand the interactions between race, substance abuse treatment and monitoring post release, and their relationships to outcomes. African-American males with a history of criminal justice involvement and substance abuse problems are at high risk for relapse and recidivism, yet treatment interventions that address these problems have been limited. Moreover, there is little evidence about the effectiveness, and cultural and social relevancy of treatment practices administered pre-and post-release for the general prison population, and African-American male offenders in particular. Data are available from an existing de-identified dataset, created using probabilistic matching of Connecticut Department of Correction (DOC) files with data from the Connecticut Departments of Public Safety and Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS). The dataset includes all sentenced prisoners with moderate to serious substance use disorders who were released during FY2003, along with substance abuse treatment, DOC movement, and arrests for FY2001 - FY2005 for the same individuals. The study will: (1) examine rates and determinants of participation in substance abuse treatment for incarcerated and recently released African-American, Latino and White males; and; (2) examine rates and determinants of survival to recidivism for African-American, Latino and White males. The results of this R03 will have implications for reducing relapse and recidivism for African- American male offenders by identifying (1) potential barriers to treatment, and (2) key points along the continuum of program services provided by the criminal justice and substance abuse treatment systems. These findings will facilitate the development of systems interventions to improve access to care and promote better health and social outcomes for African-American males.