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Addiction and criminal justice: Empirical findings and theory for advancing public safety and health
Journal of Criminal Justice 39 (2011) 205–206
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Criminal Justice
Addiction and criminal justice: Empirical findings and theory for advancing public safety and health
Addiction, crime, and justice are closely intertwined. The troublesome uses of substances and encounters with formal legal mechanisms have been a persistent issue in the modern evolution of addiction and criminal justice. Changes that have occurred in one dimension have greatly influenced the other. In some ways, the two represent a symbiotic relationship. This is not to suggest that it is a healthy relationship. Quite to the contrary, many issues involving informal and formal social control of psychoactive substance have a long, often disruptive, and controversial history in many cultures. Despite these controversies and conflicts, individuals who abuse drugs are entangled in the criminal justice system by their compulsive seeking of illegal drugs and the various risk exposures that are part and parcel of these behaviors. Although prior research has established that the prevalence of substance use, abuse, and dependence among criminal justice populations is substantially higher than the general population (e.g., Teplin, Abram, McClelland, Dulcan, & Mericle, 2002), there remain numerous research gaps. These include elucidating the relations between commonly abused substances and violence, forms of substance abuse among those selling illicit drugs, co-occurring mental health and personality problems, knowledge regarding prevention, treatment effectiveness, and sanction effects. Many of these research gaps are addressed in the present issue. In order to advance public safety in conjunction with public health a stronger body of evidence that is consistent with recognizing the conjoint influence of neurobiological and environmental aspects of addiction is badly needed. As Chandler, Fletcher, and Volkow (2009, pg. 186) have argued in an article appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, “Repeated drug exposure in individuals who are vulnerable (because of genetics, or developmental or environmental factors) trigger neuroadaptations in the brain that result in the compulsive drug use and loss of control over drug-related behaviors that characterize addiction.” The practical consequences of this knowledge should emphasize the building of a sustainable and evidence-based prevention framework that reaches into the criminal justice system, both the adult and juvenile justice arenas. Overview of the special issue The special issue begins with several studies that address key etiologic and epidemiologic questions and elucidate the role of various forms of substance use (and non-use) have on notable outcomes and constructs. Tarter, Kirisci, Mezzich, and Patton (2011) examine the factors that distinguish male and female adolescent substance abusers who have had and not had contact with the 0047-2352/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2011.03.001
criminal justice system. Using a large sample (N = 4,071) Tarter et al find that substance abusing girls and boys with legal problems reported more severe externalizing behavior, substance abuse, family adjustment, and peer relationship problems than substance abusing peers without legal problems. Further, the quality of peer relationships among boys was an important mechanism mediating the association of family dysfunction, substance abuse and behavior problems with legal problems. In a unique study of true abstainers from substance use and antisocial behavior in the United States Vaughn and colleagues (2011) utilize the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions finding that abstainers are not maladapted and are comparatively more functional than nonabstainers. Reynolds, Tarter, Kirisci, and Clark (2011) investigate the mediating effect of marijuana compared to alcohol in leading to transmissible risk (defined as the conjoint influence of genetic and environmental variance) for a diagnosable substance use disorder and violent offenses in a long-term study of over three hundred adolescents. Interestingly, marijuana and not alcohol mediated this risk. The issue of substance use and abuse among youth who sell drugs was examined by Shook and colleagues (2011) This rich empirical portrait showed that most youthful offenders have been involved in drug dealing and their involvement was not driven by economic motivations but instead by their own drug use. Further, findings indicated that the magnitude of difference in substance use and problem behaviors varied by type of drug sold with prescription drug selling youth being the most severe. Using cluster analytic techniques in a large sample of adult inmates receiving substance abuse treatment, Magyar, Edens, Lilienfeld, Douglas, and Poythress (2011) examined patterns of substance abuse among antisocial subtypes (primary, secondary, fearful psychopathic, and non-psychopathic). Findings indicated that primary psychopathy was associated with substance abuse at a weaker level compared to secondary psychopathy and other offender populations. This is expected given the co-occurring impulsivity and negative emotionality associated with these other variants compared to the “cooler” features of primary psychopathy. Also utilizing a sample of adult offenders, Gunter and colleagues (2011) found that suicide ideation was predicted by drug dependence but not suicide attempts in a community corrections sample. Several studies in this special issue should prove useful to advancing treatment with criminal justice populations. Stephen Tripodi and Kimberly Bender (2011) review experimental and quasi-experimental research on substance abuse treatments in samples of juvenile offenders and specify quantitative effects of
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M. Vaughn / Journal of Criminal Justice 39 (2011) 205–206
individual and family-based treatments, most of which were in the medium range. Next, an important field trial of a treatment that targets offenders’ criminogenic risk and needs based on a measure known as the Risk and Need's Triage (RANT), which facilitates creation of empirically derived profiles. Marlowe and colleagues (2011) find promising, yet preliminary, evidence that this approach is superior to non-assessed offenders. O'Connell and associates (2011) at the Center for Drug and Alcohol Studies describe an ongoing program, Decide Your Time, which attempts to test practical applications of deterrence theory. The often neglected implementation issues are delineated. Richard Hammersley (2011) reminds us that most dug use does not result in drug dependence or addiction and that many desist from drug use and offending without any formal intervention. Hammersley theorizes that continuing trauma or notable traumatic events need to be afforded greater recognition in the drug treatment process. The issue of asset forfeiture is common at the intersection of law enforcement and drug distribution. Holcomb, Kovandzic, and Williams (2011) examine the complex nature of state and federal laws regulating asset forfeiture vis-à-vis police behavior. Study findings suggest that local law enforcement do indeed circumvent more burdensome state laws in order to obtain assets. As such, financial incentives derived from seizures can impact police behavior. Finally, Kleiman and Heussler (2011) rationally outline the limits of current criminal justice system policy efforts on the drugs-crime nexus. These authors's persuasively argue that intensifying supply side and demand side without significant alteration will not achieve lower levels of drug abuse or substance-related offenses. References Chandler, R. K., Fletcher, B. W., & Volkow, N. D. (2009). Treating drug abuse and addiction in the criminal justice system: Improving public health and safety. Journal of the American Medical Association, 301, 183−190.
Gunter, T. D., Chibnall, J. T., Antoniak, S. K., Philibert, R. A., & Hollenbeck, N. (2011). Predictors of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and self-harm without lethal intent in a community corrections sample. Journal of Criminal Justice. Hammersley, R. (2011). Pathways through drugs and crime: Desistance, trauma and resilience. Journal of Criminal Justice. Holcomb, J. E., Kovandzic, T. V., & Williams, M. R. (2011). Civil asset forfeiture, equitable sharing, and policing for profit in the United States. Journal of Criminal Justice. Kleiman, M. A. R., & Heussler, L. (2011). Crime minimizing drug policy. Journal of Criminal Justice. Magyar, M. S., Edens, J. F., Lilienfeld, S. O., Douglas, K. S., & Poythress, Norman G., Jr. (2011). Examining the relationship between substance abuse, negative emotionality and impulsivity among subtypes of antisocial and psychopathic substance abusers. Journal of Criminal Justice. Marlowe, D. B., Festinger, D. S., Dugosh, K. L., Caron, A., & Podkopacz, M. R. (2011). Targeting dispositions for drug-involved offenders: A field trial of the Risk and Needs Triage (RANT). Journal of Criminal Justice. O'Connell, D., Visher, C. A., Martin, S., Parker, L., & Brent, J. (2011). Decide your time: Testing deterrence theory's certainty and celerity effects on substance-using probationers. Journal of Criminal Justice. Reynolds, M. D., Tarter, R. E., Kirisci, L., & Clark, D. B. (2011). Marijuana but not alcohol use during adolescence mediates the association between transmissible risk for substance use disorder and number of lifetime violent offenses. Journal of Criminal Justice. Shook, J. J., Vaughn, M. G., Goodkind, S., & Johnson, H. (2011). An empirical portrait of youthful offenders who sell drugs. Journal of Criminal Justice. Tarter, R. E., Kirisci, L., Mezzich, A., & Patton, D. (2011). Multivariate comparison of male and female adolescent substance abusers with accompanying legal problems. Journal of Criminal Justice. Teplin, L. A., Abram, K. M., McClelland, G. M., Dulcan, M. K., & Mericle, A. A. (2002). Psychiatric disorders in youth in juvenile detention. Archives of General Psychiatry, 59, 1133−1143. Tripodi, S. J., & Bender, K. (2011). Substance abuse treatment for fuvenile offenders: A review of the literature. Journal of Criminal Justice. Vaughn, M. G., Fu, Q., Wernet, S. J., DeLisi, M., Beaver, K. M., Perron, B. E., et al. (2011). Characteristics of abstainers from substance use and antisocial behavior in the United States. Journal of Criminal Justice.
Michael Vaughn E-mail address: [email protected].
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Criminal Justice
Addiction and criminal justice: Empirical findings and theory for advancing public safety and health
Addiction, crime, and justice are closely intertwined. The troublesome uses of substances and encounters with formal legal mechanisms have been a persistent issue in the modern evolution of addiction and criminal justice. Changes that have occurred in one dimension have greatly influenced the other. In some ways, the two represent a symbiotic relationship. This is not to suggest that it is a healthy relationship. Quite to the contrary, many issues involving informal and formal social control of psychoactive substance have a long, often disruptive, and controversial history in many cultures. Despite these controversies and conflicts, individuals who abuse drugs are entangled in the criminal justice system by their compulsive seeking of illegal drugs and the various risk exposures that are part and parcel of these behaviors. Although prior research has established that the prevalence of substance use, abuse, and dependence among criminal justice populations is substantially higher than the general population (e.g., Teplin, Abram, McClelland, Dulcan, & Mericle, 2002), there remain numerous research gaps. These include elucidating the relations between commonly abused substances and violence, forms of substance abuse among those selling illicit drugs, co-occurring mental health and personality problems, knowledge regarding prevention, treatment effectiveness, and sanction effects. Many of these research gaps are addressed in the present issue. In order to advance public safety in conjunction with public health a stronger body of evidence that is consistent with recognizing the conjoint influence of neurobiological and environmental aspects of addiction is badly needed. As Chandler, Fletcher, and Volkow (2009, pg. 186) have argued in an article appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, “Repeated drug exposure in individuals who are vulnerable (because of genetics, or developmental or environmental factors) trigger neuroadaptations in the brain that result in the compulsive drug use and loss of control over drug-related behaviors that characterize addiction.” The practical consequences of this knowledge should emphasize the building of a sustainable and evidence-based prevention framework that reaches into the criminal justice system, both the adult and juvenile justice arenas. Overview of the special issue The special issue begins with several studies that address key etiologic and epidemiologic questions and elucidate the role of various forms of substance use (and non-use) have on notable outcomes and constructs. Tarter, Kirisci, Mezzich, and Patton (2011) examine the factors that distinguish male and female adolescent substance abusers who have had and not had contact with the 0047-2352/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2011.03.001
criminal justice system. Using a large sample (N = 4,071) Tarter et al find that substance abusing girls and boys with legal problems reported more severe externalizing behavior, substance abuse, family adjustment, and peer relationship problems than substance abusing peers without legal problems. Further, the quality of peer relationships among boys was an important mechanism mediating the association of family dysfunction, substance abuse and behavior problems with legal problems. In a unique study of true abstainers from substance use and antisocial behavior in the United States Vaughn and colleagues (2011) utilize the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions finding that abstainers are not maladapted and are comparatively more functional than nonabstainers. Reynolds, Tarter, Kirisci, and Clark (2011) investigate the mediating effect of marijuana compared to alcohol in leading to transmissible risk (defined as the conjoint influence of genetic and environmental variance) for a diagnosable substance use disorder and violent offenses in a long-term study of over three hundred adolescents. Interestingly, marijuana and not alcohol mediated this risk. The issue of substance use and abuse among youth who sell drugs was examined by Shook and colleagues (2011) This rich empirical portrait showed that most youthful offenders have been involved in drug dealing and their involvement was not driven by economic motivations but instead by their own drug use. Further, findings indicated that the magnitude of difference in substance use and problem behaviors varied by type of drug sold with prescription drug selling youth being the most severe. Using cluster analytic techniques in a large sample of adult inmates receiving substance abuse treatment, Magyar, Edens, Lilienfeld, Douglas, and Poythress (2011) examined patterns of substance abuse among antisocial subtypes (primary, secondary, fearful psychopathic, and non-psychopathic). Findings indicated that primary psychopathy was associated with substance abuse at a weaker level compared to secondary psychopathy and other offender populations. This is expected given the co-occurring impulsivity and negative emotionality associated with these other variants compared to the “cooler” features of primary psychopathy. Also utilizing a sample of adult offenders, Gunter and colleagues (2011) found that suicide ideation was predicted by drug dependence but not suicide attempts in a community corrections sample. Several studies in this special issue should prove useful to advancing treatment with criminal justice populations. Stephen Tripodi and Kimberly Bender (2011) review experimental and quasi-experimental research on substance abuse treatments in samples of juvenile offenders and specify quantitative effects of
206
M. Vaughn / Journal of Criminal Justice 39 (2011) 205–206
individual and family-based treatments, most of which were in the medium range. Next, an important field trial of a treatment that targets offenders’ criminogenic risk and needs based on a measure known as the Risk and Need's Triage (RANT), which facilitates creation of empirically derived profiles. Marlowe and colleagues (2011) find promising, yet preliminary, evidence that this approach is superior to non-assessed offenders. O'Connell and associates (2011) at the Center for Drug and Alcohol Studies describe an ongoing program, Decide Your Time, which attempts to test practical applications of deterrence theory. The often neglected implementation issues are delineated. Richard Hammersley (2011) reminds us that most dug use does not result in drug dependence or addiction and that many desist from drug use and offending without any formal intervention. Hammersley theorizes that continuing trauma or notable traumatic events need to be afforded greater recognition in the drug treatment process. The issue of asset forfeiture is common at the intersection of law enforcement and drug distribution. Holcomb, Kovandzic, and Williams (2011) examine the complex nature of state and federal laws regulating asset forfeiture vis-à-vis police behavior. Study findings suggest that local law enforcement do indeed circumvent more burdensome state laws in order to obtain assets. As such, financial incentives derived from seizures can impact police behavior. Finally, Kleiman and Heussler (2011) rationally outline the limits of current criminal justice system policy efforts on the drugs-crime nexus. These authors's persuasively argue that intensifying supply side and demand side without significant alteration will not achieve lower levels of drug abuse or substance-related offenses. References Chandler, R. K., Fletcher, B. W., & Volkow, N. D. (2009). Treating drug abuse and addiction in the criminal justice system: Improving public health and safety. Journal of the American Medical Association, 301, 183−190.
Gunter, T. D., Chibnall, J. T., Antoniak, S. K., Philibert, R. A., & Hollenbeck, N. (2011). Predictors of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and self-harm without lethal intent in a community corrections sample. Journal of Criminal Justice. Hammersley, R. (2011). Pathways through drugs and crime: Desistance, trauma and resilience. Journal of Criminal Justice. Holcomb, J. E., Kovandzic, T. V., & Williams, M. R. (2011). Civil asset forfeiture, equitable sharing, and policing for profit in the United States. Journal of Criminal Justice. Kleiman, M. A. R., & Heussler, L. (2011). Crime minimizing drug policy. Journal of Criminal Justice. Magyar, M. S., Edens, J. F., Lilienfeld, S. O., Douglas, K. S., & Poythress, Norman G., Jr. (2011). Examining the relationship between substance abuse, negative emotionality and impulsivity among subtypes of antisocial and psychopathic substance abusers. Journal of Criminal Justice. Marlowe, D. B., Festinger, D. S., Dugosh, K. L., Caron, A., & Podkopacz, M. R. (2011). Targeting dispositions for drug-involved offenders: A field trial of the Risk and Needs Triage (RANT). Journal of Criminal Justice. O'Connell, D., Visher, C. A., Martin, S., Parker, L., & Brent, J. (2011). Decide your time: Testing deterrence theory's certainty and celerity effects on substance-using probationers. Journal of Criminal Justice. Reynolds, M. D., Tarter, R. E., Kirisci, L., & Clark, D. B. (2011). Marijuana but not alcohol use during adolescence mediates the association between transmissible risk for substance use disorder and number of lifetime violent offenses. Journal of Criminal Justice. Shook, J. J., Vaughn, M. G., Goodkind, S., & Johnson, H. (2011). An empirical portrait of youthful offenders who sell drugs. Journal of Criminal Justice. Tarter, R. E., Kirisci, L., Mezzich, A., & Patton, D. (2011). Multivariate comparison of male and female adolescent substance abusers with accompanying legal problems. Journal of Criminal Justice. Teplin, L. A., Abram, K. M., McClelland, G. M., Dulcan, M. K., & Mericle, A. A. (2002). Psychiatric disorders in youth in juvenile detention. Archives of General Psychiatry, 59, 1133−1143. Tripodi, S. J., & Bender, K. (2011). Substance abuse treatment for fuvenile offenders: A review of the literature. Journal of Criminal Justice. Vaughn, M. G., Fu, Q., Wernet, S. J., DeLisi, M., Beaver, K. M., Perron, B. E., et al. (2011). Characteristics of abstainers from substance use and antisocial behavior in the United States. Journal of Criminal Justice.
Michael Vaughn E-mail address: [email protected].