POSTTREATMENT OUTCOMES FOR SUBSTANCE-ABUSING PROBATIONERS MANDATED TORESIDENTIAL-TREATMENT

This article presents an initial evaluation of a community-based subst ance abuse treatment program for probationers described in a previous issue of the Journal of Psychoctive Drugs [27(1): 39-47]. Posttreatmen t outcomes for 492 probationers remanded to a six-month residential fa cility were assessed. Based on official state records, 9% of the proba tioners were rearrested in the six months following discharge from tre atment. Those who graduated from the program were significantly less l ikely to be rearrested during the follow-up interval than were program expulsions and transfers to other programs. Also, program graduates w ho attended a specialized residential aftercare program were more like ly to remain drug-free and be employed after treatment than were those who did not attend the specialized aftercare program. Collectively, r esults suggest that lower rearrest rates may be associated with the pr ovision of residental treatment to substance-abusing probationers.