Quasi-Compulsory Treatment of Drug Dependent Offenders: An International Literature Review

Abstract

This paper reports on a review of the literature on the quasi-compulsory treatment (QCT) of drug dependent offenders in five languages; English, German, French, Italian and Dutch. The findings of this review on previous reviews and on the availability, process, and outcomes of QCT are summarized. The review found that previous, anglophone reviews have tended to present positive outcomes from QCT, but that there are some problems with this research. QCT is increasingly available internationally, but may be applied at different stages of the criminal justice process, and to different types of offender. Research on the process of QCT is comparatively rare. The available research does suggest problems of system integration between criminal justice and treatment agencies in implementing QCT. The research in languages other than English shows a wider range of outcomes (including negative effects) for QCT than was found in the English literature. We conclude that the international literature shows that QCT does not inevitably produce worse outcome than voluntary treatment, but that we need more multimethod, multisite studies of QCT in order to inform policy and practice, which is currently being made in the absence of reliable evidence in many countries.

Keywords:

• drug dependent offenders
• motivation
• quasi-compulsory treatment
• therapeutic jurisprudence

Notes

¹The partners in QCT Europe are the EISS at the University of Kent, UK; ICPR, King's College, London, UK; Scientific Research and Documentation Centre of the Ministry of Justice, Netherlands; ULSS No. 16 SerT Padova, Italy; University of Vienna, Austria; Addiction Research Institute, Switzerland; University of Fribourg, Switzerland; MISTEL, Germany. The project is funded by the European Commission Fifth Framework Research and Technological Development (Quality of Life) Programme (contract number QLG4-CT-2002-01446).

²Databases searched included the Social Science Citation Index, MedLine, EBSCOHost, ISI Proceedings, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, PsycArticles, DrugScope Library, Zetoc, Toxibase, INSERM, Infoset, Archido.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alex Stevens

Alex Stevens, is Senior Researcher at the European Institute of Social Services, University of Kent. He holds a MA in Socio-Legal Studies from the University of Sheffield. He has published work on drugs and the criminal justice system, youth crime and social exclusion. He was formerly the coordinator of the European Network of Drug Services in Prison. He currently coordinates the QCT Europe research project, a six-country study of quasi-compulsory treatment of drug-dependent offenders. This article is based on the work of the partners in this project. The partners are now carrying out evaluations, and using common quantitative and qualitative methods, of QCT in their countries.

Daniele Berto

Daniele Berto, Senior Clinical Psychologist and Psychotherapist, leads the UF-Carcere of the Local Health Unit of Padua. He is a methodology research and assessment expert in clinical psychology and teaches psychological forensic assessment at the University of Padua. He collaborates with The Centre of Research into Quality (UCE-Birmingham-UK). He is also Consultant to the Italian Ministry of Justice (DAP) for dual-diagnosis in addicts that have committed crimes. He is author (alone and with others) of about 60 scientific publications in Italian and English and two monographic books on addiction and jails and clinical psychology. He has also translated into Italian a book on Group Psychotherapy.

Wolfgang Heckmann

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Heckmann, Director of the SPI gGmbH and the MISTEL Institute, is an advanced social psychology and social science researcher. His occupational experience varies from working as a psychotherapist, treating opiate addicts, to being the drug commissioner of Berlin/West. Since 1973, he has been engaged in social scientific research especially in the field of addiction and in issues of HIV and AIDS. Between 1987 and 1993 Prof. Heckmann was Director of the Social Research Department of the AIDS Research Centre of the Federal Institute of Health. He is Director of the Social Pedagogical Institute Berlin (SPI Forschung gGmbH) since 1987 and Professor at the University of Applied Science for social psychology in Magdeburg/Stendal since 1993. He is also editor of a series on AIDS research, drug research, and several scientific journals.

Viktoria Kerschl

Andrea Viktoria Kerschl, a teacher, psychologist, and therapist, works as a social psychology and social science researcher in the areas of drugs, women, prostitution, and health. For over 10 years (1989–2000) she was engaged in treating drug addicts as a therapist in out- and in-patient treatment services focussed on women-oriented and gender-specific approaches. She has also been engaged in social scientific research, especially in the field of addiction and issues of prostitution, HIV, and sexual health. Since 2000 she has been a member of the SPI Forschung gGmbH, carrying out studies and evaluations on national and international level focussed on topics of youth and recreational drug use, quality management, and quality standards in treatment services, heterosexual transmission of the HIV-virus, drug consuming prostitutes—evaluation of a low threshold intervention model for street and drug prostitution, addiction and violence, documentation of the out-patient services of the drug help system, gender mainstreaming in the drug help system, quasi-compulsory treatment, and client satisfaction studies.

Kerralie Oeuvray

Kerralie Oeuvray, is a lecturer and researcher with the Social Work and Social Policy Department at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. Her research activities concern the general area of social and political responses to substance use and include studies aiming at understanding the logics and perspectives of users themselves. She substantially participated in a recent research on controlled use of heroin and cocaine (Gérer sa consummation: Drogues dures et enjeu de conventionnalité, 2002).

Marianne Ooyen

Dr. Marianne van Ooyen, has a Ph.D. in Psychology. She was senior researcher on addiction and addiction care at Trimbos-institute from 1989–2001. Since 2001, she is Coordinator of Research at the unit for outsourced research in the Scientific Research and Documentation Centre of the Dutch Ministry of Justice.

Elfriede Steffan

Elfriede Steffan, codirector of SPI Research gGmbH is an advanced social-science researcher in the areas of health and women with numerous articles published in reports, books, and scientific journals. She has been engaged in community organizing especially in women-oriented social centers and as researcher at the Freie University of Berlin. She was evaluator for the German pilot program “Women and AIDS” (1989–1993) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Health. Other major studies like “Documentation of the legal and social situation of prostitutes in the Federal Republic of Germany” (1992–1994), “Drug-injecting prostitutes and their Clients,” “Evaluation of supportive measures for women wanting to quit prostitution” (1995–1997), evaluating and leading the Pilot Program “Umbrella-Network—Analysis of Border Issues with Regards to HIV/AIDS/STDs and Development of Cooperative, Border-Crossing Methods of Prevention” (EC, 1996–2000), and the survey “Health Care Services in Change—The Work of STI and HIV Counseling in the light of the new law for Infection Diseases in Germany” (Federal Ministry of Health, 2000–2002), were further projects accomplished by Elfriede Steffan. She possesses a vast experience as project developer and manager of national and transnational partnerships. Since 1989 she is a member of the SPI-Forschung gGmbH and its comanager since 1996.

Ambros Uchtenhagen

Prof. Ambros A. Uchtenhagen, M.D., Ph.D. is a Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist, founder and past director of Social Psychiatry services at Zurich University Hospital, emerited Professor of Social Psychiatry, founder and past president of the Swiss Association for Social Psychiatry, founder and president of the Addiction Research Foundation at Zurich University, and past director of the COST A-6 project “Evaluation of action against drug abuse in Europe.” He is co-editor in chief of the journal European Addiction Research. He is editor of a handbook on Addiction Medicine (in German). He has carried out numerous projects and activities for national governments, for the European Commission and for the World Health Organization, and is a member of the Expert Panel on Drugs of the WHO.