Abstract
Although court referral to methadone maintenance treatment is rare, individuals with an official legal status (i.e., parole, probation, or awaiting trial) commonly enter this setting. Relatively few studies, however, have assessed the impact of this factor on client outcomes. A sample of 710 clients admitted to methadone maintenance was followed up 12 months after treatment discharge. Clients with and without a legal status at treatment intake were compared on the basis of pretreatment characteristics, during-treatment behavior, and posttreat-ment incarceration. Clients with a legal status had more extensive arrest histories and greater educational and employment deficits. However, the legal status group did not differ from the no legal status group in terms of during-treatment counseling session attendance, illicit drug use, or criminal behavior. At the 12-month follow-up, 26% of the sample were incarcerated, and those who had a pretreatment legal status were over five times more likely to be incarcerated. Thus, clients under criminal justice supervision at treatment admission did not differ from other clients in during-treatment performance, but their preexisting legal status placed them at higher risk for incarceration both during and 12 months after treatment.