Evaluation of the Addressing Substance-Related Offending (ASRO) Program for Substance-Using Offenders in the Community: A Reconviction Analysis

Abstract

This article reports an evaluation of the Addressing Substance-Related Offending program in the English and Welsh Probation Service. Participants were 319 adult male offenders who had a history of substance use and were serving community sentences. A quasi-experimental design was used to compare the reconviction rates of offenders who completed the program, offenders who started but did not complete the program, and a comparison group of offenders who were not allocated to the program. Multivariate analysis showed that at one-year follow-up the completers had a significantly lower rate of reconviction and longer time to reconviction than the non-completers, and the non-completers had a significantly higher rate of reconviction and shorter time to reconviction than the comparison group. No differences were found in reconviction between the completers and comparison group.

RÉSUMÉ

Evaluation du Programme <<Aborder le problème des infractions liées à l'usage de substances illicites (Addressing Substance-Related Offending –ASRO) pour les délinquants utilisant des substances illicites au sein de la collectivité.

Cet article présente une évaluation du programme <<Aborder le problème des infractions liées à l'usage de substances illicites>> dans les services de probation en Angleterre et au Pays de Galle. Le nombre de participants s’élève à 319 délinquants adultes de sexe masculin ayant des antécédents d'usage de substances illicites et purgeant des peines de travail d'intérêt général. Un modèle quasi-expérimental a été utilisé pour comparer les taux de recondamnation de délinquants ayant terminé le programme, de délinquants l'ayant abandonné et d'un groupe de comparaison ne participant pas au programme. Des analyses multi-variées ont indiqué qu'après un an de suivi les délinquants ayant terminé le programme présentaient un taux de recondamnation considérablement plus bas et une période plus longue avant une recondamnation que les délinquants ayant abandonné le programme. De plus, les analyses ont aussi démontré que le groupe de délinquants n'ayant pas achevé le programme présentait un taux significativement plus élevé de recondamnation et une période plus courte avant une recondamnation que le groupe de comparaison. Aucune différence n'a été trouvée entre les délinquants ayant terminé le programme et le groupe de comparaison en ce qui concerne la recondamnation.

RESUMEN

Evaluación del programa de intervención contra la delincuencia vinculada al uso de drogas ASRO (Addressing Substance-Related Offending) para delincuentes consumidores de drogas en libertad.

Este artículo presenta una evaluación del programa ASRO en los servicios de libertad condicional inglés y galés. Los participantes fueron 319 delincuentes adultos de sexo masculino con historial de consumo de drogas que cumplían condenas sin privación de libertad. Se utilizó un diseño cuasi experimental para comparar las tasas de reincidencia de: los delincuentes que completaron el programa, los delincuentes que empezaron el programa pero no lo completaron, y un grupo de control que no estaba incluido en el programa. El análisis multivariante mostró que a un año vista los delincuentes que completaron el programa mostraron una tasa de reincidencia significativamente menor y tardaron significativamente mas tiempo en reincidir que los que no lo completaron. Los que no completaron el programa mostraron una tasa de reincidencia significativamente mayor y tardaron menos tiempo en reincidir que el grupo de control. No se encontraron diferencias en la la tasa de reincidencia entre los delincuentes que completaron el programa y el grupo de control.

Keywords :

• offender
• substance use
• intervention
• community
• reconviction

THE AUTHORS

Emma J. Palmer is a Reader in Forensic Psychology in the School of Psychology at The University of Leicester. Her research interests include the development of offending (specifically social cognition and family factors), risk and needs assessment, and the design and evaluation of offender interventions to reduce reoffending. She has published widely in these areas, including the books Offending Behaviour: Moral Reasoning, Criminal Conduct and the Rehabilitation of Offenders (2003, Willan) and co-editing with Clive Hollin Offending Behaviour Programmes: Development, Application, and Controversies (2006, John Wiley).

Ruth M. Hatcher, Ph.D., is a Lecturer in Forensic Psychology in the School of Psychology at The University of Leicester. Ruth has published numerous book chapters and research articles in various peer-reviewed journals. Her research interests lie mainly within the following fields: offender interventions and their evaluation, the impact of individual and organizational factors on offender compliance with offenders’ interventions, the impact on intervention staff of working with offenders, and victimization within prisons. Ruth is a Chartered Forensic Psychologist and is a UK Health Professions Council registered Forensic Psychologist.

James McGuire is a Professor of Forensic Clinical Psychology and the Director of the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Liverpool. He also holds an honorary consultant post Mersey Care NHS Trust. He previously worked in a high security hospital and has carried out psycholegal work involving assessment of individuals for criminal courts, for the Mental Health Review Tribunal, Parole Board, and Criminal Cases Review Commission. He has conducted research in probation services, prisons, and other settings on aspects of psychosocial rehabilitation with offenders, and has published widely on this and related issues.

Charlotte A. L. Bilby is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Arts and Social Sciences, Northumbria University. For the past nine years, she has worked on evaluation and research projects for central government departments, including the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, Department of Health and Northern Ireland Office. Most of this work has focussed on the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral programs to reduce reoffending. More recently, Charlotte has led a piece of work investigating offenders’ views of the Offender Management Model. She is interested in images of offenders’ desistance from crime on TV and film, and is currently working with academic and practitioner colleagues on the links between affect and creative and spiritual activities in prisons. She has drawn her interests and knowledge together to research evaluation methodologies for arts in the criminal justice system.

Tammy C. Ayres is a university tutor in the Department of Criminology at the University of Leicester and a Ph.D. student in the School of Psychology. Her research interests include the link between drugs and crime, substance-using offenders, and the use of drugs in prison and its subsequent treatment.

Clive R. Hollin is a Professor of Criminological Psychology in the School of Psychology at The University of Leicester. He wrote the best-selling textbook Psychology and Crime: An Introduction to Criminological Psychology (1989, Routledge); his most recent book, edited with Graham Davies and Ray Bull, is Forensic Psychology (2008, John Wiley). He is the co-editor of the academic journal Psychology, Crime, & Law. Alongside his various university appointments, he has worked as a psychologist in prisons, the Youth Treatment Service, special hospitals, and regional secure units. In 1998, he received the Senior Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Field of Legal, Criminological and Forensic Psychology from The British Psychological Society.

Notes

1 A Home Office evaluation reported data on reconvictions for program completers, non-completers, and non-starters for ASRO and another substance use program. However, there was no comparison group or breakdown of the figures by program (Hollis, 2007).