Developing Employment Services for Criminal Justice Clients Enrolled in Drug User Treatment Programs

Abstract

Approximately 80% of parolees have a history of substance abuse and nearly all are unemployed following release from prison. Common stipulations of parole require offenders to obtain employment and to not use mood-altering substances. This article explores a series of strategies implemented from 1999 to 2001 to help offenders paroled to substance user treatment to gain employment. A total of 245 paroled offenders enrolled in an outpatient substance abuse treatment program voluntarily agreed to participate in one of four different vocational intervention programs (Job Skill Development and Supported Work, Life Skill Development, Job Training, and Welfare to Work). Programmatic data (e.g., attendance, completion, job acquisition, and wage) were collected and reported for each of the vocational programs. Additionally, a 12-month pilot study examined criminal justice, substance use, and employment outcomes of 36 offenders referred to the job skill development and supported work project. Overall, 78% of the offenders enrolled in the vocational services completed the program and 134/245 (55%) were able to obtain employment. The data showed that completion of vocational services was strongly associated with obtaining employment 12 months postenrollment. Offenders identified the employment services as an integral part of their improved overall functioning. A series of practice recommendations and policy suggestions is offered to develop and manage vocational services for substance-using offenders. Employment services for parolees require considerable coordination of activities with parole officers, vocational programs, substance abuse treatment professionals, and funding systems.

Elevated risk of incarceration among street-involved youth who initiate drug dealing

“…restitution and mediation between offenders and victims) had a moderate impact on reducing youth recidivism (between 10 and 13%) [49]. Additionally, a study conducted in 2004 among adult offenders with a history of drug use found that post-release employment programmes had a high programme completion rate (78%), and more than half secured competitive employment, often including benefits [50]. …”

The Impact of Substance User Treatment Participation on Legal Employment and Income Among Probationers and Parolees

“…The short-term positive effects of treatment on subsequent labor force participation have been fairly well documented (Butzin, Scarpitti, Neilsen, Martin, & Inciardi, 1999;French et al, 1993;Hall et al, 2004;Kemp, Savitz, Thompson, & Zanis, 2004;Leukefeld, Webster, Staton-Tindall, & Duvall, 2007). Nevertheless, while some evidence points to the enduring nature of the improved work status resulting from criminal justice-sponsored treatment, with benefits lasting between 3 and 5 years (Butzin et al, 2005;O'Connell, Enev, Martin, & Inciardi, 2007;Sung, 2001), the lack of experimental control or the failure to control for baseline employment differences, or both, in these longitudinal studies renders their findings inconclusive and the contamination from self-selection highly plausible.…”

“…Employment and employment-related intervention are said to play important roles in substance user recovery (Kemp et al, 2004;Platt, 1997;Walker & Leukefeld, 2002). However, jump-starting the virtuous cycle of abstinence and employment among criminal offenders poses a daunting challenge to criminal justice authorities and clinical professionals, because of the extreme state of psychosocial deterioration in which most substance-abusing offenders are found (Comeford, 1999;Leukefeld, Mc-Donald, Staton, 2003;Sung, 2001).…”

Professional Demeanor of Chronically Unemployed Cocaine-Dependent Methadone Patients in a Therapeutic Workplace

“…Evaluations of the few intensive programs that provide job skills training and supported employment show that many participants fail even to maintain their supported employment jobs and many who obtain competitive employment fail to maintain those jobs overtime (e.g., Dickinson and Maynard, 1981;Kemp et al 2004). One of the most extensive and informative studies of employment interventions for illicit drugs users evaluated the effects of an intensive supported work intervention in 1,433 adults who were unemployed and who had been in substance use treatment within 6 months of enrollment in the study (Dickinson and Maynard, 1981).…”

“…However, little research has been conducted to examine the extent to which program participants maintain employment over extended periods of time. The information that is available on longer-term outcomes suggests that many intervention graduates who obtain employment do not reliably maintain their employment over time (e.g., Platt et al 1993;Kemp et al 2004; Dickinson and Maynard, 1981 …”