Treating Clients in the Criminal Justice System

Course overview

Identifying offenders in need of substance abuse treatment is only the first step in providing help to these individuals. Because no single treatment has been shown to be effective for all offenders, effective matching to individual needs such as vocational or employment skills, family counseling, and mental health services improves the likelihood that the client will successfully complete treatment. Matching to specific treatment interventions also is cost-effective and improves the quality of services within existing programs. For example, offenders appropriately matched to either a high-structure, behaviorally oriented program or a low-structure counseling program consistently have significantly less severe problems and lower rates of substance abuse than those not appropriately matched to treatment programs. Finally, with only a limited number of available intensive treatment slots (e.g., residential services) in many criminal justice settings, offenders placed in these programs who do not need or desire intensive treatment may be disruptive or drop out of treatment prematurely, preventing others from benefiting from them.