Substance Abuse Treatment, Anticipated Maternal Roles, And Reentry Success of Drug-Involved Women Prisoners

The paper looks at the rate of recidivism and what drug-using women encounter when they return to their communities after completing various treatment programs. As one reads through it, pertinent information is contained. For instance, the research’s analysis makes obvious the need for treatment services for drug-using women who are incarcerated. It’s true that the research shows that a higher proportion of female convicts than male prisoners are in jail or prison due to drug misuse. In fact, the authors assert that the number of women prisoners between the years 1995 to 2005 has been on the increase as compared to male prisoners (Dowden & Blanchette, 2002). Additionally, an important note from the article is the fact that many of the inmates who get arrested because of drug crimes are black men and females; a situation that is articulated to the high rate of unemployment, low paying jobs and lack of education among the blacks in the US.

What is more interesting, the article is the way the authors explore the issue of female gender incarceration. From the study, one explicitly notes the perception of different women in prisons regarding the treatment programs and their maternal roles. However, it is more interesting to note from the study that a section of women in prisons was motivated to enter the treatment programs by the need to get sober and be effective in their parental roles. On some other accounts, however, a section of study from the research is interesting as it emphasizes that children are a hindrance to entering the treatment programs due to the constant needs of the children. Besides, it is interesting that some black women are motivated to quit substance abuse to accomplish their mothering roles. A small section of women, however, argues that the motivating factor to quit drug abuse does not solely lay on their parental roles. According to Anderson and Bondi (1998), “these women reported that they had managed to conceal their drug use from their children or had used drugs only while their children were in the care of other adults” (p. 393).

In the article, there is the use of new terminology, recidivism. This is when a prisoner released enters the society, but after a short period one commits a crime and goes back to prison again. The authors in the article are in favor of the topic. Ideally, the topic of women being imprisoned for drug crimes appears to be something that the authors see as inappropriate. To them, the female gender has been the victim of the nation’s war on drugs. The benefits of this to Criminology study is that the topic raises concern on the needs of women in prisons as many of them to find themselves behind bars due to minor cases of drug abuse and spent extended periods of time in prisons. Besides, this calls for new ways in the criminal justice system on how to handle cases relating to women who are coupled with parental roles.

Summary 2

Therapeutic Community in a California Prison: Treatment Outcomes after 5 Years:

Authors: Sheldon X. Zhang1, Robert E. L. Roberts2, and Kathryn E. McCollister3

From the article, it is clear that a large population in the US prisons is made up of substance abuse offenders. This group is more likely to commit crimes to get funds to buy drugs due to the addictive nature of the drugs. Besides, the drug offenders form part of the hardest group to reintegrate back into the society after release from prisons and jails. One learns that the best measure to address this problem is starting substance abuse treatments in the prisons. However, there is a challenge as the practice has not been used in the whole nation. What is interesting in the article is the fact that the results of the study carried out in California state prison between the therapeutic community that was prison-based and the marched offenders after five years showed similar cases of recidivism in California as compared to other regions. Besides, it is interesting to note that TCs from the study is the effective method to reduce recidivism in a short period of two years and ineffective for an extended period as seen in the case of California state prison where the study was undertaken for five years.

The authors in the article have introduced the use of therapeutic communities (TCs) which are a long-term residential treatment for substance abuse individuals. Form the article; it is clear that the authors are in favor of the topic as seen. In fact, ”the existing literature appears to support the positive effects of the TCs in the primarily short-term observation period. Long-term studies, particularly those involving randomized assignment of participants, seem to question the TCs efficacy over time” (Inciardi, Martin & Butzin 2004, p. 85).

This is beneficial to the study of correction as it helps in understanding how the TCs work. This is because as seen from the survey, the TCs work well within a short period while they are ineffective over a long period. Besides, the TCs are dynamic as being effective in one region does not guarantee effectiveness in another different area. Such helps in the criminal justice system when coming up with the best treatment methods to prisoners who are addicted to drugs.

References

Anderson, T., & Bondi, L. (1998). Exiting the drug addict role: Variations by race and gender.

Symbolic Interaction, 21(2), 155-174.

Dowden, C., &Blanchette, K. (2002). An evaluation of the effectiveness of substance abuse

programming for female offenders. International Journal of Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology, 46(2), 220-230.

Inciardi, J. A., Martin, S. S., &Butzin, C. A. (2004). Five-year outcomes of therapeutic community treatment of drug-involved offenders after release from prison. Crime & Delinquency, 50(1), 88-107.