Organised Crime & Crime Prevention - what works? - Scandinavian ...

NSfK’s 40. forskerseminar, Espoo, Finland 1998
difference found as regards the time elapsed from participation in a treatment programme to
commencement of the next prison term, between those who completed the programme and
those who did not. Nevertheless, the prisoners completing the programme returned later to
prison than the others. The former returned to prison in 19.5 months on the average, while the
latter returned after a period averaging 14 months. Eleven of the returning prisoners were
granted a second opportunity to complete their sentences by a treatment programme, and one
prisoner was granted a third opportunity in the period coming under the study.
Discussion
Since 1990, a total of 120 prisoners have been afforded the opportunity of completing their
prison sentences by participation in an alcohol and drug abuse treatment programme offered
by SAA. In order to make it possible to discern any differences in the return rates to prison of
those who completed the entire six week programme and those who failed to do so, the
decision was taken to extend the study to at least four years from the termination of
participation, in order to obtain a realistic picture of the return rates. In 1990-1993, forty-eight
prisoners were afforded this option. Of these, slightly less than three fourths completed the
treatment programme, but slightly more than one fourth terminated their participation at their
own request or as a result of various disciplinary offences in the course of the programme. No
statistically significant difference was found between the two groups, in spite of a
considerable proportional difference. This may be due to the small number of individuals
providing the sample. Further research is needed, and returns to prison of offenders who
undergo a treatment programme while serving a sentence will continue to be monitored.
It is however noteworthy that the return rate of both groups (63%) was rather high, and
considerably higher than the return rate of the prisoners studied by Sigurdsson and
Gudjonsson (1997), which showed that four out of every ten individuals admitted to Icelandic
prisons for serving a sentence over a period of four years had served a prison term earlier. A
recent study of Norwegian offenders who completed their prison sentences by an alcohol or
drug abuse treatment programme, conducted by Ødegård and Amundsen (1998), revealed a
higher rate of recidivism (90%) than that of those who did not participate in a programme of
this kind (81%). One explanation for the high recidivism rate of the Icelandic prisoners
undergoing such a programme is without doubt linked to their criminal records, as their
records were both longer and graver than those of the prisoners studied by Sigurdsson and
Gudjonsson. The prisoners in the present study were, on the average, approximately four
years younger than the prisoners they studied, who averaged 27 years (SD=8.7) when they
served their first prison sentence. The members of the present study sample had also served
more terms in prison and had received more unconditional sentences than the members of
their sample, who had previously been sentenced by an average of 5.1 (SD=5.2)
unconditional sentences and had served an average of 2.8 (SD=2.9) prison terms.
Another explanation of this high return rate can undoubtedly be traced to the alcohol and drug
problems of the sample members, as this was the reason why they applied for a completion of
their sentences by drug abuse treatment in the first place. It may be assumed that their drug
abuse problems are proportionally greater than those of other prisoners, who did not lodge
such applications. One deficiency of this study is the fact that no information was available on
the prisoners’ use or consumption of alcohol or illicit drugs, nor the nature of their problems,
at the time they applied for participation in the treatment programme. The only dependable
information on alcohol and drug use by Icelandic prisoners is to be found in the studies of
Sigurdsson and Gudjonsson (1994, 1995 and 1996). Their study (1995) of 340 Icelandic
prisoners concluded that 13% were regarded as seriously dependent on the abuse of drugs,
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