0 - National Criminal Justice Reference Service

group did get some treatment help” (Inciardi et al., 1997:266). While it is also true in our study
that inmates in the comparison group received some treatment, the crucial questions are what kind
of treatment, and how much?
Because we accounted for all admissions and discharges during the study period, we were
able to precisely account for total treatment exposure for all inmates in our sample. Previous
studies have failed to do so. Although we used a quasi-experimental design, rather than random
assignment, we showed that the experimental (TC) and comparison groups differed dramatically
on treatment exposure (by a factor of about 20: l), and we were able to examine the effects of
treatment exposure as a control variable in our analyses.
Previous studies have often failed to account for program dropouts in analyses, prompting
m
questions about the validity of their findings. As Austin (1 998) and others have argued, treatment
groups often evidenced only slightly lower reincarceration rates compared to control groups when
program failures were included in calculations of recidivism (Austin, 1998). It is instructive to
note that randomized designs do not eliminate biased attrition or problems such as treatment
migration. Our results clearly indicated that treatment effects were diminished when program
failures were taken into account. This does not mean that there was no treatment effect, but
rather, that the effect was much smaller than it would be ifresearchers failed to separate program
graduates fiom program dropouts in analyses of outcome. This fmding raises important questions
for policy consideration.
While the attrition rates reported in this sample were quite favorable compared to those
reported in other drug treatment studies,*’ correctional policy makers must address the question
of why so many inmates fail to complete TC or other drug treatment programs while in prison,
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This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not
been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.