0 - National Criminal Justice Reference Service

participation in treatment) and post-release measures (e.g., drug relapse, rearrest and
reincarceration).
Essential to the task of creating a valid research design is the creation of adequate
comparison groups. Formal classijkation assessments? and drug and alcohol assessment9 on all
inmates were conducted. We examined average scores on the Pennsylvania Department of
Corrections Screening Instrument (PACSI) and the TCU Drug Screen’ for inmates in each
program, and we determined how many inmates fell into low, medium, or high need categories. If
TC clients were all “high need” clients, for example, then valid comparison groups would need to
consist of high need clients also.
While the advantages of randomized research designs are well known, many programs
including state-mandated Alcohol or Other Drug (AOD) programs are obligated by concerns of
e
legality and ethicality to select clients on the basis of their need and suitability for treatment. In
such cases, randomization is often not feasible. However, a strong research design is afforded by
the opportunity to use matched controls to form comparison groups (see for example Rossi and
Freeman, 1989). Many high need inmates may receive less intensive forms of treatment (e.g.,
0
The Pennsylvania Additive CIassiJcation Tool (PACT) is designed to evaluate the offender’s custody and
security level requirements based on the nature of current and prior offenses, prior institutional and assaultive
behavior, escape history, time to release, and progradworkhousing performance, as well as stability factors such
as marital status, age, and educational level.
* Up until the end of December 2000, DOC used the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Screening
Instrument (PACSI) to determine if an inmate had a problem with substance abuse. The instrument assesses
previous and current drug use (fiequency and type), physical and emotional effects, effects on life circumstances
(e.g., relationships, employment, school, family), and previous and current involvement in treatment. The PACSI
results in a need for treatment score that ranges fiom 0 - 10. This screening process was designed to determine who
can benefit fiom treatment and which general category of substance abuse treatment was best suited for each
inmate. As of January 1,2001, DOC began using the TCU Drug Screen (the same instrument used in this study) to
screen all inmates for AOD treatment needs (Simpson, 1994; Simpson and Knight, 1998). In fact, the
Department’s adoption of that instrument was largely in response to recommendations made by Temple
researchers as a result of the research partnership between the two agencies (Welsh, 2000a; 2000b).
The TCU Drug Screen has been widely used and validated with inmate populations, and has evidence excellent
reliability (Brcome, Knight, Joe and Simpson, 1996; Peters et al., 1999). Score values of 3 or greater indicate
relatively severe drug-related problems, and correspond approximately to DSM drug dependence diagnosis.
39
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.