Drug Treatment for Women Offenders: Research in Brief

• NCJ Number: 154045
• Author(s): J Wellisch; G P Falkin; M L Prendergast
• Date Published: May 2025
• Length: 16 pages
• Grant Number(s): 92-IJ-CX-K018
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Survey

Annotation

The study described here had two major goals: to understand the needs of drug-abusing women offenders and the implications of those needs for the development of effective drug treatment programs, and to help criminal justice agencies and community treatment programs meet the needs of drug-abusing women offenders.

Abstract

The research was comprised of a literature review on the needs of substance-abusing women offenders, secondary analysis to determine the prevalence of drug use and the need for treatment among female arrestees, a national survey of drug treatment programs for this population, and case studies of treatment programs that serve women in various legal statuses and treatment settings. The research was based on the identification of drug use and treatment, health problems, education and vocational background, psychosocial problems, responsibility for parenting, and criminal justice and child protective service involvement as key issues. Because of the multiple problems of women offenders and the multiple agencies involved in addressing them, the treatment system for women offenders needs to move toward a more systems- oriented approach to service delivery that stresses interagency and interprogram coordination, joint planning and resource allocation, and continuity of care for clients. 30 references