D.2. Crime Reduction

D.2.1. Decreased Recidivism: One major objective of DTAP is to reduce crime rates by breaking the link between drug abuse and criminal behavior.  The DTAP 2001 Annual Report included the findings of a five-year recidivism study.  These findings are again summarized below, because they so emphatically demonstrate the importance of DTAP to an effective, long-term strategy for reducing drug-related crime.  The sample analyzed in the study included 184 drug offenders who completed DTAP and a comparison group of 215 drug offenders who, although meeting DTAP’s initial eligibility criteria, did not participate in the program and instead served prison terms. 

In the five-year recidivism study, a much lower recidivism rate for DTAP completers was reported than for the offenders in the comparison group.  Of the 184 DTAP completers, 30 percent were rearrested within five years of the date that they had completed DTAP.  In contrast, 56 percent of the 215 drug offenders comprising the comparison group were rearrested within five years of the date of their prison release.  This difference is statistically significant, meaning that the difference did not arise because of sample error.  

Additionally, DTAP completers were rearrested 0.70 times on average during those five years, while individuals in the comparison group were rearrested 1.30 times.  This difference is also statistically significant.  However, with regard to the seriousness (misdemeanor versus felony) of the crimes for which members of each group were rearrested, no significant difference was found.

 

 

                 

Notably, almost all of the members of both groups (92.9% of the DTAP completers versus 93.0% of the comparison group) had been arrested at some point during the five-year period preceding the arrest which prompted their consideration for DTAP (“the DTAP arrest”).  A comparison for each group between the arrest rate during the five-year period before the DTAP arrest and the arrest rate during the five-year period after DTAP completion or incarceration supports the conclusion that successful DTAP participation is almost twice as effective in reducing crime as incarceration.

                      

D.2.2. New Crimes Prevented: Another way of assessing the impact of DTAP on public safety is to estimate the number of new crimes avoided by placing chronic drug users in long-term residential treatment. An earlier study conducted in New York City concluded that each year a typical drug-abusing offender committed 90.45 non-market-driven offenses such as burglary, shoplifting, larceny, forgery, and other crimes.[16] (Market-driven offenses are those related to drug sale, gambling, and prostitution. The supply of labor in these illicit markets is practically unlimited; therefore gains in avoided re-offending can easily be nullified through the recruitment of replacements in the community.)  Based on this figure, we estimate that over the past 20 years, at least 96,718 new crimes have been prevented by achieving a three-year post-treatment recidivism rate of 32% for the entire DTAP population, including dropouts, as opposed to the rate of 47% reported for comparable controls.[17]

D.3. Employment

DTAP seeks to reduce recidivism among program participants by strengthening their ties to the world of legitimate employment and by helping them to adopt a more responsible and productive lifestyle.  Work is not simply a way to make a living.  It imposes discipline and regularity on one's daily behavior and enhances one's self-esteem. 

D.3.1. Employment Enhancement Interventions: Many DTAP participants come from Brooklyn's impoverished neighborhoods. They have poor educational credentials and long histories of unemployment and underemployment.  DTAP participants get in-treatment educational and vocational training to redress the lack of basic education and of marketable job skills.  Additionally, DTAP’s Enhanced Employment Initiative is designed to assist DTAP clients in dealing with specific issues and problems such as unemployment, poor vocational and employment-related skills, parenthood, and child support.  These employment specialists not only work with each DTAP participant to develop a plan addressing each individual’s employment needs and personal aspirations, but the specialists also work with the employers who are considering hiring or who have hired DTAP graduates to address the concerns of these businesses and troubleshoot any problems that may arise. This collaboration between the job developers and the local business community seeks to cultivate and enhance an environment of trust and understanding that ultimately benefits not just the DTAP graduates but also the businesses which employ them.  

D.3.1.1. In-Treatment Educational and Vocational Training:  Treatment providers help to implement educational and job skills training programs to sustain positive changes in participants' behavior and attitudes through life skills enhancement. General Educational Development (GED) preparation courses and on-site high school programs are the most common educational opportunities.  Five of this fiscal year’s graduates obtained GED diplomas while in treatment.  The most popular vocational programs are those which provide training in home healthcare, commercial driving, copying and printing, counseling, auto mechanics, and data entry.  Participants also receive job readiness counseling on resume writing and job interviewing skills. 

D.3.1.2. Employment Specialists of the Enhanced Employment Initiative (EEI):  In 2002, the staff of the Enhanced Employment Initiative began serving DTAP clients.  The employment specialists act as vocational rehabilitation counselors, as well as job developers and on-site job coaches.  They work with treatment facilities to identify the work histories and skills of DTAP clients and match them to the needs of the business community.  DTAP’s employment specialists conduct vocational assessments of all DTAP clients, making referrals to GED programs, if necessary, and conduct informative employment workshops on a variety of subjects related to finding, securing, and maintaining a job.  They assist graduates with obtaining either a Certificate of Relief from Civil Disabilities or a Certificate of Good Conduct.  In addition, EEI staff members, working with the Office of Child Support Enforcement Unit, assist each DTAP non-custodial parent in establishing paternity and resolving child support issues that can interfere with the client’s employability and earnings.  Another key aspect of the specialists’ mission is to act as liaisons with businesses to make specific job referrals and negotiate with employers to gain jobs for DTAP graduates and increase their opportunities for competitive employment.  DTAP graduates are encouraged to maintain contact with the employment specialists, particularly when they plan to return to the labor market after a lay-off or want to look for a better job.

D.3.1.3. The DTAP Alumni Association: The Alumni Association was founded in 1999, by a group of DTAP graduates to provide a formal framework of support for their colleagues.  Through networking via the peer community, this association aids graduates with post-treatment assistance in an effort to promote continued productivity.  Alumni are referred to Kings County District Attorney’s Office’s resources in the event of unemployment or for career advancement.  Membership is based upon the simple desire to maintain a productive, crime-free, drug-free lifestyle and to encourage other members of the association to do the same.  Members of the Alumni Association and graduates are some of the best spokespeople for publicizing the concept that quality substance abuse treatment is available within the criminal justice system and that it works!    

D.3.2. DTAP Fosters Employment: Of the 51 people who were interviewed at time of program completion in the twentieth fiscal year (there was a total of 55 graduates for the year), 43 of them were employable.[18]  At the time of their DTAP arrest, only 11 (26%) of these 43 employable graduates had been working.  In contrast, over triple that number -- 38 (88%) -- of these employable graduates are now working in various fields such as food service, commercial driving, building maintenance, construction, office management, medical assistant, substance abuse counseling, sales, and retail management. Their salaries range from minimum wages to more than $42,000 per year.

According to CASA’s findings, DTAP participants, two years after leaving the program, had rearrest rates that were 26 percent lower (43% vs. 58%) and reconviction rates that were 36 percent lower (30% vs. 47%) than those of the offenders in the matched comparison group two years after leaving prison.  DTAP participants were also 67 percent less likely to return to prison (5% vs. 15%) two years after leaving the program than were members of the matched comparison group two years after leaving prison.[19]

 

CASA’s analysis comparing just those who graduated from DTAP to those of the matched comparison group who served time in prison reveals findings that are even more dramatic.  DTAP graduates had rearrest rates that were 33 percent lower (39% vs. 58%), reconviction rates that were 45 percent lower (26% vs. 47%), and were 87 percent less likely to return to prison (2% vs. 15%) two years after completing the program than the matched comparison group two years after leaving prison.[20]

 

D.5.3. Employment: CASA’s research revealed that DTAP graduates are three and one-half times likelier to be employed than they were before arrest and entrance into the program (92% vs. 26%).  According to the report, “[r]econnecting ex-offenders to the world of legitimate employment is crucial to maintaining recovery and reducing future criminal behavior.”  For example, CASA found, from an analysis of 117 employable graduates, that among those DTAP graduates who were working at the time of program completion, 13 percent were rearrested during the three-year follow-up.  In contrast, 33 percent of those who were not working were rearrested during the same period. [21]

 

D.5.4. Reduced Costs: The CASA team concluded that DTAP’s results were achieved at about half the average cost of incarceration.  CASA calculated that the average cost for a DTAP participant was $32,975, and compared that to the average cost of $64,338, if that same person had been sent to prison.[22]

 

The results of the CASA research as reported in the White Paper confirm DTAP’s own analyses of its data and validate District Attorney Hynes’ faith in the DTAP model as an effective means to reduce crime and drug use.  DTAP joins in CASA’s recommendation that “courts and prosecutors offices across the Nation should consider this type of program as a possible cost-effective alternative to incarceration.”