Arrest Risks for Women with Substance Use Disorders

Abstract

There is well-established evidence that women in the criminal justice system are disproportionately affected by a variety of emotional and economic struggles. Most research involves only women who are under criminal justice supervision. Instead of focusing on women who were involved in the criminal legal system at the time of the study, this secondary analysis used generalized estimating equations to assess women’s risk of arrest among a group of women with substance use disorders who also participated in outpatient substance abuse treatment. This study found that increased employment stress (OR = 3.7) and social support stress (OR = 4.3) severity, as recorded through the Addiction Severity Index scoring categories, were associated with arrest in the year after treatment. African American women in this sample were less likely to be arrested (OR = 0.33) post-treatment. Additionally, women who were assigned to trauma-informed treatment were less likely to be arrested (OR = 1.9) post-treatment.