Effects of Case Management on Parolee Misconduct

Abstract

The Bay Area Services Network (BASN) provides case management, drug abuse treatment, and links to other health/social services for drug-involved parolees in the San Francisco Bay Area. In a quasi-experimental evaluation, the authors found no difference between BASN and comparison parolees in treatment duration, access to health/social services, drug use days, or criminal recidivism. However, mean scores for dose of case management (number of contacts with case manager) and treatment duration were low among BASN parolees overall. In analyses using BASN parolees only, the authors found those with a stronger case management dose reported fewer drug use days and property offenses. These findings persisted when self-reported abstinence motivation was controlled for as a proxy for self-selection. The effect of case management dose on drug use days was mediated by treatment duration. BASN case management may have had favorable effects on recidivism and drug use when delivered in a sufficient dose.