Criminal Justice Involvement Among Veterans

Blonigen, Daniel M.; King, Christopher; Timko, Christine

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-31664-8_2

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…5 In fiscal year 2012, justice-involved veterans who were in contact with the VA’s Veterans Justice Programs (VJP) reported a mean of eight prior arrests in their lifetime. 8 These findings highlight why reducing justice-involved veterans’ criminal activity and recidivism is a top priority for a number of national organizations, including the VA and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 12–14…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Among veterans in treatment for substance use or mental health problems, a history of criminal justice involvement is the norm rather than the exception. 8 For instance, one study investigated the prevalence of specific types of criminal arrests among a large, nationally representative sample of male patients in VA addiction treatment programs, all of whom served in the military before September 11, 2001. 9 Among these patients, 85% had at least one lifetime criminal charge, and 58% had at least three such charges.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…24 Justice-involved veterans have higher rates of mental health disorders than other veterans and other justice-involved adults, with PTSD, substance use disorders, and depression among the most prevalent conditions. 8,23,25 Justice-involved veterans with co-morbid substance use and mental health disorders in particular are at increased risk of violent behavior. 23…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Systematic Review of Criminal and Legal Involvement After Substance Use and Mental Health Treatment Among Veterans: Building Toward Needed Research

et al. 2020

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Evidence indicates that substance use and mental health treatment is often associated with reduced criminal activity. The present systematic review examined this association among military veterans, and aimed to provide a comprehensive summary of needed research to further contribute to reduced criminal activity among veterans. This systematic review was derived from a scoping review that mapped existing research on justice-involved veterans’ health. For the current systematic review, a subset of 20 publications was selected that addressed the question of whether criminal activity declines among veterans treated for substance use and mental health disorders. Generally, veterans improved on criminal outcomes from pre- to post-treatment for opioid use, other substance use, or mental health conditions, and more sustained treatment was associated with better outcomes. This occurred despite high rates of criminal involvement among veterans prior to entering treatment. Needed are substance use and mental health treatment studies that include women justice-involved veterans, follow criminally-active veterans for longer periods of time, and use validated and reliable measures of criminal activity with fully transparent statistical procedures. Future randomized trials should evaluate new treatments against evidence-based treatments (versus no-treatment control conditions). Subsequent studies should examine how to link veterans to effective treatments, facilitate sustained treatment engagement, and ensure the availability of effective treatments, and examine mechanisms (mediators and moderators) that explain the association of treatment with reduced criminal activity among veterans. Best practices are needed for reducing criminal activity among the minority of justice-involved veterans who do not have diagnosed substance use and/or mental health disorders.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Systematic Review of Criminal and Legal Involvement After Substance Use and Mental Health Treatment Among Veterans: Building Toward Needed Research

et al. 2020

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“…Based on qualitative interviews at each site with participants randomized to the MRT condition and residential program staff, the time intensity of MRT was viewed as a key barrier to patient engagement. For example, patients reported that the workload of the intervention was overwhelming, particularly given competing demands from the residential treatment program and other priorities (e.g., finding a job or stable housing; Blonigen et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A randomized controlled trial of moral reconation therapy to reduce risk for criminal recidivism among justice-involved adults in mental health residential treatment.

Blonigen¹,

Cucciare²,

Byrne³

et al. 2022

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

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Objective: Moral reconation therapy (MRT) is a cognitive–behavioral intervention to reduce risk for criminal recidivism. Despite being implemented widely in correctional settings, there are no randomized controlled trials of MRT, and its effectiveness for reducing recidivism among justice-involved adults in noncorrectional settings is unknown. Method: In a pragmatic trial, 341 justice-involved patients (95.3% male; 57.8% White/non-Hispanic) admitted to one of three mental health residential treatment programs were randomly assigned to usual care (UC) or UC plus two MRT groups per week for 12 weeks. Follow-ups were conducted at 6- and 12-month postbaseline (71.3% and 74.8% retention, respectively). Primary outcomes were criminal thinking and criminal associates. Secondary outcomes were legal problem severity, days incarcerated in the past 30, rearrested/charged (per official records), substance use, and employment and family/social problems. The study design, analysis, and outcomes were preregistered (ClinicalTrials.gov; ID: NCT02524171). Results: Patients in both conditions improved over time on most outcomes. In intent-to-treat analyses, the rate of change in outcomes over time did not differ by condition, nor did the prevalence of being rearrested and charged within 1 year of baseline (UC = 20.2%, MRT = 24.9%; OR = 1.14; 95% CI [0.67, 1.94], p = .63). MRT engagement was low; 37% of those randomized to MRT received a minimum dose—that is, completed at least Step 3. In per-protocol analyses, this subgroup, relative to UC, improved more on criminal associates, days incarcerated, legal problem severity, and alcohol use severity. Conclusions: In this study, MRT was not more effective than UC at reducing recidivism risk for patients in mental health residential treatment.

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“…For example, per federal regulations, VHA cannot provide healthcare services to veterans while they are incarcerated (Department of Veterans Affairs 2011 ). The adverse impact of not receiving, or having intermittent, healthcare may be especially pronounced for the behavioral health of justice-involved adults, given the high rates of mental health and substance use problems in this population (Blonigen et al 2019 ). Accordingly, the VHA has placed a high priority on implementing best practices for reducing criminal recidivism among their justice-involved patient population (Blue-Howells et al 2013 ; Hartley and Baldwin 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recidivism Treatment for Justice-Involved Veterans: Evaluating Adoption and Sustainment of Moral Reconation Therapy in the US Veterans Health Administration

Blonigen

Shaffer

Smith

et al. 2021

Adm Policy Ment Health

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Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT), an evidence-based intervention to reduce risk for criminal recidivism among justiceinvolved adults, was developed and primarily tested in correctional settings. Therefore, a better understanding of the implementation potential of MRT within non-correctional settings is needed. To address this gap in the literature, we evaluated the adoption and sustainment of MRT in the US Veterans Health Administration (VHA) following a national training initiative in fiscal years 2016 and 2017. In February 2019, surveys with 66 of the 78 VHA facilities that participated in the training were used to estimate the prevalence of MRT adoption and sustainment, and qualitative interviews with key informants from 20 facilities were used to identify factors associated with sustainment of MRT groups. Of the 66 facilities surveyed, the majority reported adopting (n = 52; 79%) and sustaining their MRT group until the time of the survey (n = 38; 58%). MRT sustainment was facilitated by strong intra-facility (e.g., between veterans justice and behavioral health services) and inter-agency collaborations (e.g., between VHA and criminal justice system stakeholders), which provided a reliable referral source to MRT groups, external incentives for patient engagement, and sufficient staffing to maintain groups. Additional facilitators of MRT sustainment were adaptations to the content and delivery of MRT for patients and screening of referrals to the groups. The findings provide guidance to clinics and healthcare systems that are seeking to implement MRT with justice-involved patient populations, and inform development of implementation strategies to be formally tested in future trials.

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Criminal Justice Involvement Among Veterans

Cited by 8 publications

References 64 publications

Systematic Review of Criminal and Legal Involvement After Substance Use and Mental Health Treatment Among Veterans: Building Toward Needed Research

Systematic Review of Criminal and Legal Involvement After Substance Use and Mental Health Treatment Among Veterans: Building Toward Needed Research

A randomized controlled trial of moral reconation therapy to reduce risk for criminal recidivism among justice-involved adults in mental health residential treatment.

Recidivism Treatment for Justice-Involved Veterans: Evaluating Adoption and Sustainment of Moral Reconation Therapy in the US Veterans Health Administration

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