Police officer Perspectives on a Pre-booking Diversion Program for People who use Drugs in Philadelphia.

Pre-booking diversion enables police officers to divert individuals to supportive services in lieu of prosecution for minor crimes related to substance use. We surveyed 204 Philadelphia Police Department officers authorized to initiate pre-booking diversions. We used bivariate x tests and multivariate logistic regression to examine differences in respondent perspectives.

Resident perspectives on a pre-booking diversion program.

Numerous cities are experimenting with pre-booking diversion programs that allow police officers to divert community members to supportive services in instances that would otherwise result in arrest and prosecution. These programs aim to decrease harmful involvement with the criminal justice system while reducing crime and public disorder. Although previous research has explored the experiences of people receiving diversion referrals and of police officers initiating them, none have examined the perspectives of community members who can offer crucial insights into planning, evaluation, and implementation barriers.

Co-Deployment is an Answer, but What are the Questions? Insights from Officer Focus Groups in Philadelphia.

Cities have been experimenting with less police-centered models for responding to people experiencing mental health crises. Ten focus groups were conducted with Philadelphia police officers to understand their experiences encountering mental health distress in the community and their perspectives on a new co-deployment initiative. There was general consensus that conventional police-centered responses to mental health concerns are often problematic.

Longitudinal relationships among exclusionary school discipline, adolescent substance use, and adult arrest: Public health implications of the school-to-prison pipeline.

Purpose: Exclusionary school discipline is an initiating component of the school-to-prison pipeline that is racialized and may lead to short- and long-term negative substance use and criminal legal outcomes. However, these impacts, and racial disparities therein, have not been well explored empirically at the individual-level.

Procedures: We analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (1995-2009).

Collateral consequences of the school-to-prison pipeline: Adolescent substance use and developmental risk.

Objective: The adolescent health consequences of the school-to-prison pipeline remain underexplored. We test whether initiating components of the school-to-prison pipeline-suspensions, expulsions, and school policing-are associated with higher school-average levels of student substance use, depressed feelings, and developmental risk in the following year.

Method: We linked 2003-2014 data from the California Healthy Kids Survey and the Civil Rights Data Collection from over 4,800 schools and 4,950,000 students.

Missed opportunities: Arrest and court touchpoints for individuals who fatally overdosed in Philadelphia in 2016.

Background: Many studies document high risk of fatal overdose after incarceration. Few explore earlier touchpoints in criminal justice processes, like arrests and court hearings. Understanding these touchpoints is important for several reasons.

“I know if I drink I won’t feel anything”: substance use relapse among depressed women leaving prison.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore treatment needs and factors contributing to engagement in substance use and sobriety among women with co-occurring substance use and major depressive disorders (MDDs) as they return to the community from prison.

Design/methodology/approach: The paper used qualitative methods to evaluate the perspectives of 15 women with co-occurring substance use and MDDs on the circumstances surrounding their relapse and recovery episodes following release from a US prison. Women were recruited in prison; qualitative data were collected using semi-structured interviews conducted after prison release and were analyzed using grounded theory analysis.

Provider Experiences with Prison Care and Aftercare for Women with Co-occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders: Treatment, Resource, and Systems Integration Challenges.

Incarcerated women with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (COD) face complex psychosocial challenges at community reentry. This study used qualitative methods to evaluate the perspectives of 14 prison and aftercare providers about service delivery challenges and treatment needs of reentering women with COD. Providers viewed the needs of women prisoners with COD as distinct from those of women with substance use alone and from men with COD.