Client: Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand (ALAC)

Date: June 2006

Author(s): Adrian Slack, Dr Nicola Chandler, Dr Ganesh Nana, Brian Jameson

This project reviewed the literature on specialist Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) interventions in criminal justice settings. The review was designed to provide an evidence base for policy recommendations on early AOD interventions in the justice system.

The report describes the scope of the literature, findings from specific pieces of research and synthesises themes in the literature. The final part of the report uses this evidence base to provide policy insights. The report also includes a specific analysis of the literature on interventions for youth as a specific population of interest.

The literature showed that involvement in criminal justice settings improves identification of substance use disorders, better engages people in treatment and delivers better treatment outcomes for particular interventions than for people in a general population. In particular, early interventions such as screening and assessment for substance use disorders, and treatment matching have potential as cost-effective interventions for people in criminal justice settings.

BERL #4483