Arthur J. Lurigio

Winning the Hearts and Minds of Police Officers: An Assessment of Staff Perceptions of Community Policing in Chicago

The success of community policing depends on the police officers who are responsible for implementing the programs. In essence, their attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors must be substantially changed before community policing can be put into practice. Chicagos community policing program, known as CAPS, became operational in March 1993 in five prototype districts. Before the program strated, officers were surveyed about their job satisfaction, their supervisors, and their opinions regarding community policing. Results showed that officers were very ambivalent about CAPS. They were supportive of some CAPS-related activities (e.g., solving noncrime problems), but not others (e.g., foot patrol), and were dubious about the programs effects on crime and neighborhood relations.

An Inside Look at Community Policing Reform: Definitions, Organizational Changes, and Evaluation Findings

Community policing is the latest reform in law enforcement and is quite popular among politicians, citizens, and police managers. It evolved, in part, from a growing dissatisfaction with traditional police practices and a recognition of their shortcomings. The concept of community policing is rather nebulous, and in the field, it assumes many forms, including foot patrol, ministations, and community organizing. Both internal and external factors have limited the success of its implementation, and so far, it has never become fully operational on a large scale. Overall, existing evaluations suggest that community policing can have a favorable impact on the perceptions of police officers and neighborhood residents.

Serious Mental Illness and Arrest The Generalized Mediating Effect of Substance Use

Past studies of the mediating effects of substance use on the criminal justice involvement of the mentally ill have tended to focus on a single disorder, schizophrenia, and on violent crimes. This study examined the generality of the relationships among psychiatric disorders, substance use, and arrests for violent, nonviolent, and drug-related offenses using data collected for the 2001 and 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Logistic regression models showed that for violent offenses, the statistical association between serious mental illness (SMI) and arrest across psychiatric diagnoses was substantially but only partially mediated by substance use. For nonviolent offenses and for drug-related offenses, the relationship between SMI and arrest was almost completely mediated by substance use and reduced to statistical nonsignificance. These findings suggest that co-occurring substance use increases the chances a person with any SMI, not just schizophrenia, will be arrested for any offense, not just violent offenses, but that the magnitude of this relationship varies by offense type and, to a lesser extent, by disorder.

Drug Treatment Availability and Effectiveness Studies of the General and Criminal Justice Populations

Rates of illicit drug use, especially heroin and cocaine, are many times greater among criminal justice populations than in the general population. Research demonstrates that among crimeprone persons, illegal drug use intensifies criminal activity. This article presents the abundant research evidence that supports drug treatment as an effective means to reduce illegal drug use, crime, and recidivism among offender populations. The article is divided into four sections. The first describes the findings of three large-scale investigations of drug treatments effects. The second reviews the literature on drug treatment effectiveness and availability. The third discusses the benefits of coerced treatment for criminal justice clients. The final section enumerates the principles of effective drug treatment.

Are all Victims Alike? The Adverse, Generalized, and Differential Impact of Crime:

Samples of crime victims (burglary, robbery, felonious assault) and nonvictims were compared to examine the short-term differential and generalized effects of crime on psychological, behavioral, and attitudinal measures. Victims were more likely to report experiencing higher levels of vulnerability, fear, and symptomology, and lower levels of self-efficacy. Also, victims were more likely to engage in protective behaviors. There were fewer differences, however, among the three groups of crime victims. Burglary victims were more likely to report feeling vulnerable and fearful, while assault victims were more likely to express more negative views of the police.

Standardized Assessment of Substance-Related, Other Psychiatric, and Comorbid Disorders among Probationers

This study examined the prevalence of alcohol-and substance-related disorders in a random sample of 627 adult probationers in Illinois. The investigation also explored the prevalence of major psychiatric disorders and their co-occurrences with alcohol and substance use disorders. To detect the presence of psychiatric disorders, researchers employed standardized assessment tools based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria. Overall, results showed that probationers had significantly higher rates of psychiatric disorders, substance use disorders, and co-occurring disorders compared with persons in the general population. In light of these findings, probation administrators are urged to invest more resources in treating drug use, mental illness, and codisorders, the latter of which is associated with a higher risk of violent behaviors.

Predicting Probation Outcomes: Factors Associated with Probation Rearrest, Revocations, and Technical Violations during Supervision:

We examined probation outcomes in a sample of more than 2,400 discharged adult probationers in Illinois. We grouped predictor variables into three major categories (probationer characteristics, offense type, and sentence characteristics), and studied three different probation outcomes (rearrest, technical violations, and revocations). Logistic regression analyses showed that different predictors were related to different outcomes and replicated many of the results of previous research. Age, income, prior adult convictions, histories of drug abuse and dependence, and supervision setting were significant predictors of all three outcomes. Race, education, conviction offense, offense class, and sentence length predicted some of the outcomes, but not all three.

Helping the Mentally Ill in Jails Adjust to Community Life: A Description of a Postrelease ACT Program and Its Clients

More than 25 years ago, researchers noted that persons with serious mental illness (PSMIs) were being processed increasingly through the criminal justice system instead of through the mental health system. Nearly 1 of every 15 admissions, or approximately6% of jail detainees, suffers fromsevere mental disorders at the time of arrest. Many PSMIs in jail receive psychiatric services during their incarceration but are usually discharged with no referrals to community treatment and no income or housing. Such persons can be managed effectively with Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) models. Thresholds, a psychiatric rehabilitation center, has funded a 2-year ACT Demonstration Project for PSMIs involved in Cook County’s (Chicago) criminal justice system. The project’s basic goals are to reduce the numbers of rearrests, reincarcerations, and rehospitalizations among project participants. To achieve these goals, project staff assists PSMIs to obtain psychiatric treatment, health care, housing, benefits, and other social services.

The Impact of IMPACT: An Assessment of the Effectiveness of a Jail-Based Treatment Program

This study examined the effects of a drug treatment program in Chicagos Cook County Jail (CCJ). The program, known as the Integrated Multiphase Program of Assessment and Comprehensive Treatment (IMPACT), involves three agencies and is based on the general model of a modified therapeutic community. IMPACT significantly reduced rearrest rates and delayed time-to-rearrest for program participants. Outcomes improved as length of stay in the program increased up to 150 days, after which there were no further reductions in recidivism. In addition, community treatment significantly reduced rearrest rates even for inmates who stayed an optimal length of time in the program.

Fighting Back: Neighborhood Antidrug Strategies.

Introduction Citizen Reporting of Drug Activity Community Antidrug Efforts Implanted Community Antidrug Problems Police Antidrug Efforts Drug House Abatement Programs Conclusion