Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative (DOSA): Treatment and Supervision

1
Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative
(DOSA)Treatment and Supervision
A Presentation to the Sentencing Guidelines
Commission December 12, 2003 Polly Phipps,
Ph.D. Washington State Institute for Public
Policy Bill Luchansky, Ph.D. Looking Glass
Analytics

• Washington State
• Institute for Public Policy

2
What Is DOSA?

• Provides a drug treatment alternative for felony
  offenders who receive a prison sentence.
• Under DOSA, time in confinement is reduced by
  half if offender completes treatment.
• Between 199599, only first-time felony drug
  offenders could receive DOSA.
• In 1999, E2SHB 1006
• expanded DOSA eligibility to include all felony
  drug and property offenders, and
• made drug offenders ineligible for work ethic
  camp, a non-drug treatment sentencing option.

3
Who Is Eligible for DOSA?

• Offenders with a sentence greater than one year
  (offenses committed after July 24, 1999).
• If drug offense, must involve only a small
  quantity (not defined in RCW) of a controlled
  substance.
• Offenders are not eligible if they have a
• current or prior sex or violent offense,
• deadly weapon sentence enhancement, or
• deportation order.

4
Current Study

• E2SHB 1006 directed WSIPP to evaluate DOSA.
• This presentation focuses on how DOSA has been
  implemented. Are DOSA offenders
• receiving and completing treatment?
• held accountable for behavior that violates DOSA
  sentence conditions through sanctions and
  revocations?
• The final report, due December 2004, will focus
  on criminal recidivism and cost-effectiveness.

5
Data Sources

• Sentencing Guidelines Commission sentencing data
  (FY 00 and 01)
• Department of Corrections (DOC) chemical
  dependency treatment data
• Included in DASA TARGET database
• DOC supervision violation data
• WSIPP criminal justice database

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DOSA Treatment Sample
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Group Characteristics
DOSA Offenders DOC Prison Population
Average Age 32.7 35.8
Gender Male 79 92
Female 21 8
Race White 65 72
Black 29 21
Native American 3 4
Asian 2 3
Other 1 1
Ethnicity Hispanic 8 11
Percents may not add to 100 due to rounding
N1,883. Doc prison population statistics for
March, 2003.
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County Characteristics
County Sentencing County Sentencing County Supervision County Supervision County
County DOSA Offenders DOC Prison Population DOSA Offenders DOC Population Contact Supervision
King 43 25 41 24
Pierce 17 16 17 16
Kitsap 7 4 6 3
Spokane 5 6 7 9
Thurston 4 4 4 3
Snohomish 3 8 4 8
Benton 3 2 2 2
Cowlitz 2 3 3 3
Lewis 2 3 2 1
All Other Counties 15 29 14 34
Percents may not add to 100 due to rounding.
N1,883 for DOSA sentencing county and N16,492
for DOC resident inmates by sentencing county
(March 2003) N1,865 for DOSA supervision county
with 18 unknown, and N32,831 for DOC supervision
county-offenders with contact required (2003).
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Criminal History and DOSA Offenses

• Criminal History (not including DOSA offenses)
• 3.5 prior felony convictions
• 3.7 prior misdemeanor convictions
• DOSA Offenses
• 65 were convicted of felony drug offenses.
• 26 were convicted of non-drug felony offenses.
• 9 were convicted of both drug and non-drug
  felony offenses.

N1,883
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Sentence Length and Prison Stay
Average Length of Confinement DOSA Sentence
Average Prison Time Served
N1,883
WSIPP 2003
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Drug Use Characteristics, DOSA Offenders
2 Other
Alcohol
Primary Drug Use
Stage of Addiction
WSIPP 2003
N1,767 116 missing
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DOC DOSA Policy

• All DOSA offenders receive a chemical dependency
  assessment in prison.
• Chemically dependent offenders receive treatment
  per DOC policy.
• DOSA offenders receive priority for treatment.
• Addiction severity, custody level, risk
  classification, sentence length, and treatment
  capacity are factors in determining treatment
  modality and duration.
• Upon prison release, offenders must continue to
  participate in outpatient treatment programs a
  minimum of three months.
• Sentence revocation procedures are in place for
  DOSA offenders who
• Fail to complete treatment continuum, violate
  court- or department-imposed release conditions,
  are convicted of a new felony, or are subject to
  an INS department order.

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DOSA Treatment Continuum

• Initial Treatment Modes
• Intensive Outpatient
• A 5, 6, 9, or 12 week program providing up to 72
  hours of treatment
• Available in confinement and community
• Intensive Inpatient
• 30 days in length
• Discontinued in 2000
• Long Term Residential
• 6 to 12 months
• Continuing Outpatient Treatment
• Weekly sessions for a minimum of 3 months

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Did DOSA OffendersReceive an Assessment?
No Assessment
4
96 Received Assessment
N1,883
WSIPP 2003
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Did DOSA OffendersReceive the Initial Treatment?
88 Received Treatment
12 Long Term Residential
56 Intensive Outpatient
12 No Treatment
20 Intensive Inpatient
N1,883
WSIPP 2003
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Did DOSA Offenders Complete the Initial
Treatment?
75 Completed Treatment
12 No Treatment
11 Did Not Complete
46 Intensive Outpatient
Still in Treatment
2
10 Long Term Residential
19 Intensive Inpatient
N1,883
WSIPP 2003
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Type of Initial TreatmentReceived and Completed
WSIPP 2003
18
Average Treatment Time Span for Initial Treatment
Mode
Intensive Inpatient
Intensive Outpatient
Long-Term Residential
WSIPP 2003

• Treatment ended an average of four months prior
  to prison release.

N1,653 receiving treatment
19
Stage of Addiction by Initial Treatment Mode
WSIPP 2003
N1,653 receiving treatment
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Did DOSA Offenders Receive Continuing Outpatient
Treatment?
49 Received Treatment in the Community
34 Community
37 No Treatment
15 Confinement Community
25 Confinement
N1,883
WSIPP 2003
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Did DOSA Offenders Complete Outpatient Treatment?
20 Community Completions
11 Still in Treatment
37 Did Not Receive Treatment
20 Community
4
Confinement
29 Did Not Complete
N1,883
WSIPP 2003
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DOSA Community Supervision

• Stipulated Agreement Violations and Sanctions
• 28 of DOSA offenders had at least one stipulated
  agreement violation.
• A DOC study currently underway has found that
  17 of all offenders under DOC or OAA
  jurisdiction in FY01 had at least one stipulated
  agreement violation.
• Supervision Violations and Sanctions
• 50 of DOSA offenders had at least one
  supervision violation for which they were found
  guilty.
• A DOC study currently underway has found that 32
  of all offenders under DOC or OAA jurisdiction in
  FY 01 were found guilty of a violation.
• DOSA sentence revocations
• 19 of DOSA offenders had their sentences
  revoked.
• 6 DOSA offenders had their sentenced revoked due
  to a new felony offense.

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DOSA Stipulated Agreement Violations
Unapproved Movement
1 Escape
Treatment-related
5
10
49 Alcohol/ Substance Use
35 Failure to Pay/Report
Offenders 508 (28) Violations 2,111
WSIPP 2003
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Stipulated Agreement Violation Sanctions
10 Other
16 DOC Programming
44 Enhance Supervision
27 Outpatient Treatment
Offenders 508 Sanctions 1,702
WSIPP 2003
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DOSA Supervision Violations
Escape
6
Unapproved Movement
11
41 Failure to Pay/Report
19 Treatment-related
23 Alcohol/ Substance
Offenders 943 (50) Violations 4,818
WSIPP 2003
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Sanctions for Violations
Intensive In- or Out-patient Treatment
10 Other
20 Confinement, County Jail
5
Increased Reporting
4
7
Day Reporting
23 Confinement, DOC Facility
15 CD Evaluation/ Follow-up
15 DOSA Revocation
Offenders 920 Sanctions 2,463
WSIPP 2003
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Comparing County Revocations and Violations
Supervision County Number of DOSA Offenders Percent of Offenders With at Least One Violation Percent of Offenders With Revocation
King 768 53 18
Pierce 311 50 20
Spokane 136 59 26
Kitsap 108 45 14
Thurston 81 28 11
Snohomish 77 55 25
Cowlitz 50 32 16
Benton 45 33 18
Grays Harbor 40 50 28
Clark 38 42 11
Lewis 34 35 18
Whatcom 33 64 30
Yakima 28 64 25
All Other Counties 116 48 18
Total 1,865 50 19
Bolded numbers indicate statistically significant
differences 18 missing.
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DOSA Violations and Revocations by Community
Outpatient Treatment Status
WSIPP 2003
N1,883
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Summary

• Are DOSA offenders receiving and completing the
  initial treatment?
• 88 percent of all DOSA offenders receive the
  initial treatment.
• 75 percent of all DOSA offenders complete the
  initial treatment.
• Are DOSA offenders receiving and completing
  continuing outpatient treatment in the community?
• 49 of all DOSA offenders receive outpatient
  treatment in the community.
• 20 of all DOSA offenders complete outpatient
  treatment in the community.

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Summary (continued)

• Are DOSA offenders held accountable for behavior
  that violates DOSA requirements?
• Approximately 50 of DOSA offenders received a
  supervision violation.
• Nearly 60 of all supervision violation sanctions
  involve confinement time 20 of all supervision
  violation sanctions are treatment-related.
• Violations and revocations vary slightly across
  counties, with a few significant differences.
• King and Spokane have significantly higher
  violations, while Thurston and Cowlitz have
  significantly lower violations.
• Spokane has significantly higher revocations.
• Offenders who complete community outpatient
  treatment have the lowest violation and
  revocation rates.

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Final DOSA Evaluation
In the final DOSA evaluation (due to the
Legislature December 2004), a pre-post study
design with a treatment and a comparison group
will be used. The evaluation will address the
following questions

• Did the new DOSA legislation change sentencing
  practices?
• Are drug treatment services effective?
• Does DOSA reduce criminal recidivism?
• Does DOSA save state resources?