Does Criminal History Predict Pre-Incarceration Substance Use and Substance Use Treatment Need Among People in Prison?

This paper investigated the degree to which legally-involved individuals’ criminal history was related to their responses on a validated screener for substance use. Using data from 56,000 people released from the Illinois Department of Corrections, this study examined whether prior arrests, arrests for violent crimes, and arrests for drug-law crimes were associated with substance use prior to prison, the identification of which drug caused the individual the most serious problems, and need for substance use treatment. Most of the relationships between criminal history indicators and self-reported substance use were weak. The exception to this trend was a moderate-to-strong correlation between methamphetamine arrests and methamphetamine use, which may reflect how rural jurisdictions in Illinois are using prison as a response to crime. This paper highlights the importance of drug screening to identify drug use problems and treatment need rather than relying solely on criminal history and drug law violations.