Drug Testing Can Influence Parolee Employment and Education

Drug testing is common in criminal justice settings, including parole. Testing, with sanctions for dirty tests, is supposed to reduce drug use, and it could influence other important parole outcomes, like working or going to school. A new study by a RAND DPRC researcher provides the first evidence linking drug testing with positive employment and education outcomes for individuals recently released to parole supervision. The study examines the behavior of almost 2000 California Youth Authority parolees in 1992–93 who were randomly assigned to drug testing or not. The randomization process created two comparable groups; advanced statistical techniques were used to account for any remaining differences. Other things equal, those who were tested were 6 to 8 percentage points more likely to have been in school or employed during the first 30 days of parole. The results varied by race/ethnicity. Hispanics were 10 to 13 percentage points more likely to have been in school or employed if tested, whereas blacks were no more likely. The author could not determine whether this effect persisted over time, but he cited a different RAND study which observed that probationers randomly assigned to biweekly drug testing were less likely to have a full-time job during the twelve-month follow-up than those assigned to no testing. Thus, this new study raises fresh questions about the dynamic and differential effects of a common criminal justice practice.

* Difference is statistically significant in bivariate and multivariate analyses

Source:

Does Parolee Drug Testing Influence Employment and Education Outcomes? Evidence from a Randomized Experiment with Noncompliance

Kilmer B

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