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Criminally Involved Parents Who Misuse Substances and Children’s Odds of Being Arrested as a Young Adult: Do Drug Treatment Courts Mitigate the Risk?

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Abstract

This paper examined (1) the association between parents who are convicted of a substance-related offense and their children’s probability of being arrested as a young adult and (2) whether or not parental participation in an adult drug treatment court program mitigated this risk. The analysis relied on state administrative data from North Carolina courts (2005–2013) and from birth records (1988–2003). The dependent variable was the probability that a child was arrested as a young adult (16–21). Logistic regression was used to compare groups and models accounted for the clustering of multiple children with the same mother. Findings revealed that children whose parents were convicted on either a substance-related charge on a non-substance-related charge had twice the odds of being arrested as young adult, relative to children whose parents had not been observed having a conviction. While a quarter of children whose parents participated in a drug treatment court program were arrested as young adults, parental completion this program did not reduce this risk. In conclusion, children whose parents were convicted had an increased risk of being arrested as young adults, irrespective of whether or not the conviction was on a substance-related charge. However, drug treatment courts did not reduce this risk. Reducing intergenerational links in the probability of arrest remains a societal challenge.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grant 5R01DA032548-02 from the National Institute of Drug Abuse. There are no conflicts of interest to be reported with this manuscript. We thank the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts and the North Carolina Department of Vital Statistics for the provision of data used in this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, 302 Towerview Drive, Box 90545, Durham, NC, 27708, USA

    Elizabeth J. Gifford & Kelly E. Evans

  2. Department of Economics, Duke University, 213 Social Sciences Building, Box 90097, Durham, NC, 27708, USA

    Lindsey M. Eldred & Frank A. Sloan

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  1. Elizabeth J. Gifford
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  2. Lindsey M. Eldred
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Correspondence to Elizabeth J. Gifford.

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The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Human and Animal Rights

This research was approved by the Duke University Institutional Review Board (IRB). All IRB procedures were followed and full approval was obtained. No animals were used in this research.

Informed Consent

Data came from administrative data and therefore informed consent was not feasible. Data linkage occurred through a two-step process whereby individual identifiers were separated from all other information contained in the administrative records. Moreover, data were stored and accessed solely through the Duke University protected data network through a secure protocol.

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Gifford, E.J., Eldred, L.M., Evans, K.E. et al. Criminally Involved Parents Who Misuse Substances and Children’s Odds of Being Arrested as a Young Adult: Do Drug Treatment Courts Mitigate the Risk?. J Child Fam Stud 25, 2447–2457 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-016-0406-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-016-0406-9

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