Estimating the Size of the Correctional Population and Substance Abuse Needs Using the National Criminal Justice Treatment Practices Survey

Government estimates of the distribution of the correctional population depend upon different surveys of offenders in prisons, jails, and probation and parole agencies. This method assumes that all offenders are in legal categories that are consistent with these formal distinctions, and does not take into consideration various categories such as diversion, alternatives to incarceration, pretrial supervision, and local community control. The National Criminal Justice Treatment Practices Survey used a two stage sampling frame to generate a comprehensive estimate of the offender population that is not confounded by setting boundaries. The first stage cluster was composed of counties or county equivalents as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (see http://geonames.usgs.gov/fips55.html) and the second stage was the corrections facilities, offices, or programs within the selected counties. Survey findings estimate that there are 1,233,867 adults in prison, 745,766 adults in jail, 908,477 adults on parole, 3,949,089 on probation, 1,006,586 on other forms of supervision, 57,355 juveniles in residential facilities, 542,349 juveniles on probation/parole, and 20,620 juveniles in diversion programs. These estimates show that there are approximately 1 million more adults involved in the criminal justice system than were shown in previous estimates, and provide the first national estimate of juveniles on probation supervision. From this the researchers estimated that 7.6 percent of adult offenders can access the appropriate level of care, and that juvenile offenders experience the same gap in treatment. The impact of the “hidden” population on the treatment gap is discussed.