www.vera.org,wwwfamilyjustice.org
Family support is an important supplement to traditional criminal justice responses to drug use and recidivism by drug users on parole and probation, the Vera Institute of Justice reported today. The institute issued a report on La Bodega de la Familia, a program that has operated for the past seven years in a poor Latino community on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
The study found that among drug users in La Bodega’s family case management program, illegal drug use dropped from 80 to 42 percent and La Bodga participants were less likely to be convicted of a new offense. The institute attributed the positive results both to pressure and encouragement from family members and better support for family members. La Bodega maintains a 24-hour support service. Carol Shapiro of the organization family justice said the model ‘is opening doors to fundamental changes in community supervision policies and practices for the future.”