Social reintegration has been known to protect against recidivism, but its effects against drug-use relapse have previously remained unclear. To address this gap, the present study sampled 196 inmates imprisoned for drug-related offenses in Japan. We examined the protective effects of a social reintegration (parole) program against recidivism and drug-use relapse using a 4-year prospective design. During the 4-year follow up, 79 (40.3 %) of the participants reoffended and 61 (31.1 %) relapsed into drug use. The results suggest that the parole program was significantly associated with a decreased risk of recidivism, even if participants’ age, sentence length, number of prison terms, educational levels, and gang membership were controlled for. However, the effects of the parole program on drug relapse disappeared when the above variables were controlled for. To decrease the risk of relapse, drug-related inmates may need both prosocial communities and rehabilitative environments. The Japanese criminal justice system needs to introduce drug treatment courts for drug users.

中文翻译：

---

重返社会（假释）计划对日本与毒品有关的监狱囚犯的影响：一项为期 4 年的前瞻性研究

众所周知，重新融入社会可以防止再犯，但其对吸毒复发的影响以前仍不清楚。为了弥补这一差距，本研究对 196 名在日本因毒品相关犯罪而入狱的囚犯进行了抽样调查。我们使用 4 年前瞻性设计检查了重新融入社会（假释）计划对再犯和吸毒复发的保护作用。在 4 年的随访期间，79 名 (40.3 %) 的参与者再次犯罪，61 名 (31.1 %) 再次吸毒。结果表明，即使参与者的年龄、刑期、刑期、教育水平和帮派成员身份得到控制，假释计划与再犯风险的降低显着相关。然而，当上述变量得到控制时，假释计划对药物复发的影响就消失了。为了降低复发的风险，与毒品有关的囚犯可能需要亲社会社区和康复环境。日本刑事司法系统需要为吸毒者设立戒毒法庭。