A Multimethod Assessment of Social Intervention Effects on Narcotics Use and Property Crime

Log-linear modeling, structural equation modeling, repeated measures analysis of variance, and time series analysis are discussed for their utility in evaluating the temporal effects of social interventions. Methods are illustrated by applications examining the independent and joint temporal effects of methadone maintenance treatment and legal supervision on narcotics use and property crime among narcotics addicts. Convergent results from a multimethod assessment of the issue show that methadone maintenance has long-term and short-term suppressive effects on narcotics use and property crime. More complicated but complementary findings have been found in evaluating the effectiveness of legal supervision.