Release Date
Geography
Language of Resource
Full Text Available
Open Access / OK to Reproduce
Peer Reviewed
Objective
We conducted a survey of U.S. state policies that utilize criminal or civil legal system penalties to address prenatal drug use. We then systematically identified empirical studies evaluating these policies and summarized their potential public health impacts.
Findings/Key points
Nearly half of U.S. states have adopted policies that respond to prenatal drug use with legal system penalties. While additional research is needed to clarify whether such approaches engender overt health harms, current evidence indicates that punitive policies are not associated with public health benefits, and therefore constitute ineffective policy.
Design/methods
Using existing databases and original statutory research, we surveyed current U.S. state-level prenatal drug use policies authorizing explicit criminalization, involuntary commitment, civil child abuse substantiation, and parental rights termination. Next, we systematically identified quantitative associations between these policies and health outcomes, restricting to U.S.-based peer-reviewed research, published January 2000-December 2022.
