NCJ Number
161447
Date Published
1996
Length
139 pages
Annotation
In this monograph, the authors examine the history, development, and current status of programs of drug control linked to the American courthouse.
Abstract
At a time when drug use is declining for students and those living in stable residential situations, street criminals have dramatically increased their drug use, and most of this increase involves cocaine, a drug clearly associated with violent aggressive behavior. These trends have created interest in new treatment initiatives for drug-abusing criminal offenders, especially because they have occurred simultaneously with three other factors bolstering interest in the wider use of drug abuse treatment: (1) Prison populations started to grow dramatically at the beginning of the 1980s; (2) The spread of HIV and AIDS among drug users, particularly crack and injection drug users, is a large and growing problem; and (3) The one helpful development is that research has convincingly documented the success of compulsory and coerced treatment for drug-involved offenders. Topics discussed in this work include: (1) Drugs-Crime Linkages; (2) Legal Coercion and Drug Treatment; (3) Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime; and (4) Drug Courts and Drug Treatment. Notes, appendixes, references, cases, index, biographical notes about the authors