Drug Crime and the Criminal Justice System: The Situation in the State of Michigan and Cities of Detroit and Adrian

• NCJ Number: 124819
• Author(s): L Dodge
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 21 pages
• Corporate Author: US Government Accountability Office
• Sale Source: Azimuth Inc.; National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Statement before the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Governmental Affairs on March 19, 1990, in Detroit, Mich.

Annotation

This testimony on a study by the U.S. General Accounting Office examines the extent of drug crime in Michigan and the cities of Detroit and Adrian as well as the impact on the criminal justice system and its current responses.

Abstract

Drug-crime arrests in the Detroit metropolitan area were approximately 11,000 in 1988, up 156 percent over 1985. In Adrian, the comparable increase was 133 percent. Statewide, drug-crime arrests reached 27,000 in 1988, up 70 percent over 1985. This trend has increased the workload of prosecutors, courts, jails, prisons, probation, parole, and treatment programs. Jails and prisons have become more overcrowded. The Wayne County Jail (Detroit) is under court order to reduce overcrowding. To comply with the order, jail officials release accused felons weekly. Current criminal justice responses to these circumstances are pretrial diversion programs; the processing of offenses while on probation as technical probation violations; and the use of alternatives to jail and prison such as community service, "boot" camps, home confinement using electronic surveillance, and half-way houses.