NCJ Number
88495
Journal
Corrections Magazine Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Dated: (April 1983) Pages: 30-36
Date Published
1983
Length
7 pages
Annotation
Although public drunkenness is no longer a crime in most States, those found drunk in public are jailed on other charges, largely because an effective treatment program has not been developed as an alternative.
Abstract
Realizing that alcoholism is a disease and not a crime, most States have decriminalized public drunkenness, but this has not resolved the problem of controlling the irresponsible and disruptive behavior of drunks who offend citizens in public. The police still carry the responsibility of handling such situations, and often it is done by jailing public inebriates on the charges of vagrancy and disorderly conduct. Thus, the pattern of handling public drunks has not changed in many jurisdictions. There are few who argue that the system of jailing and then releasing drunks accomplishes any more than removing them from interaction with citizens in public for a brief time. Programs that have provided medical help and the opportunity for treatment have proven most effective. One such program is in San Diego County, Calif., although decriminalization of public drunkenness has not yet occurred in California. Police who transort public inebriates to the Inebriate Reception Center (IRC) fill out a brief form and then leave. Admissions are immediately examined by a staff member trained in first aid and with experience in recognizing medical ailments often masked by inebriation. Those in need of medical care are transferred to county hospitals. Clients are encouraged to enroll in a 5-day residential program located in the same building. Also under the same roof is a 20-bed, 7-day educational recovery program and a 30-bed, long-term recovery home for those in advanced stages of treatment. The success of the IRC may be reflected in the declining arrest rate in the county and declining IRC admissions.