Treatment Options for Drug-Dependent Offenders: A Policy Overview

• NCJ Number: 125811
• Author(s): S J Shapiro
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 33 pages
• Contract Number(s): 87-DD-CX-K051
• Sponsoring Agency: Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)
• Corporate Author: National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA)
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper reviews public policy issues affecting the treatment of drug-dependent offenders and is based on more than 1,000 books, papers, and articles concerning drug treatment developments since the late 19th century.

Abstract

General areas addressed in the literature review pertain to the drug-dependent offender crisis and its impact on the criminal justice system and society, policies toward the treatment of drug-addicted offenders, treatment effectiveness, perceptions and attitudes affecting policymakers, the need for treatment in the wake of the AIDS epidemic, and economics of treatment as opposed to incarceration. The relationship between drug use and criminality is shown to be the principal catalyst for causing policymakers to explore and support drug-dependent offender treatment. Although the stated goal of policy has historically been to treat addicted offenders, primary objectives in such treatment have actually been based on considerations other than treatment, i.e., prison management and crime reduction. Consequently, rehabilitation of drug-dependent offenders has generally not been achieved. For policymakers, practitioners, and government officials, the two fundamental questions concerning treatment are the outcome and effectiveness of treatment for drug-dependent offenders. Drug experts are now calling for the expanded treatment of addicted offenders as one way to alleviate the burden such offenders place on society and the criminal justice system. Economic considerations remain the most salient factor in the policymaking process. The high cost of incarcerating addicted offenders and the projected need for more jail and prison bed spaces are key issues in policy deliberations over whether to treat drug-dependent offenders or incarcerate them. If current rates of prison population growth continue, policymakers will face adding an estimated 1,000 prison bed spaces a week at a cost of $25 million per year to maintain them. 24 notes and 108 references.