IV. A Comprehensive Approach
4. Breaking the Cycle of Drugs and Crime
Drug-dependent individuals are responsible for a disproportionate percentage of our nation's violent and income-generating crimes like robbery, burglary, or theft. According to ADAM data, between one-half and three-quarters of all arrestees tested in twenty-three cities around the country had drugs in their system at the time of arrest. About half of those charged with violent or income-generating crimes test positive for more than one drug. In 1997, a third of state prisoners and about one in five federal prisoners said they had committed the offenses that led to incarceration while under the influence of drugs. Nineteen percent of state inmates and 16 percent of federal inmates said they committed their current offense to obtain money for drugs (up from 17 percent and 10 percent, respectively, in 1991).22
Most of the largest volume drug buyers are frequent arrestees. Chronic drug users consume two-thirds of the cocaine in the United States. Reducing the number of drug-dependent criminals is a sure way to decrease the drugs consumed, the size of illegal drug markets, the number of dealers, and drug-related crime and violence.
Drug-law offenders are filling our prisons and the expense is overwhelming. The nation's incarcerated population is now more than 1.8 million. By 2002, this figure could reach 2.1 million. Prisoners sentenced for drug offenses constituted the largest group of federal inmates (60 percent) in 1996, up from 53 percent in 1990. Between 1990 and 1996, the number of drug offenders in state prisons grew by 87,900.23
The criminal justice system is addressing substance-abuse problems among adult and juvenile offenders. According to the Bureau of Prisons, the number of federal inmates receiving residential substance abuse treatment increased from 1,236 in 1991 to 10,006 in 1998. The number of arrestees who require drug treatment may exceed two million a year, including many chronic users of cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine. When not incarcerated, many in this hard-core group remain under the jurisdiction of the criminal justice system through probation or parole. Just a small fraction of non-violent drug offenders and individuals on probation or parole are involved in diversionary programs. Drug courts reach only 1 or 2 percent of non-violent drug-law offenders.
Another challenge for the criminal justice system is to reach beyond the immediate defendant to address family crises, domestic violence, juvenile delinquency, abuse and neglect, and related problems. The justice system must incorporate means of intervening in a child's initial exposure to adult problems, often in his or her own home during the first years of life. Community involvement in legal issues, particularly when they intersect with families and children, is essential for breaking the cycle of substance abuse, crime, and violence. An example of this concept in action are Unified Family Courts -- such as New Jersey's, which encompass a network of six thousand community volunteers -- that can bring together diverse segments of the court and community to collaborate on effective approaches to families in crisis.
Incarcerating offenders without treating underlying substance-abuse problems simply defers the time when they are released back into our communities to start harming themselves and the larger society. Between 60 and 75 percent of untreated parolees with histories of cocaine and/or heroin use reportedly return to those drugs within three months of release. As a crime-control measure alone, drug treatment for criminally active addicts is strikingly cost-effective. It offers the potential of reducing crime by about two-thirds at a fraction of the cost for a prison cell. Imprisoning an addict costs more than twenty-five thousand dollars a year. By comparison, outpatient treatment costs less than five thousand dollars a year, and residential treatment ranges between five and fifteen thousand dollars annually. A variety of programs based in the criminal justice system are demonstrating their effectiveness across the country.24
Treatment Accountability for Safer Communities (TASC)
Created in the early 1970s and originally named Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime, TASC has demonstrated that the coercive power of the criminal justice system can be used to get individuals into treatment and manage their behavior without undue risk to communities. Through TASC, some drug offendersare diverted out of the criminal justice system into community-based supervision. Others receive treatment as part of probation, and still others are placed into transitional services as they leave an institutional program. TASC monitors client progress and compliance -- including expectations for abstinence, employment, and improved personal and social functioning -- and reports results to the referring criminal justice agency.25
Drug Courts
Drug courts seek to reduce drug use and associated criminal behavior by retaining drug-involved offenders in treatment. Defendants who complete the drug court program either have their charges dismissed (In a diversion or pre-sentence model) or probation sentences reduced (In a post-sentence model). Title V of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (P.L. 103-322) authorizes the Attorney General to make grants to state and local governments to establish drug courts. In October 1998, 323 drug courts were operating nationwide, and more than two hundred were in the planning stages, up from a dozen in 1994. Drug courts have been a real step forward in diverting non-violent offenders with drug problems into treatment and other community resources, leaving the criminal justice system to deal with violent and criminal acts. More than 100,000 persons have entered drug courts, 70 percent of whom have graduated or remain as active participants. A review of thirty evaluations involving twenty-four drug courts found that these facilities keep felony offenders in treatment or other structured services at roughly double the retention rate of community drug programs. Drug courts provide closer supervision than other treatment programs and substantially reduce drug use and criminal behavior among participants.26
The Federal Bureau of Prisons' Drug Treatment Program
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) provides drug treatment for inmates prior to release. The number of institutions offering residential treatment has grown from thirty-two to forty-two since FY 1994. In 1998 nearly 34,000 inmates participated in BOP treatment services. A joint BOP/NIDA study is examining the effects and has provided an interim report addressing the first six months after release from custody. This period is significant because recidivism is generally highest within the first year after prison. The study found that the treatment population was 73 percent less likely to be re-arrested and 44 percent less likely to use drugs than a comparison group that received no treatment.27
