crime and drug use
Throughout my time as a criminal justice student, I have been interested about the relationship between drugs and crime. I have also been amazed by the statistics having to do with the amount of prisoners returning to a correctional facility after their time served. The link between drug use and crime is not a new one. For more than twenty years, both the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Justice have funded many studies to try to better understand the connection. One such study was done in Baltimore on heroin users. This study found high rates of criminality among users during periods of active drug use, and much lower rates during periods of nonuse (Ball 119-142). A large number of people who abuse drugs come into contact with the criminal justice system when they are sent to jail or to other correctional facilities. The criminal justice system is flooded with substance abusers. The need for expanding drug abuse treatment for this group of people was recognized in the Crime Act of 1994, which for the first time provided substantial resources for federal and state jurisdictions. In this paper, I will argue that using therapeutic communities in prisons will reduce the
In the United States, therapeutic communities are used in the rehabilitation of drug addicts in and out of prison. This program provided technical assistance and training services to start out prison drug treatment programs. Not only are they cost effective, but they are also proven to reduce recidivism rates significantly. The only problem here is that during their stay at this facility, they are reintroduced to groups and behaviors that put them there in the first place. Crimes are committed when they promise rewards with minimum threat of pain or punishment. Many prisoners are being held in local jails because of overcrowding. They do not look at the consequences of the drugs, while they get the short-term gratification. Treatment should continue through either outpatient counseling or group therapy. They will not seek treatment on their own. I am also going to describe some of today's programs that have proven to be very effective. I believe that we can effectively treat these prisoners while they are incarcerated and they can be released into society and be productive, and non destructive. By separating themselves from people that commit crimes and commonly do drugs, they are actually avoiding the opportunity to commit these crimes. When a person has limited self-control, they tend to be more impulsive and shortsighted. According to Longshore, the person does not change, only the opportunity changes.
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Acceptance Essays
