A Government Accountability Office found that thirteen out of seventeen drug courts recording “post-program recidivism,” or the tendency for a criminal to commit the same crime after release from a rehabilitation program, measured a decrease between four and twenty-five percent (142). These three instances prove that drug courts really do decrease the percentage of rearrests.…
This paper examines the effectiveness of drug treatment courts. In the past, there are many ways in which drug treatment courts are scrutinized. For purposes of this paper, the effectiveness of drug treatment courts will be evaluated through rates of recidivism. This paper describes the drug court model and how it differs from traditional courts. It will take a look at the history of drug treatment courts detailing how they became a part of the United States of America’s criminal justice system today.…
The evidence is clear that drug courts can increase an offender’s contact to treatment. Numerous drug court evaluation have found, on average, more than half of offenders participating in the program completed at least one year; most of which continue on to graduate from it. This compare favorably to community based drug treatment programs in which, on average, more than three quarters of attendees drop out within the first year.…
For example, Lindsay Lohan was in a car chase after the mother of her former personal assistant and was found to have cocaine with her. Overall, incarceration is a safer and more effective place for drug abusers because they can get the treatment they need during and after serving jail time and it will get them away from drugs until they are…
Previous to drug courts, an offender would be sentenced and become incarcerated without the judge knowing what happened to the offender unless they came back through the court system. A judge and the team that provides services to rehabilitate and address underlining issues of the offender’s crime have oversight while maintaining the monitoring offender’s actions. The drug court provides solutions for offenders instead of punishments that don’t change or offer change to behaviors. According to the National Institute of Justice, the success of drug courts relies on the interaction of the judge, proper assessment of treatment and dedicated staff (Do Drug Courts Work? Findings From Drug Court Research, n.d.).…
Recidivism in America Kayleigh E. Flynn Blueridge Community and Technical College Recidivism is not a taboo subject, nor is it a new one. It is basically one 's relapse into criminal behavior leaving them in a cycle of repeatedly committing crimes or violating probation/ parole and landing themselves back in some sort of institution or facility. There are many theories as to why this problem is so large in America as opposed to other countries. These theories can include anything from the blame of the justice system, the blame of the way the criminal involved was raised and schooled or the contribution of factors from either side. The statistic evidence paired with each different theory can give justifiable reasoning as to what…
In recent years, as, largely because of the heroin epidemic, attitudes towards drug use have shifted, America has stepped towards taking a “public health” approach to ending drug use. If the government continues to address drug use and abuse as the public health crisis it is, the issue of mass incarceration can be effectively tackled. The “War on Drugs” has primarily been responsible for the dramatic increase in the number of Americans under the control of the criminal justice system, with one in every 31 adults in prison or under parole or probation today. Effectively, national drug policy has encouraged police officers and prosecutors alike to go after low level drug offenders and has done very little to curb addiction and stop drug use (73). Consequently, any attempt to decrease America’s prison population and fight mass incarceration will have to drastically change the way in which substance abuse is addressed by the government.…
To leaders, workers, and interns of CALPRIG, Mass incarceration is defined as a large number of individuals being imprisoned. This definition gives no indication of a certain race, class, or religion being jailed, but we have seen incarceration in America be defined repeatedly by these very topics. Starting in the Nixon era, politicians starting advertising themselves as being, “tough on crime” to win elections and continued to cramp down on all drug related crime. Since this time, we have seen millions of people indicted on drug charges and our prison system is reaching maximum capacity. With multiple new drug laws, it has been made somewhat easy for police to arrest anyone who is involved with drugs and the majority of arrests have come on minority races and people of low class.…
To talk about the state of law in America is to mention some of the issues the judicial system face. In my opinion, the biggest problem that our American judicial system face at this present time is mass incarceration. Mass incarceration has increased over the past forty years in the United States, ending in more people being locked in jails and prisons than ever before. In my opinion, the number one cause of mass incarceration is the war on drugs the United States has been fighting since president Nixon’s era. The United States imprisons more people than any other nation in the world, largely due to drug laws and their mandatory sentencing requirements.…
Tabitha Jackson SPC 3513 Dr. Lindsay December 2, 2015 Our Prison Population The United States has more citizens incarcerated than any other country in the world (ACLU). According to the American Civil Liberties Union, between 1978 and 2014, the prison population grew over 400% (ACLU). This number means that one in 110 people in the United States are incarcerated in our prisons or local jails (ACLU). An even more staggering number, one in 35 people in the United States is under some type of correctional control, from jail, parole, or probation (ACLU).…
An epidemic faces the United States. One larger than any other country has to deal with. Mass incarceration of our citizens has, until now, been on the rise, reaching staggering numbers. The “Who Is in Prison” graphic on page 145 in We the People paints a simplified image of the realities of our prison system. America, the home of the brave and land of the free, has the highest prison population in the world.…
Opioids and Incarceration Incarceration of individuals is rapidly rising and the “war on drugs” has targeted opioid addicted users with no other ways of treatment other than jail time. Opioids are widely used for people with legitimate problems and the easy accessibility is making it possible for people of all ages and race to get a hold of. The crisis of opioid epidemic is only getting bigger along with the jail population. Anything from Xanax to Codeine can be easily attainable for the purposes of getting high. Another that is illegal, is heroin.…
Drug crimes stay under the radar for some time. The seriousness of a drug charger largely depends on the amount you have on you when being stopped by a police officer. If the drugs in your possession is over 1 gram there is a very high change you’d be charged with possession of an illegal substance and intent to sell. Studies show that African Americans are five times more likely to go to prison for drug possession than whites (Gross, Possley, & Stephen, 2017 March 7). Thirty-three percent of the prison population in for drug charges are African Americans,that is double their number proportion in the population.…
Does Parole Work? Parole is a prime example of the reintegration program used by the criminal justice system. It releases the offenders back into society many of them are placed on parole as a proper form of punishment instead of having them crowding the prisons. Parolees, The Bureau of Justice Statistics tracking of parolees that found that 62% of parolees were rearrested within three years of their release (Worrall 210).With so many forms of parole from diversion programs, boot camps, house arrest, electric monitoring, and rehab programs. Alexander Maconochie ran a prison in England he believed that inmates could have to be rehabilitated, so he made a program in which inmates had to earn their release.…
Belenko, S., & Peugh, J. (1998). Fighting crime by treating substance abuse. Issues In Science & Technology, 15(1), 53. Retrieved January 25, 2016, from http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?sid=b2fb5777-5139-45e7-868c-e63777f3450c%40sessionmgr4003&vid=0&hid=4204&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=1238553&db=rch Search Engine: Canadian Reference Centre (Virtual Library)…