Addiction Treatment Can Prevent Repeat Offenders
March 14, 2008
When someone with a drug or alcohol addiction creates a crime, they are typically sent to jail for a period of time without any type of rehabilitation. This may keep them off of the streets for a little while, but it does nothing to really solve the problem. The individual gets released and goes right back to doing the same things. They return to the alcohol and drug abuse and continue committing crimes until they get caught again.
Many people think this isn’t the best method, and there are some statistics to back up that view. When individuals in the United States criminal justice system go through addiction treatment and get aftercare services, between 71 percent and 96 percent of them don’t end up in jail again. For criminals who don’t participate in addiction treatment, only 52 percent do not return to jail.
This suggests that treatment programs can have many benefits for the individual as well as society as a whole. The addict has an opportunity to change his or her life for the better by going to a rehab facility. Everyone else benefits from the reduced crime. In addition, taxpayers in many places save a lot of money when the courts provide drug and alcohol addiction programs as an alternative to incarceration. In 1999, it cost an average of over $64,000 to keep a person convicted of a drug related crime in jail for a year. The average amount spent for someone in addiction treatment through a drug court was only $2555.
Drug courts have been established in locations around the United States. They provide an alternative to jail time for addicts who commit nonviolent crimes. While methods vary, the addicts’ cases are usually suspended while they get help in an addiction treatment program. Their performance in rehab can greatly influence the final sentencing.
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