The Challenges of Integrating Drug Treatment into the Criminal Justice Process

Abstract

I. INTRODUCTION The enforcement of anti-drug laws and the consequences of drug abuse and addiction have impacted the nation's criminal justice system in profound ways over the past twenty-five years.(1) Police departments and other law enforcement agencies have paid increasing attention to drug crimes, legislatures have passed more and more punitive laws against the use and sale of illegal drugs, and access to treatment has been limited for those subpopulations of drug users who are most likely to be targeted by the criminal justice system for drug-related offenses. As a result, burgeoning numbers of drug offenders have flooded jails and prisons, and court and probation caseloads have mushroomed.(2) Beginning in the 1980s, many urban police departments expanded their antidrug enforcement activities, from trying to penetrate drug-dealing organizations and arrest large-scale traffickers to targeting lower-level street dealers with undercover police officers.(3) Police departments have increasingly placed officers on the beat in a significant expansion of community policing. Most states in recent years also have legislated stiffer consequences for drug law violations.(4) Between 1980 and 1998, the number of arrests nationwide increased by 40%, from 10,441,000 to 14,528,300.(5) One of the largest increases in arrest rates has been for violation of laws prohibiting drug sales, distribution, and possession--up 168% during this time period, from 580,900 to 1,559,100.(6) Between 1980 and 1998, arrests for drug law violations grew at four times the rate of increase for violent felonies (up 42%) and arrests for property crimes decreased by 3%.(7) Although arrests for driving under the influence (DUI) did not increase between 1980 and 1998, there were over 1.4 million DUI arrests in 1998, more than 9% of all arrests in the United States.(8) Between 1980 and 1998, the number of inmates in the United States more than tripled from 501,886 to more than 1,825,000.(9) The state prison population increased by 299% (from 295,819 to 1,178,978 inmates).(10) The federal prison population increased by 417% (from 23,779 to 123,041 inmates), while local jail inmates increased by 225% (from 182,288 to 592,462).(11) II. DRUG-INVOLVED OFFENDERS Drug use is the norm among those arrested and held for arraignment. Among samples of adults arrested in Manhattan during 1998,(12) 77% of males tested positive for any illegal drug, as did 82% of females.(13) A little less than half (47%) of males and 67% of females were positive for cocaine, and 16% of males and 22% of females tested positive for opiates.(14) Nationally, 65% tested positive for any illegal drug, including 38% positive for cocaine and 8% for opiates;(15) 15% of arrestees had injected drugs at some time in their lives.(16) In addition, 11% of arrestees in 1997 reported ever having been dependent on crack, 4% on cocaine, and 5% on heroin.(17) Overall, 79% of arrestees are drug-involved, meaning they tested positive for an illegal drug, had used illegal drugs recently, had histories of drug dependence or treatment, or were in need of treatment at the time of their arrest.(18) Data from national surveys also demonstrate substantial drug involvement with illegal drugs among offenders sentenced to probation. In a 1995 national survey of a random sample of offenders on probation, 14% of probationers were under the influence of drugs at the time of the offense,(19) and 47% were under the influence of drugs or alcohol.(20) In addition, 43% of probationers had histories of regular illegal drug use,(21) 31% had ever used cocaine,(22) and 12% had used opiates or heroin? Data on prison and jail inmates also paint a dramatic picture. Nationally, in 1997, 83% of state prison inmates were substance-involved.(24) They violated drug or alcohol laws, were under the influence at the time of their offense, they committed their crime to get money for drugs, have a history of regular illegal drug use, or a history of alcohol treatment. …