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Which Prevents More Drug Crimes, Treatment or Jail?

By Steven Rodriguez

Incarceration appears to be a more effective deterrent to drug crime than treatment, according to a study of Proposition 36 recently released by UCLA’s Integrated Substance Abuse Programs at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. In 2000, California voters passed Proposition 36, also known as the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act, which offered treatment and/or supervision instead of incarceration to nonviolent drug offenders. The UCLA study tracked the successes and failures of the program from its institution in 2001 through 2005, finding that program participants were more likely to be rearrested for drug crimes than those who served time in jail or prison. Since its inception, the drug treatment program has been beset with problems, including perennially inadequate funding, lack of residential treatment facilities, poor intake procedures and a high participant drop-out rate...continue to full post

Full post as published by LA Criminal Defense Blog on October 17, 2008 (boomark / email).