Introduction
Drug addiction is a problem afflicting our societies at all levels. Many otherwise bright and promising individuals from rich or poor backgrounds have been turned into drug addicts. They have rendered their lives useless and left their families distressed emotionally, financially, and physically as they scramble desperately to get their loved ones to get out of the habit. Getting a drug addict to stop the habit is a tall order in any society (Polcin, 2016). The situation is even more difficult for those drug addicts who are incarcerated or are undergoing trial under the criminal justice system. This is because the state of being in jail brings with it a host of factors that make treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts more difficult than those in a free society.
This essay will discuss the role of the criminal justice system in addressing the drug addiction problem (Håkansson & Jesionowska, 2018). First, it will list factors that make drug addiction rehabilitation and treatment in the criminal justice system more difficult than in free society, the addiction treatment issues in the justice system, and recommendations on how to approach the highlighted issues.
What makes drug addiction treatment inside the criminal justice system more difficult than outside?
Drug addicts who are locked up in jail or are in remand awaiting prosecution are often in a more difficult situation concerning getting them to stop the habit than those who are in the free society. Incarceration brings with it a host of added stressing factors whose effect is to add another layer of obstacles towards their addiction treatment (Håkansson & Jesionowska, 2018). Some of these factors include: –
Their state of incarceration makes them more prone to criminal thinking and values tendencies. Once in jail, they are in the company of other convicted addicts and other criminals and have all the time to be further hardened into the drug culture and their addiction status (Belenko, Hiller, & Hamilton, 2013). Many of their peers in prison are more likely to work towards assisting them to get a fix than towards helping them to stop the addiction.
The stress brought about by their state of incarceration makes them move towards increasing their addiction than reducing it.
Getting the necessary help while in prison may be difficult especially in the criminal justice systems which do not have requisite drug rehabilitation and treatment facilities (Walters, Rodriguez, Lerch, Rossheim, & Taxman, 2014).
For those who are lucky enough to start undertaking rehabilitation and treatment therapy, it is difficult to transition soberly from prison-life to freedom once they are released. Most of them go back to the drug habit immediately after release due to a lack of consistency in follow-up rehabilitation and treatment.
Issues Concerned With Addiction Treatment In The Criminal Justice System.
The criminal justice system deals with drug addicts in various ways; it can divert non-violent drug offenders to drug treatment, it can stipulate that drug offenders undergo treatment while in incarceration, it can release drug offenders on probation and order treatment and drug tests as a condition of probation, it can order for a pre-trial release or it can also convene a specialized/drug court to handle drug cases/offenses (Hall, Golder, Conley, & Sawning, 2013). In all these options, the criminal justice system partners with drug treatment programs and services whereby screening, placement, monitoring, testing, and supervision is done in liaison with each other.
Here are some of the issues the criminal justice officers together with drug counselors face while undertaking their duties: –
– Provision of basic needs for drug addicts such as detoxification, housing, coping with family rejection, and essential life skills.
– Getting drug offenders to stop criminality and criminal behavior and to stop following criminal codes.
– Dealing with anger and hostile reactions from drug offenders especially those who have become anti-socialized by incarceration (Polcin, 2016).
– Helping drug offenders deal with an identity crisis as they move through the justice system where the perception of their identity changes from pretrial, during the trial, after jailing, and after serving jail.
– For those send to drug treatment forcefully by the system, their first impulse is to resist. The officers have to keep them in treatment through coercion and other non-threatening methods.
– For first-time drug offenders who have lost their social standing due to the incarceration, they have to be assisted in overcoming the sense of guilt, shame, and stigma that comes after been found to be drug users (Walters, et al., 2014).
What The Criminal Justice System And Addiction Treatment Partners Should Do To Effectively Address/Handle Drug Addiction/Offenders.
Drug abuse treatment is aimed at engaging offenders in rehabilitation exercises and retaining them in the program so that they don’t go back to using again (Tiger, 2013). While arrest and incarceration provide an opportune moment for officers to identify abusers of drugs and get them in stabilization measures such as detoxification and medication, getting the offender to engage in long-term rehabilitation and treatment program is more difficult. Here are some of the methods the criminal justice system and treatment officers can get drug offenders to agree to a treatment program: –
– Provide sanctions to offenders who are resisting the program and incentives to those who are cooperating with the program. Make sure the sanctions are proportionate so as not to further alienate the offender (Belenko, Hiller, & Hamilton, 2013).
– Motivating the drug addict to commit to change and maintain the recovery process (especially those who complete jail term before a treatment program is completed) through identifying common characteristics of offenders who leave early and using them to motivate the offenders into continuing with the therapy.
– Use of coercion techniques during treatment level such as mandatory/legal attendance of treatment and therapy sessions, pressure from governmental agencies such as child protection for the offender to comply or lose custody, etc.
– Engaging offenders under treatment in positive activities to help eliminate incidences of boredom and anxiety which lead to antisocial thinking and behavior (Freudenberg & Heller, 2016).
– The officers handling drug addicts during treatment (both criminal justice and treatment officers) should strive to be models of the behavior in which they are teaching the offenders to emulate.
– The officers should make use of peers of the offenders who are getting treatment together to identify and report signs of relapse and provide moral support to each other since they are best placed to understand each other (Tiger, 2013).
– Offenders under treatment should be divided into treatment phases according to their level of treatment progress. This will ensure treatment accomplishment is marked and focused on those at a similar stage of treatment (Polcin, 2016).
– To maintain a positive change by the offender during treatment and avoid relapse and boost recovery, the recovering addict should be taught how to manage themselves in terms of preventing boredom, anxiety, or stressful situations (Freudenberg & Heller, 2016).
Conclusion
It is the mandate of the criminal justice system to get drug offenders off the streets and keep them away from society. But it would be futile to just lock them away for a while and then release them back to society in the same condition as before. The system should devise ways of effectively rehabilitating/treating non-violent and first drug offenders without sending them to prison as well as putting those in jail through a treatment program that will get them out of the addiction and turn them into positive contributing citizens once released.
Such programs need to be designed in such a way that they help the addict to accept getting into the program and following all treatment procedures, get them to integrate back into the society, follow-up treatment progress, and stay sober once the program is completed. Encouraging treatment therapy as opposed to seeking punitive measures is the only way the criminal justice system can effectively reduce incidences of drug addiction in society.
References
Belenko, s., Hiller, M., & Hamilton, L. (2013). Treating substance use disorders in the criminal justice system. Current psychiatry reports, 58-86. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-013-0414-z
Freudenberg, N., & Heller, D. (2016). A review of opportunities to improve the health of people involved in the criminal justice system in the United States. Annual review of public health, 79-85. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-032315-021420
Håkansson, A., & Jesionowska, V. (2018). Associations between substance use and type of crime in prisoners with substance use problems–a focus on violence and fatal violence. Substance abuse and rehabilitation, 112-132. doi: 10.2147/SAR.S143251
Hall, M. T., Golder, S., Conley, C. L., & Sawning, S. (2013). Designing programming and interventions for women in the criminal justice system. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 142-154. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-012-9158-2
Polcin, D. L. (2016). Co-occurring substance abuse and mental health problems among homeless persons: Suggestions for research and practice. Journal of social distress and the homeless, 5(3), 56-85. https://doi.org/10.1179/1573658X15Y.0000000004
Tiger, R. (2013). Judging addicts: Drug courts and coercion in the justice system (Vol. 6). (3, Ed.) NYU Press.
Walters, S. T., Rodriguez, M., Lerch, J., Rossheim, M. E., & Taxman, F. S. (2014). Development of a web-based intervention targeting substance abuse treatment in the criminal justice system. Journal of substance abuse treatment, 212-232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2013.07.003