Drug Treatments in Criminal Justice Settings

Studies report that the direct effect of drug-related crime (ie, not including the cost of arrest, prosecution, and incarceration) is the largest single cost related to addiction. Addiction to illicit substances and its connection to people going through the criminal justice system are discussed in this review. Emphasis is on the efficacy of drug treatment in offender populations. Outcomes from large national studies and smaller studies are presented that deal with addiction treatment and criminal offenses; also discussed are operant conditioning in drug addiction, contingency management in a criminal justice context, coercion in the criminal justice setting, and drug courts.