A person engages in substance abuse, also referred to as drug abuse, when they ingest a drug or substance in quantities that are harmful to both themselves and other people. One manifestation of the disorder linked to substances is substance abuse. In criminal justice, substance abuse offenders are people who commit crimes while impaired by drugs or use substances that are illegal in their local jurisdiction, despite the fact that the definition of substance abuse varies depending on the field, such as in the medical or public health fields. In addition to having an impact on social, psychological, and physical elements, substance abuse frequently results in long-lasting personality changes. (Peters, Wexler, & Lurigio, 2015). The criminal justice system has a huge role to play in ensuring the offenders are given the best treatment. Besides, the system ensures that the offenders are able to change their attitudes and behaviors. Therefore, this paper focuses on the substance abuse offenders and its impact on the criminal justice system.
Substance Abuse Offenders
It should be noted that different people use various drugs for different reasons. It’s not clear why people use drugs although researchers have found out that people use drugs because they want to feel good or reduce stress. Others use drugs because they want to stay active in their daily activities, workplaces, or in school. Nevertheless, other people especially the youths may engage in the use of drugs out of curiosity and influence from their peers. Although the exact cause or the real basis of substance abuse has not been identified, it is often linked to genetic disposition or habit addiction (Taxman, 2014). In this regard, most substance abuse offenders take after their parents or other relatives in their families. Also, if one develops a habit of using drugs regularly, then he or she is likely to indulge in substance abuse and eventually leading to a chronic debilitating disease.
Drugs associated with substance abuse are alcohol, cocaine, opioids, marijuana, cannabis, heroin, some substituted amphetamines, benzodiazepines, and barbiturates. Substance use offenders are increasing every day in the United States and cause severe deaths. For instance, in 2010, 5% of Americans were recorded as having used an illicit substance. In 2015, the deaths recorded as a result of substance abuse amounted to 307,400 cases. This was a significant increase from the 165,000 deaths documented in 1990 (Taxman, 2014). Alcohol remains to be the most abused substance which causes harm to an individual. It affects one’s health, causes psychological, and social problems. Most of the car accidents that occur in the US are primarily due to persons driving while under the influence of a particular substance.
Substance Abuse Offenders and their Impact on the Criminal Justice Systems
Substance abuse offenders have significant implications for the criminal justice systems. Many offenders, who find themselves on the wrong side of the law, are usually linked to their involvement with drugs or alcohol. The criminal justice has a mandate of understanding the pattern experienced by such offenders so that they can refine the best treatment for their behaviors. It requires a proper intervention by the criminal justice system and at the right time to ensure those individuals receive the correct treatment (Lee et al., 2016). Such responses help them to change their behavior and cut down their destructive patterns. The impact that such persons have on the criminal justice cannot be ignored. First and foremost, these offenders are troublemakers since their behaviors cause problems to their fellow inmates or community members.
The influence that the drugs have on their brain affects their rational thinking as well as typical behaviors. Therefore, they find themselves committing crimes that they did not intend to undertake. As such, it is crucial for the criminal justice systems to view these individuals as patients rather than criminals. When treated as criminals, the substance offenders will be imprisoned and serve their sentence. The criminal justice system ought to treat these types of offenders as patients who are in dire need of treatment (Walters et al., 2014). If the criminal systems treat them just like other ordinary offenders, then, after being released from prison, they will eventually go back to their drug use due to addiction. The relapse on discharge that usually occurs in substance abusers after getting from prisons creates a vicious circle where the individuals are once more convicted of other violations and prison confinements. The criminal justice system in the US has kept on soaring with adults who are involved in prosecutions either connected to drug-addicted offenses or drug-related crimes. The number drastically increased from 1.8 million to 7.3 million between the year1980 and 2007. Moreover, the number increased to about 21.5 million in 2014 (Peters et al., 2015).
Crime justice systems response to substance abuse offenders
Chronic substance abuse usually affects the brain in the long-term. The damage causes the affected individuals to keep using drugs despite the severe catastrophic consequences. Even in instances where the individual decides to stop using the drugs, they always find themselves back to using the drugs. Reason being the brain changes established normally persists for long even after one stops abusing the drugs. Therefore, the cases of relapse remain to be high, and this calls for proper interventions, strategies, and treatments efforts by the criminal justice.
Better Treatments
The most strategic response for substance abusers by the criminal justice system is providing better and excellent treatments for the offenders. Approximately half of the prisoners in Federal and State prisoners in the US qualify to be drug abusers. However, in all the prisoners who are in dire need of the treatment, less than 20% usually receive adequate treatment. Therapy for drug-abusing offenders is a cost-effective method that aids in ending criminal recidivism and the never-ending drug abuse vicious cycles. The court can order treatment for persons who are not willing to receive the right medications and care. The involuntary treatment has been shown to help individuals stop abusing drugs even though it’s against their will. Access to the needed services avoids re-arrest and relapse that usually occurs especially from 1-12 months after their release from prisons. Lee et al. (2016) show that offenders who receive treatment along with counseling while in prison and after release had reduced criminal activity and drug use as compared to their counterparts who received only counseling while in prison or treatment after release.
Community-Based Strategy
The community can play a significant role in the reduction of substance abusing cases. While working together with the social workers and public health, the criminal justice systems can improve the lives and behaviors of people who engage in illegal use of drugs. The community can participate in educating the offenders of the negative repercussions of using drugs, misuse and also, the long-term effects of drug addiction. When one leaves a prison and goes back to the same environment they were before; there are high chances of doing the same things they were doing before (Peters et al., 2015). However, having counselors can help them avoid specific triggers that can cause the relapse, is of great importance. It is crucial also, to talk to these people nicely and in a language, they can best understand. Explaining vividly the risks associated with drug use and permanent repercussions that can occur.
Social Reintegration Programs
After offenders have been released from confinement, they usually face various life challenges that affect their ability to become law-abiding citizens. Social reintegration programs initiated by the justice systems are interventions that are designed to minimize recidivism levels (Griffiths, Dandurand, & Murdoch, 2007). Together with community agencies and other organizations, the justice systems aim at educating the offenders of the possible dynamic risk factors of recidivism. They also concentrate on initiatives that focus on challenges facing the individuals who engage in substance abuse. The reintegration programs involve the assistance-based and surveillance-based transition programs, through care programs, and prison-based programs. These programs act as interventions that assist the offenders to be reintegrated back into the community and reduce the chances of re-offending through continual drug use.
Other strategies adopted include; reduction of drug availability by the Federal and State governments, alcohol-related approaches, alternatives to incarceration, community and problem-oriented policing (Walters et al., 2014). Efficient and effective prevention and treatment strategies are critical in combating substance abuse.
Recommendations
Drug abuse and mental disorders do have a direct correlation. Most inmates suffering from psychiatric disorders are as a consequence of drug abuse. Therefore, creating an integrated treatment approach for both the drug use offenders and mentally ill inmates will reduce the cases of drug abuse. Also, it is essential for all the offenders especially the juvenile and adolescents be screened for any illegal drugs in their blood systems as well as mental disorders. Then, necessary intervention and treatment can be undertaken to help such individuals forsake drug misuse and abuse.
The criminal justice systems should re-evaluate the existing programs and interventions set in place for the released criminals. Many of the available initiatives and programs have not received proper evaluations, and therefore, some have conflicting issues. For instance, the impact of treatments, community supervision, and counseling needs to be addressed. Most of the reintegration programs have not received proper scrutiny since the available findings are disconcerting and hence require articulation and identification.
Conclusion
Substance abuse remains to be a significant problem in the US and also it is a global problem. It is seen mainly in adolescents and youths due to peer influence and curiosity of trying new things. Criminal justice systems play a critical role in offering preventive and treatment services to the offenders. The law enforcement nowadays works with the local communities in trying to fix their problems and prevent re-occurrence and relapse of drug use. The use of integrated programs, sanctions, and accountability has drastically become popular in criminal justice systems.
References
Griffiths, C. T., Dandurand, Y., & Murdoch, D. (2007). The social reintegration of offenders and crime prevention. National Crime Prevention Centre.
Lee, J. D., Friedmann, P. D., Kinlock, T. W., Nunes, E. V., Boney, T. Y., Hoskinson Jr, R. A., ... & Gordon, M. (2016). Extended-release naltrexone to prevent opioid relapse in criminal justice offenders. New England journal of medicine, 374(13), 1232-1242.
Peters, R. H., Wexler, H. K., & Lurigio, A. J. (2015). Co-occurring substance use and mental disorders in the criminal justice system: A new frontier of clinical practice and research.
Taxman, F. (2014). Drug treatment for offenders: Evidence-based criminal justice and treatment practices. Drugs, crime, and justice. Contemporary perspectives, 406-422.
Walters, S. T., Ondersma, S. J., Ingersoll, K. S., Rodriguez, M., Lerch, J., Rossheim, M. E., & Taxman, F. S. (2014). MAPIT: Development of a web-based intervention targeting substance abuse treatment in the criminal justice system. Journal of substance abuse treatment, 46(1), 60-65.
