Crime
and Drug Use
The link between drug use and crime is not a new one.
For more than twenty years, both the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the
National Institute of Justice have funded many studies
to try to better understand the connection. One such study was done in Baltimore on heroin users.
This study found high rates of criminality among users during periods of active
drug use, and much lower rates during periods of nonuse (Ball et al. 1983,
pp.119-142). A large number of people who abuse drugs come into contact with
the criminal justice system when they are sent to jail or to other correctional
facilities. The criminal justice system is flooded with substance abusers. The
need for expanding drug abuse treatment for this group of people was recognized
in the Crime Act of 1994, which for the first time provided substantial
resources for federal and state jurisdictions. In this paper, I will argue that
using therapeutic communities in prisons will reduce the recidivism rates among
people who have been released from prison. I am going to use the general theory
of crime, which is based on self-control, to help rationalize using federal tax
dollars to fund these therapeutic communities in prisons
