Leveraging the criminal justice system to reduce alcohol- and drug-related crime: a review of three promising, and innovative model programs.

• Author: DuPont, Robert L.

THE UNITED STATES HAS BOTH the highest incarceration rate and the highest prison population in the world; (1) while comprised of only 5% of the world's total population, it holds 25% of the world's imprisoned population. (2) Currently, more than two million people in this country are incarcerated, and the number of people on probation or parole totals more than five million. (3) Federal surveys show that approximately 75% of offenders under local, state and/or federal supervision are involved with alcohol or drugs (4) and that over 50% of them were "under the influence" at the time of their most recent offense. (5) Additionally, the estimated number of adult arrests for drug abuse violations has been increasing since 1970, with more than 1.6 million arrests made in 2006. (6)

The dramatic rise in the U.S. rate of incarceration over the past two decades from about 150 per 100,000 population where it had been for half a century to the current figure of about 700 per 100,000 is associated with a dramatic--and continuing--drop in the rate of serious crime. (7) However, the crime reduction produced by incarceration comes at great cost. In the current tight budgeted environment, prison costs--both financial and human--are a major target for reduction. The goal for the future of the criminal justice system is to find cost-effective ways to extend the decline in crime while cutting the rate of incarceration. Achieving that goal will require a smarter criminal justice system.

Probation and parole agencies have the responsibility of tracking offenders under supervision in the community and the opportunity to reduce new crimes. Offenders released on probation and parole typically are not permitted to consume alcohol or illegal drugs or misuse prescription drugs as a condition of staying out of incarceration and in the community. However, typical community-based corrections, including drug-diversion programs, do not regularly monitor offenders for alcohol or drug use in part because they lack the resources to do so and in part because of a concern that doing so would increase rates of incarceration. Consequently, too many offenders continue their pattern of substance misuse and crime until re-arrested and imprisoned for new offenses. When alcohol or other drug use is detected, the consequences are often unpredictable, long delayed, and disproportionate to the offense and violation. When offenders test positive, most often there are no or minimal sanctions, but after a string of such violations a probationer may be sent to prison to serve long, possibly even draconian sentences. The high rates of recidivism and prolonged incarceration that result from this cycle can be overcome with the new approaches taken by a new model of community supervision that not only reduces drug and alcohol use but also reduces new crimes and--somewhat paradoxically--also reduces rates of incarceration.

The foundations of South Dakota's 24/7 Sobriety Project, Hawaii's Opportunity Probation with Enforcement, and Driving Under the Influence Courts are all based on the idea that the most effective way to reduce substance misuse and crime among offenders is to lay out clear expectations for alcohol- and drug-free behavior, provide opportunities for treatment and then to back up expectations with monitoring linked to swift and certain, but relatively mild punishments. (8) These programs leverage the criminal justice system to reduce substance misuse and recidivism among offenders in the community. They offer the nation an opportunity to substantially enhance public safety and improve public health simultaneously. There is good evidence that these programs--all using similar strategies that enforce the alcohol- and drug-free standard with random testing linked to meaningful consequences-reduce crime and reduce incarceration among criminal offenders in the community.

SOUTH DAKOTA'S 24/7 SOBRIETY PROJECT

As attorney general of South Dakota, Judge Larry Long started the 24/7 Sobriety Project to reduce the state's extraordinarily high rates of alcohol-related crime by targeting the DUI offense. The state provides all DUI offenders with treatment in a separate parallel program. Current Attorney General Marty Jackely is working with the National Partnership on Alcohol Misuse and Crime to evaluate an expansion of this program that would incorporate a formal contingency management system into the program.

The 24/7 Sobriety Project focuses on high-risk repeat DUI offenders; with rare exception all participants have been arrested at least one...