Incarceration Vs Rehabilitation Essay

Everett, Cristina. "Drug Treatment Can Succeed as an Alternative." America 's Prisons. Ed. Roman Espejo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2002. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from “Treatment, Not Prison, Best Solution for Drug Offenders." Daily Bruin 19 Oct. 2000. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.

Drug use and abuse is not a new problem for America’s prison system, and is one which speaks to the larger issue corrupting the judicial system as a whole. As of 2013, of those prisoners serving at least a year long sentence, 51 percent (98,200) of them were serving for drug offenses (Carson, 2014). To contrast the incarcerated with those on probation and parole, some 25 percent (977,662) of the 3.9 million people on probation were charged with drug

Currently, America incarcerate a higher percentage of its citizens than any other industrialized nation in the world. The negative impact of addiction to alcohol and drugs on American culture and society is inescapable. Although various treatment models have been developed and implemented over the years, a monumental number of people struggling with substance dependence continue to be under treated. Whereas, many people are questioning the criminalization people face because they ingest or consume drugs, for the most part, the criminal justice system focus more on incarceration instead of rehabilitation for the offenders and addicts.

We have recently seen a change in the way that drug abuse and addiction are viewed. Considering addiction to be a chronic and relapsing disease is a new concept for the public, policymakers, and even health care professionals (Leshner 46). With this in mind, we can recognize that corrections without the benefit of treatment will fall short in correcting drug-seeking and addictive behaviors (Leshner 46). These, of course, are also the behaviors that most often cause an individual to return to crimes that promote their drug use upon leaving jail or prison (Leshner

“Nearly ninety percent of substance abusers”, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health”, do not believe that they need treatment (Gogek). If they are offered treatment instead of jail, “they’ll relapse back to drugs and alcohol, commit other crimes, and end up back in prison” (Gogek). Jail, as a threat, is needed in order to keep “addicted criminals” in “long-term recovery”(Gogek). Involuntary treatment, has been shown to be more successful those who chose to get treatment voluntarily. Furthermore, drug offenders that are told that failure of their recovery could mean a return back to prison “are twice as likely to complete

Over the last few decades, the American criminal justice system has seen an increase in the amount of drug offenses being committed. While the number of drug offenses have increased, the amount of resources for addicts who are in prison have not. Although it has been made clear that drug abuse and crime are linked, the justice system has continued to punish offenders, rather than allowing them treatment. The lack of resources provided to prisoners who have issues with addiction has contributed to the cycle of recidivism in the American criminal justice system.

One of the most profound problems that plagues our society is drug addiction. With drug addiction comes those who offend and have run-ins with the law. Our country deals with these drug-addicted offenders by placing them in jails for a year or longer, only to have them come back out to society when their sentence is over. They are still drug-addicts and so they return to the street only to commit yet another crime. From here the cycle of crime, arrest, jail, and return to society continues, solving absolutely nothing. Therefore, placing drug-addicted offenders in jails fails to confront the major problem at hand which is that of the drug abuse. If drug-addicted offenders were placed in drug treatment centers instead of being incarcerated,

“Drug addiction and drug use can be linked to at least half of all major crimes committed in the United States.” ( ) Drug addiction is defined as a human body craving the effect of a high from a drug orally, through the nose, or by injection. The high, depending on the drug, can be a rush, known as “uppers” drugs like cocaine or Adderall which are classified as stimulants that give the body energy. “Downers” drugs are Xanax and Valium, which are anti-depressants and relax the body. People who are drug free, have little to no sympathy for addicts, believing that the addicts lack strong willpower and morals. Addiction is a disease and that is very complex to the human body and it incredibly difficult to overcome to get clean and quit.

Drug abuse and crime is not a new concept and the statistics around the problem have continued to rise. According to (Office of Justice Programs, 2011), there were an estimated 1,846,400 state and local arrests for drug abuse in the United States. Additionally, 17 percent of state prisoners and 18 percent of federal inmates said they committed their current offense to obtain money for drugs (Office of Justice Programs, 2011). Based on this information, we can conclude that our criminal justice systems are saturated with drug abusers. The United States has the highest imprisonment rate and about 83 percent of arrests are for possession of illegal drugs (Prisons & Drug Offenders, 2011). Based on these figures, I can conclude that we should be more concerned about solving the drug abusers problems and showing them an alternative lifestyle rather than strict penalty of long term incarceration which will inevitably challenge their ability to be fully functioning citizens after release.

Drug abuse is a big issue in America, anyone can tell you that. America is doing this nationally campaign called The War on Drugs to put a stop to drug abuse. There are many parts of this campaign; the focus should be on media. Almost everyone in the U.S. has easy access to some form of media, letting the message spread more efficiently. Eye catching advertisements and everyone’s attention is on the campaign. Blunt messages and imagery will send the point home to the viewers. When trying to prevent drug abuse, media is the best format of doing so.

Drug abuse amongst teens is a problematic situation that is currently effecting many individuals in the United States, let alone the Kansas City area. The younger a person is to try a substance, the more likely he or she is to become addicted later on in life (Bellum, 2009). Once teens begin casually experimenting with drugs, the more likely they are to want to search for a different type of “high.” Drug abuse has a huge effects on the user that are related to their overall wellbeing. In the article, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention by Rebecca Powers, gave the financial aspect that drug abuse in teens are leading to premature mortality, lost productivity, crime and legal services, and rehabilitation and treatment costs (p. 350). In this

Illegal drug use and abuse remains a pervasive social issue despite significant efforts to quell its existence. In fact, a recent report released by the RAND Corporation (2005) notes that drug abuse has become such a prominent social issue that substantial increases in prison populations all across the United States have been attributed to the tougher sentences that have been put in place for drug users. With the realization that current social policies toward reducing drug abuse are not working—only serving as the basis to promulgate overcrowding in America’s prisons—there is a clear impetus to examine the issue of drug abuse in a larger social context and determine the necessary social changes that are needed in order to

A major social problem that is in the United States is the usage of drugs among students. Drugs have had a very large growth rate within the past years. Drugs are a major issue that is affecting students and going to school and getting an education. There are a numerous number of reasons of why the young are partaking in drugs. Mostly because they don’t have a very stable and healthy home environment meaning their parents don’t really care for them or discipline them by any means. A big transition for children is when they leave their families and began to start schooling. Then, when they advance from elementary school to middle school, they most likely are experiencing new academic and social situations like learning to get along with a wider group of peers than they may be used to.

Drug abuse could be a large drawback within the u. s.. it 's caused by the misuse of the many totally different medicine that may cause you to urge high, overdose, and even lose your mind. medicine is abused in a very kind of other ways by individuals from each totally different variety of walk of life. Most folks are suffering from abuse either directly or indirectly. whether or not you grew up around it otherwise you simply met somebody or knew somebody that was suffering from the utilization of medicine. Drug abusers hurt themselves, further as their families, others that care, and conjointly the communities. abuse takes a huge toll on our society at many alternative levels. the price of abuse on our society is astronomical, not solely financially however conjointly in person, showing emotion, socially and professionally, whereas it 's mentally moving the those that ar exploitation the drug. abuse is that the misuse or drug of any medication or drug, as well as alcohol, plants, and currently they even create things we tend to use round the shower, as well as tub salt, a natural high that associate degree very have an effect on the items we tend to do on an everyday basis.

The insidious cycle of criminal justice must come to a stop. Too many people move through this unhealthy cycle of crime imprisonment in the United States. The United States prison population is the highest on earth: 1% of its adult’s population is behind bars (Monibot, par.3). The United States police force looks directly into arresting people immediately for the smallest issues even if they are only a few years away from legal age. Research has shown that drug users, especially those who are most severely addicted, are responsible for many of these crimes (“Drug use…”, par. 3). From people using drugs and making decisions afterwards while not in the right mind set get arrested and don’t get help until later on in their imprisoned sentence.