ONDCP Blog

Stopping the Revolving Door of the Criminal Justice System

The revolving door of our Nation’s criminal justice system is one of the most significant challenges we face in reducing the devastating consequences of drug use.  In 2009, nearly seven million individuals were under supervision of the state and Federal criminal justice systems and approximately two million of these individuals were incarcerated for their crimes, while the remaining five million were on probation or parole.  While both the Federal and state correctional systems are addressing this challenge, states generally shoulder the burden of these costs.  In fact, between 1988 and 2009, state corrections spending increased from $12 billion to $52 billion per year. 

Further illustrating the severity of this problem are data showing that among state prisoners who were dependent on or abusing drugs, 53 percent had at least three prior sentences to probation or incarceration, compared to 32 percent of other inmates.  In fact, drug dependent or abusing state prisoners (48 percent) were also more likely than other inmates (37 percent) to have been on probation or parole supervision at the time of their arrest. 

Clearly, there is an urgent need to reform the way our criminal justice system approaches drug use and substance use disorders.  The Obama Administration is taking unprecedented action to prevent Americans from becoming involved in drug use and crime, and provide a continuum of interventions, treatment, alternatives to incarceration, and reentry support for those that do. 

In the 2011 National Drug Control Strategy,ONDCP outlines steps to implement variousinterventions to address the needs of drug-involved offenders, while also ensuring the safety of the community.  Our goal is to integrate these approaches throughout the justice process:  at arrest, in jail, in the courts, while incarcerated, or upon release back into the community.  Our policies also place a special emphasis on the impact of drug use and crime on several targeted populations, including women and families, active duty military and their families, and veterans.

Breaking this cycle also includes implementing innovative and evidence-based alternatives to incarceration for drug-involved offenders.  These include Drug Market Interventions (DMI) to disrupt open-air drug markets; Drug and Veterans Treatment Courts designed to effectively treat the substance abuse and mental health disorders of adults, young people, and Veterans in the system; smart probation strategies, like Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE), to use existing community supervision mechanisms to address probationers’ underlying substance abuse issues; improved service delivery behind the walls of jail and prison; and reentry support to ensure that offenders don’t return to drug use and crime once released.

We know that these actions, taken in partnership with support for innovative programs like Drug Market Interventions, Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation and Enforcement (HOPE) program and Drug and Veterans Treatment Courts, represent a smarter way to invest in our criminal justice system. 

Focusing on College Students

The 2011 National Drug Control Strategy pays special attention to college students and I am pleased to see ONDCP working to address this special population. College students are an important audience for focused and dedicated attention, as they are at a major crossroads into adulthood. Further, the higher education setting has too many substance abuse problems, including over 1,800 alcohol-related deaths, lowered academic performance, and injury –all of which are preventable.

Our higher education community can play an important in providing leadership for innovative initiatives, multi-disciplinary and collaborative strategies, evidence-based efforts, documentation and evaluation of approaches, and community outreach that address substance abuse. I find that many campuses have dedicated personnel striving to increase the quality of the living and learning environment. However, these same people report limited understanding or support from higher level administrators. I believe this new attention from ONDCP can help raise the priority of an issue that affects all campuses.

I am further heartened by recent conversations I've had with David Mineta, ONDCP's Deputy Director of Demand Reduction. David demonstrates a genuine concern about this issue and is providing much-needed leadership with promoting the continuum of services needed for a comprehensive campus approach. With my long-term research and work nationally, and my work with the Virginia College Alcohol Leadership Council, I applaud this new attention and look forward to seeing its impact.

David S. Anderson is Director of Center for the Advancement of Public Health and Professor of the Education and Human Development

In Celebration of How Far You’ve Come

Last week, Deputy Director Ben Tucker joined proud friends and family members to congratulate eight graduates of the Prince George’s County Juvenile Drug Court (PGCJDC) in Maryland. Overseen by Judge Herman Dawson, the drug court seeks to break the cycle of substance abuse and delinquent behavior among the young men and women participating in the two-year program by providing treatment services to individuals suffering from substance abuse.

In front of friends, family, and state and local leaders, the young men graduated after successfully completing the court’s program. Many of them completed high school or attained their GED, and are employed or attending college in the Fall. Deputy Director Tucker recognized the hard work of each graduate, saying that “for some of you in this room right now, the thought of this day, the day you graduate from drug court, may have seemed impossible.&n bsp; But now you know it is possible to stop habits of drug use and replace them with healthier ones…you have already taken many steps to get where you are, and today is a celebration of how far you've come and how much you can accomplish in your life. Keep your eyes on the prize.”

An important component of the Prince George’s County Juvenile Drug Court is active parent participation. Parents attend all drug court sessions and participate in their children’s treatment plans and recovery. At the ceremony, one parent shared that at first she thought Judge Dawson was too strict, but she came to realize that the drug court saved her son. She was not getting calls from school about her son’s behavior, and he was going to graduate from high school.

There are more than 2,500 adult and juvenile drug courts in operation today, enabling tens of thousands of Americans every year to break the cycle of substance abuse and delinquent or criminal behavior by combining substance abuse treatment and support services with incentives and sanctions. With state and local governments facing serious fiscal issues, these courts are a cost-effective investment that helps individuals on the road to recovery and reduces costs associated with incarceration and recidivism. The President's 2011 National Drug Control Strategy includes adult and juvenile drug courts as critical tools in breaking the cycle of drug use and criminal behavior.

UK Releases New Organized Crime Strategy

Today, the United Kingdom released its Organized Crime Strategy. The UK's Strategy is a complement to the Transnational Organized Crime Strategy released by the US Government on Monday, July 25.

Today's document outlines how the UK, like the United States, is updating its tools and authorities used to fight organized crime. This includes an increased focus on exploiting intelligence, such as lawful communication intercepts, to tackle organize crime. In addition, the new UK strategy also calls for closer cooperation within the European Union, through the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Quintet Group and the recently announced UK/US Organized Crime Contact Group. Finally, the Strategy outlines how the U.S. and the U.K - both leaders in global finance – will collaborate on international crime issues and work together disrupt international criminal networks, freeze criminal assets and ultimately keep communities safe.

The UK Organized Crime Strategy calls for:

• Speeding up the asset seizure and forfeiture process;
• Using existing authorities more aggressively and explore what new authorities may be needed to remove blockages in the seizure process;
• Working with the Foreign Commonwealth Office to seize assets held overseas;
• Exploring partnerships with the private sector to more effectively target criminal finances;
• Increasing use of asset denial to deprive criminals access to their assets even if it’s not possible to recover them; and
• Focusing on money service businesses to prevent abuses.

Through these recently-released strategies, the U.S. and the UK will now be able to more effectively target and address organized crime and work collaboratively to protect our citizens from transnational criminal groups which operate in both countries and around the globe.

For more information, read the full UK strategy and the U.S. Transnational Organized Crime Strategy.