Breaking
the cycle of Drugs and Crime
Breaking
the Cycle or BTC is a program started in Birmingham, Alabama in
June of 1997. This program tests, assesses, refers, supervises,
treats, and rehabilitates durg addicts so that they can become
part of the mainstream community. They are also taught skills so
they can enter the workforce and become a productive member of
society.
The
federal government wants correction facilities to work with
treatment professionals so that the drug addict does not get
involved with any more crime, or relapses and enters the criminal
justice system repeatedly.
Delaware
has had such a program since the 1980's. This program, when fully
implemented, has reduced the number of convicts who return to
jail to 57%. 37% of these people stop using drugs after they are
released.
50-70%
of all people arrested for robbery, burglary, or theft have some
kind of drug in their system at the time of the arrest. This
shows that drugs promote crime in neighborhoods. The crimes are
commited by both the seller (or dealer, pusher), and the addict.
By
having preventive programs, it will lessen the amount of people
who return to the jails because of their drug problems.
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