New research on the relationship between drug treatment and crime

[mcdermott]

The NTA have just published a new study, conducted by the University of Manchester, which examines the relationship between drug treatment and crime.

From the press release:

Offences typically committed by addicts – such as theft - fell by almost half when the individuals were in drug treatment programmes, according to Police National Computer data.

Until now, experts have measured the impact of treatment on the criminal activity of drug users by studying how the users report their own changes in behaviour.

For the first time, published research from Manchester University’s National Drug Evidence Centre (NDEC) matches anonymised data from the Police National Computer to information in the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System.

They studied around 1,500 opiate and crack cocaine users who had recently offended but were not jailed, and started drug treatment in the community instead. This meant the sample were technically free to commit further offences.

However the total number of crimes committed almost halved following the start of their treatment: from 4,381 to 2,348. The key category, of theft offences, fell from 1,234 to 635.

Get the full report here:

http://www.nta.nhs.uk/publications/documents/nta_changes_in_offending_rb35.pdf

[will-c]

Yeah... there was an article in the guardian on this subject today, saying those engaging in treatment after commiting a crime have reduced their offending by roughly 50 percent.

[alli]

That's interesting - and good stats to show that treatment works.  I wonder how many would have gone on to re-offend once they had come out if they had been jailed - and if the re-offending rate is higher with drug-users than ord. criminals.