Incarceration Vs Rehabilitation

In some form or another, addictive and abusable substances have been available for most of human existence. Unfortunately, due to agricultural, chemical, and technological advances, illicit substances have become easier to obtain and abuse. Many people are affected by the abuse of these substances, so chances are that the average person at least knows someone who has been indirectly affected by substance abuse. The demographic that gets the worst of the effects, however, are the abusers and addicts themselves. In modern American society, incarceration is an extremely prevalent punishment for substance abuse, and has a negative effect on nonviolent drug offenders. Consequently, rehabilitation is a better solution than incarceration for the treatment …show more content…
Copious research has shown that rehabilitative services are more effective at reducing substance abuse crime than incarceration. It is not a common practice to treat diseases with total isolation and a lack of directed intervention. Typically, a doctor would attempt to treat the disease, and it should not be any different with an addiction or substance abuse problem. Some people argue that incarceration provides the optimal environment for an addict to get away from drugs, one without easy access to them. At a first glance, the rehab detractors seem correct because “relapse is common in addiction treatment, with relapse rates being between 40 and 60 percent” ("Quick Facts"). Success rates of approximately fifty percent are seemingly inadequate to a reasonable and uninformed person. However, incarceration is shown to be one of the least effective methods of addiction treatment with “approximately 95 percent [of drug abusers returning] to drug abuse after release from prison” (The Facts 1). The remaining five percent of drug abusers that stay clean could easily be attributed to …show more content…
There are many names for recidivism, such as reoffending, reincarceration, and relapse, but the definition employed for the purpose of this paper is the tendency of a convicted criminal to be convicted for any other crime. In the United States, recidivism is all but incessant for incarcerated criminals. “Within five years of release, about three-quarters (76.6 percent) of released prisoners [are] rearrested.” Of those offenders, “76.9 percent [are] drug offenders” (“Recidivism”). At current rates, a significant number of offenders get caught in the system, bound to reoffend over and over again due to a lack of rehabilitation. Recidivism is one of the most studied topics in the realm of prisons and penitentiaries due to the sheer magnitude of its occurrence and the immense negative effects on inmates and the law enforcement system. Comparatively, recidivism is still a problem in rehabilitative systems, but carries much less weight and unquestionably lower numbers. A review of the Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative (DOSA) in Washington state found that participants in the DOSA rehabilitative treatment program had a 30.3% re-conviction rate over three years in comparison to the 40.5% rate for non-participants (Justice Policy Institute). Rehab is admittedly not a perfect solution, however it is undeniably better at crime prevention for addicts than incarceration

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Rehabilitation Vs Incarceration