EMPHASIS ON DRUG TREATMENT WOULD EASE CRIME PROBLEM

As I See It

A recent article in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette regarding the crowded
conditions at the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction highlights
a related issue that merits the attention of anyone genuinely concerned
about the nature of crime and correction in our local area. A principal
reason for the overcrowding at the jail and house of correction is the lack
of sufficient resources to treat substance abusers within the criminal
justice system.

A majority of the individuals either awaiting trial at the jail or serving
a sentence at the house of correction are persons dependent upon or
addicted to alcohol or other drugs.

While the criminal activity involved may include possession or possession
with intent to distribute controlled substances, operating a motor vehicle
under the influence of alcohol, assault and battery, breaking and entering,
larceny or a variety of other offenses, a common thread tying all of these
matters together is the use and abuse of these substances. Indeed, if
society could somehow eliminate the scourge of substance abuse,
overcrowding at many of our correctional institutions would become a
historical fact, rather than a present reality.

What is sorely needed is a network of community resources as an alternative
to incarceration. This network should include detoxification facilities,
outpatient counseling centers and inpatient therapeutic treatment programs,
all of which should be available to courts as sentencing options,
regardless of an offender's ability to pay.

This is not about being "soft on crime." Rather it is about making
sensible, realistic policy decisions in an attempt to control crime and
reduce recidivism.

Such an approach would undoubtedly be expensive, but it would be more
cost-effective and ultimately less expensive than incarceration.

The societal cost of substance abuse is well-known: Individual lives are
ruined, families are torn apart, victims of crime suffer and sometimes die,
businesses experience financial loss and beleaguered taxpayers foot the
bill for a correctional system whose focus is misdirected.

Instead of concentrating on the goal of rehabilitation, supported by the
enforcement authority of the courts, we appear to be moving in the opposite
direction, insofar as the problem of substance abuse is concerned. Funding
for treatment resources has diminished, leaving judges with few
dispositional alternatives to incarceration.

We, as a society, must recognize the problem and summon the political will
to do something about it. We urge our legislative leaders and
representatives to create and financially sustain the resources necessary
to meaningfully address the problem of substance abuse within the criminal
justice system.

Failure to do so will leave the potentially dangerous condition of prison
overcrowding unresolved.

Patrick A. Fox is first justice of the District Court Department of the
Trial Court, Gardner Division. Henry E. Culver, chief probation office,
also contributed to this article.