Treatment or Incarceration

According to the Justice Policy Institute, the state of Maryland, like other states, has had to deal with substantial budget shortfalls at a time when the state is under increasing fiscal pressures due, in part, to a growing drug prisoner population. Because of the high costs of incarceration, this has resulted in insufficient resources being allocated to deal with the reasons why substance abusing offenders end up behind bars in the first place.

This policy brief, released in March 2004, summarizes the findings from a variety of criminal justice agencies and research entities whose work is national in scope, including the RAND Corporation, the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Little Hoover Commission, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, and previous studies by the Justice Policy Institute, including two reports published this year, "Cutting Correctly in Maryland" and "Race and Incarceration in Maryland."

The authors have also reviewed and summarized analyses from a number of state sources, such as the Washington State Institute for Public Policy. Finally, the authors have summarized findings from a number of Maryland agencies, including the Maryland State Commission on Criminal Sentencing Policy and the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration. The brief's findings include:

• Treatment can be less expensive than a term of imprisonment
• Treatment can be cost effective
• Treatment can reduce substance abuse and recidivism while building communities
• Promising treatment models exist in Maryland and around the country
• Drug treatment can be more effective than cycling people in and out of prison