Legally Mandated Treatment Programs
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There is much debate about the effectiveness and appropriateness of mandatory treatment programs for criminal offenders. Generally, treatment is considered an option or as part of an offender's sentence when the crime seems to involve drugs, alcohol, mental illness or predatory sexual activity. However, whether such treatment is effective often depends on the extent to which offenders comply with the treatment programs. Proving the effectiveness of such programs, therefore, can often be problematic and can lead some observers to argue that the programs are ineffective and inappropriate responses to crime. Nonetheless, there is evidence that, when participation is mandated and enforced, such programs can be an effective means of preventing recidivism and re-offending. Thus, this paper argues that treatment programs for drug, alcohol and sexual crimes should be mandatory, if only as a means of discovering whether such programs are truly effective. If they are effective, then society will be served best because the system will have prevented future crime. On the other hand, if such programs are ultimately determined to be ineffective in preventing future crime, then there can be no argument that these programs should be mandatory for any category of crime.Studies into the effectiveness of drug treatment programs for criminal offenders find that almost 40 to 90 percent of such offenders do not complete the program (Young & Belenko, 2002, p. 297). F
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n, 2001, p. 553).
Other studies of voluntary versus mandatory programs have found that success in both types of programs seems not to be affected by the age differences of the participants (Rittner & Dozier, 2000, p. 131). Also, one study found higher success immediately after the program for the offenders in the mandatory program, but then found no differences between mandatory and voluntary offenders in a 12-year follow-up study (Rittner & Dozier, 2000, p. 131). Nonetheless, both voluntary and mandatory offenders had lower rates of drug use and criminal behaviors and both voluntary and mandatory participants demonstrated increased levels of employment (Rittner & Dozier, 2000, p. 131).
All of the studies discussed in this paper suggest that mandatory treatment programs can be effective in reducing recidivism in all populations in which such programs are offered. It is certainly a benefit to society if any level of re-offending can be reduced. Treatment programs, therefore, should be made mandatory for all crimes involving substance abuse, predatory sexual activity and mental illness.
References
Lothstein, L. (October 2001). Treatment of non-incarcerated sexually compulsive/addictive offenders in an integrated, multimodal,
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Approximate Word count = 2759
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)
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