Youth Training Center for Drug Abusers

On an edition of NBC's Meet The Press, former White House drug policy chief General Barry McCaffrey argued, "Our challenge right now is young people and crime. Thos are the two places where it seems to me we've got to get moving" (Neal, 1996, 1). While the number of overall Americans using illegal drugs has declined over the past two decades, the number of young people using illegal drugs has increased. According to White House statistics, there has been "a sharp rise in the number of young people smoking marijuana" (Neal, 1992, 1).

Drug abuse typically leads to other social problems such as crime and violence. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), drug-related problems include: increased rates of crime and violence, susceptibility to HIV/AIDS and hepatitis, demand for treatment and emergency room visits and a breakdown in social behavior (Drug, 2003, 1). In order to combat increasing drug-related crime among youth, politicians, the American public, and the criminal justice system have begun treating juveniles more like adult offenders. This is true in terms of stricter laws regarding drug use, tougher sentencing guidelines, and longer incarceration periods. As reported by NCH, the "rate of offending young people is declining, but the numbers of young people receiving sentences are increasing" (Youth, 2003, 1). Such a phenomenon is the direct result of public furor over increasing levels of drug-

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youth training centers focus on rehabilitation as opposed to punishment. With respect to juveniles, many Americans feel society is better served by providing such centers as opposed to incarceration. In a poll conducted by ANC News, the majority of Americans reported they are in favor of treatment over incarceration for first- and second-time drug offenders. According to the ABC News poll, "69 percent of the 1024 adults surveyed said they believe treatment programs would be better than incarceration for drug users" (Americans, 2001, 1). The recidivism rate proves that incarceration is not an effective deterrent to drug abuse and criminal activity. Children are often at high-risk to develop drug addiction and to commit crime when they are in environments that include neglect, violence and sexual abuse. Further, when youths are released from prison they often lack the kinds of skills necessary to be successful in society. For these and other reasons many advocate more rehabilitative approaches to youth drug offenders because they have special needs in comparison to adults who become incarcerated. As the UNODC reports, "Women, the young, the poor, refugees and ethnic and religious minorities need easier access to early inte

Category: Government - Y