Use Drug Treatment to Reduce Crime and Recidivism Background Links Between Drug Abuse and Crime.
Drug users constitute a large and growing proportion of the criminal justice population.
The number of convictions for drug violations in Texas has increased from 8,103 in 1980 to 23,126 in 1988, a 185 percent increase in less than ten years. Estimates of lifetime drug users among the nation's incarcerated population range from 80 to 87 percent. Almost one-third of all inmates in state prisons in 1985 were under the influence of an illegal drug or alcohol while committing the crimes for which they were incarcerated. In fact, Fort Worth, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Houston, and El Paso are among the 14 most crime-ridden cities in the United States. During the last decade, the number of inmates in the nation's prisons has doubled.