178— Reducing Re-incarceration Rates in Non-Violent Drug Offenders

The goal of this project is to show how drug abuse treatment can help reduce the risk of reincarceration in non-violent drug offenders. The United States has about 212,000 drug offenders in state prisons (2016). I will primarily focus on New York State and its programs for this category of an offender to compare it with studies and other states. So far in my research, I have found that in 2008 the Human Rights Watch found that NYS violated international human rights due to how it handles drug-related crimes. This pushed for drug law reform in NYS, which seemed to lower requirements for NYS sponsored treatment. Although NYS has made some reforms in its drug policy, it still is not treating the majority of non-violent drug offenders. If the goal of NYS corrections facilities is to correct the behavior of the individuals sentenced there then it is clear that they are failing, as rates of reincarceration for this community are still the majority outcome. My findings at this point show that correctional facilities that had drug abuse treatment or post-incarceration drug abuse treatment were far less likely to see individuals re-offend than those that did not offer treatment.