NCJ Number
115939
Editor(s)
C G Leukefeld,
F M Tims
Date Published
1988
Length
258 pages
Annotation
These 14 papers examine the role of civil commitment in the treatment of drug abuse, with emphasis on the circumstances in which legal coercion is therapeutically useful, the role of legal coercion in reducing the contagious aspects of the drug-using lifestyle, and the uses of compulsory treatment in the past.
Abstract
The papers were part of a review meeting held in January 1987 and sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Individual papers provide an overview of compulsory treatment civil commitment, court referral, and other forms of legal coercion for drug abuse treatment. Additional papers review long-term evaluation studies of treatment, focusing on judicial status and its relationship to outcomes. Reports include findings from the Treatment Outcome Prospective Study and the Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime program. Further papers present research results regarding the effectiveness of civil commitment, legal coercion, and court referral, with emphasis on the impact of civil commitment on treatment outcomes and retention in treatment. Other papers focus on the costs and potential benefits of civil commitment in both the United States and in other countries. The participants in the review meeting reached a consensus that the type of persons targeted for compulsory treatment should be chronic drug abusers, specifically the drug abusing offenders who would benefit most from treatment. Additional consensus statements, a list of research needs, figures, tables, and chapter reference lists.