What happens if a criminal can choose between detention and treatment: results of a 4-year experiment in The Netherlands.
In the Amsterdam region of The Netherlands, with 7000 drug addicts, 42% are estimated to commit criminal offences regularly. About 1500 drug users can be characterized as highly criminal drug addicts. The traditional reactions of the judicial system hardly contributed to a decrease in the number of these addicted delinquents. The Street Junk Project was therefore initiated in the late 1980s. In this contribution, the last 4 years of this project are evaluated. The Street Junk Project uses a forced-choice procedure in which arrested drug users can choose either a treatment or a detention option. The project has been moderately successful. A number of organizational and logistic problems meant that the project made a smaller impact than has been aimed for originally.
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Jellinek, Postbus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Walburg
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D003415:Crime / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D009426:Netherlands; D016495:Police; D011330:Prisons; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*
D013287:Illicit Drugs