title: What happens if a criminal can choose between detention and treatment: results of a 4-year experiment in The Netherlands.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Jellinek, Postbus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Vermeulen
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Walburg
mesh_terms: D003415:Crime / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D009426:Netherlands; D016495:Police; D011330:Prisons; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs