There are a range of programmes developed recently that provide prison-based or community-based treatment for drug-misusing offenders. These have included : - Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTOs), Drug Rehabilitation Requirements to Community Orders (DRRs), Drug Abstinence Orders (DAOs), Drug Abstinence Requirements (DARs), Counselling, Advice, Referral, Assessment and Throughcare (CARAT) programmes, other prison-based programmes, and special forms of probation supervision and aftercare for drug offenders. The treatments provided include those available for drug misusers generally such as detoxification, methadone maintenance, heroin prescription, and therapeutic interventions. Offenders are identified and encouraged to take up treatment options by a number of initiatives usually linked to the police. These have included: - Arrest Referral, Drug Testing at Charge, Drug Testing on Arrest. The responsibility for co-ordinating the delivery of these programmes is held by the Drug Interventions Programme (DIP) Some of these programmes are universally available in England eg Arrest Referral; others are limited to a smaller number of localities, often those designated ‘high crime areas’. Some programmes such as DRRs have replaced earlier initiatives (DTTOs). According to the National Treatment Agency (NTA) about 17% of clients were referred into treatment from criminal justice agencies in 2003/4. top |
The Prolific and Other Priority Offender (PPO) Programme has been implemented to focus on the 100,000 offenders or 10% of known offenders who are understood to be responsible for about half of all crime. The programme was implemented nationally in 2004. Each district CDRP has the responsibility to set up a partnership arrangement to identify offenders who are considered to be the most prolific, the most persistently anti-social and those who pose the greatest threat to their community. They are then responsible for coordinating a locally determined set of programmes, procedures and protocols to implement the scheme. An early evaluation of the programme suggests that prolific offenders, compared to offenders in general, are more likely to be involved in acquisitive crime, are more likely to have drug misuse problems (61% compared to 26%) but are less likely to have problems with alcohol (34% compared to 39%)[viii] top |
