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87 Prison J. 3 (2007)

handle is hein.journals/prsjrnl87 and id is 1 raw text is: Mmah007 3-8 11 2(07 Sg, Puications Introduction to the Special 10.11 2 2 Issue hosted at http://ine~iicagepub.com The Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies (CJ-DATS) Harry K. Wexler National Development and Research Institutes, Inc., New York, NY Michael L. Prendergast University of California, Los Angeles Gerald Melnick National Development and Research Institutes, Inc., New York, NY T he sizeable increases in the population of state and federal prison since 1990 is largely due to tougher laws on drug crimes and to the corre- sponding increase in the number of convictions and incarcerations for drug crimes and crimes related to drug use (Belenko, 2006; Mumola, 1999). As a result, the prison and parole populations have large numbers of people who have histories of drug and alcohol use, a significant fraction of whom meet lifetime criteria for abuse or dependence (Peters, Greenbaum, Edens, Carter, & Ortiz, 1998). Drug use by offenders under community supervi- sion increases the risk of arrest and reincarceration (Langan & Levin, 2002). Reducing drug use, along with addressing other offender needs, has become an important strategy for promoting successful reentry and for bringing the nation's prison overcrowding problem under control. As noted in previous special issues of The Prison Journal (Simpson, Wexler, & Inciardi, 1999; Wexler, Prendergast, & Melnick, 2004), prison-based treat- ment, especially when followed by community treatment during parole, has been shown to reduce recidivism relative to no treatment or minimal treat- ment. More recently, researchers have begun to realize that the high preva- lence of drug abuse among offenders (Belenko, 2005; Belenko & Peugh, 2004) and the other problems that they experience require a coordinated, systemic approach among all of the agencies that are involved in providing supervision and services to this population. 3