Rehabilitating Felony Drug Offenders Through Job Development: A Look Into a Prosecutor-Led Diversion Program

Abstract

Drug offenders develop chronic dependence on the drug economy for subsistence. Brooklyn's Drug Treatment Alternative-to-Prison program seeks to correct this problem by diverting drug-addicted felons into residential treatment with strong educational and vocational training components and by providing job counseling and placement to program graduates through the job developer and a business advisory council. Encouraging preliminary process and outcomes statistics indicate that crime reduction through employment can be successful. But structural changes in the market and ex-offenders' psychological inadequacies need to be addressed for the success to be sustained over time.

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