Glenn D. Walters describes a practical model of intervention for use by clinicians working with substance abusing criminal offenders. He examines and explains the link between crime and drugs and the lifestyle of those involved in such offences.

This book describes how a group of young people make decisions about drug taking. It charts the decision making process of recreational drug takers and non-drug takers as they mature from adolescence into young adulthood. With a focus upon their perceptions of different drugs, it situates their decision making within the context of their everyday lives. Changing lives, changing drug journeys presents qualitative longitudinal data collected from interviewees at age 17, 22 and 28 and tracks the onset of drug journeys, their persistence, change and desistance. The drug journeys and the decision making process which underpins them are analysed by drawing upon contemporary discourses of risk and life course criminology. In doing so, a new theoretical framework is developed to help us understand drug taking decision making in contemporary society. This framework highlights the pleasures and risks that interviewees perceive when making decisions whether or not to take drugs. The ways in which their drug journeys and life journeys intersect and how social relationships and transitions to adulthood facilitate or constrain the decision making process are also explored. Qualitative longitudinal research of this kind is uncommon yet it provides an invaluable insight into the decision making process of individuals during the life course. The book will, therefore, be of interest to researchers and students from a variety of disciplines including qualitative research methods as well as sociology, criminology, cultural and health studies. It will also be an important resource for professionals working in health promotion, drugs education, harm reduction and treatment.

One of the most astonishing aspects of juvenile crime is how little is known about the impact of the policies and programs put in place to fight it. The most commonly used strategies and programs for combating juvenile delinquency problems primarily rely on intuition and fads. Fortunately, as a result of the promising new research documented in Changing Lives, these deficiencies in our juvenile justice system might quickly be remedied. Peter W. Greenwood here demonstrates here that as crimes rates have fallen, researchers have identified more connections between specific risk factors and criminal behavior, while program developers have discovered a wide array of innovative interventions. The result of all this activity, he reveals, has been the revelation of a few prevention models that reduce crime much more cost-effectively than popular approaches such as tougher sentencing, D.A.R.E., boot camps, and "scared straight" programs. Changing Lives expertly presents the most promising of these prevention programs, their histories, the quality of evidence to support their effectiveness, the public policy programs involved in bringing them into wider use, and the potential for investments and developmental research to increase the range and quality of programs.

Surveys administered to high school students, studies carried out on jail and prison inmates, and interviews conducted with substance abusers undergoing treatment all point to the same conclusion: drugs and crime are strongly connected. Why they are connected is less well understood, however. Written for middle to upper-level undergraduate courses on drugs and crime or substance abuse and crime, this book examines the drug-crime connection in a systematic and comprehensive way. Drugs, Crime, and Their Relationships covers the entire drug-crime spectrum, starting with a review of drug and crime terminology, classification, theory, and ending with policy implications for prevention, harm reduction, and macro-level management of the drug-crime problem. The opening chapters discuss drugs and crime separately for the purpose of setting the stage for later discussions on drug-crime relationships. As the book proceeds, the boundaries between drugs and crime blur, thus revealing the complex and intimate relationship that links these two behaviors. Drugs, Crime, and Their Relationships is divided into four sections. The first section offers an introduction and overview of theories on drugs, crime, and their relationships. The second section explores the relevant research on the biological, psychological, sociological, and static/situational correlates of drug-crime relationships. The third section considers the practical implications of drug-crime connections for the criminal justice system, offender assessment, and treatment programming. The fourth and final section examines the policy implications of the drug-crime relationship in the form of prevention, harm reduction, and society's response to drugs and drug-related crime. Students will enjoy the engaging writing style, instructors will welcome the logical manner in which the text is organized, and scholars will appreciate the comprehensiveness of coverage and the range of citations. Key Features: -Provides a step-by-step breakdown and synthesis of the drug-crime connection. -Organized logically so that a student first progresses through chapters that treat drugs and crime separately, gradually replaced by overlapping discussion of drugs and crime, up until the final section (policy) where the overlap is nearly complete. -Covers core topics, including the history of drugs and crime in America, theories of substance abuse, DSM-IV criteria for substance abuse, antisocial personality disorder, theories of crime, and neurotransmitters and drugs. Also includes discussions on important topics not commonly found in other texts including, meta-analysis, genetics of drug use and crime, drug diversion programs, Prison-based treatment programs for drug offenders, evidence-based intervention, harm reduction, Portuguese and Dutch experiments, and much more. -Pedagogical features: Chapter opening learning objectives and chapter ending summary and critical thinking questions. *List of key words in each chapter. *News Spots that highlight a related topic from the news to demonstrate the relevance of the chapter material to one's everyday life and situations. *Questions to Ponder following each News Spot intended to stimulate critical thinking and classroom discussion. -Every new copy is packaged with full student access to the companion website featuring a weatlh of engaging and interactive study tools. -Instructor resources include PowerPoint Lecture Outlines and a Test Bank.

When the members of the group, who had been pushed to the margins and refused a voice, began to rediscover their identity, the idea for this anthology was born." "This book will arouse interest in anyone involved in, or moved by, the "Changing Lives through Literature" program. It is truly a valuable gift for alternative learners: criminal offenders in or out of prison, displaced workers, and any reader failed by the traditional educational system."--BOOK JACKET.

There are few problems as persistent in American life today as drugs. Despite the "solutions" put forth by our country's leaders - seize more ships, impose harsher jail sentences, pursue foreign drug lords - the government's policies have failed to reduce drug abuse and drug crime. Today, as illegal drugs continue to disrupt our schools, our workplaces, and our communities, we face once again this crucial question: Does anything work? It is easy to get discouraged by the magnitude of America's drug habit and by the failures of the multibillion-dollar "war on drugs", but Mathea Falco argues that we need not give in to such despair. One of our nation's leading experts on drug abuse, Falco showcases effective prevention, treatment, and law enforcement strategies from across the country to reveal what really works in the fight against drugs. Success stories include a school program in Kansas City that cuts youngsters' drug use by half; a neighborhood group in Washington, D.C., that is driving drug dealers off the streets; an anti-drug coalition in Miami that is creating new political priorities; and a treatment program in Los Angeles that keeps people off cocaine. For concerned citizens, parents, and government officials alike, The Making of a Drug-Free America offers workable courses of action that are already changing lives and transforming communities.

Named one of the most important nonfiction books of the 21st century by Entertainment Weekly‚ Slate‚ Chronicle of Higher Education‚ Literary Hub, Book Riot‚ and Zora A tenth-anniversary edition of the iconic bestseller—"one of the most influential books of the past 20 years," according to the Chronicle of Higher Education—with a new preface by the author "It is in no small part thanks to Alexander's account that civil rights organizations such as Black Lives Matter have focused so much of their energy on the criminal justice system." —Adam Shatz, London Review of Books Seldom does a book have the impact of Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow. Since it was first published in 2010, it has been cited in judicial decisions and has been adopted in campus-wide and community-wide reads; it helped inspire the creation of the Marshall Project and the new $100 million Art for Justice Fund; it has been the winner of numerous prizes, including the prestigious NAACP Image Award; and it has spent nearly 250 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Most important of all, it has spawned a whole generation of criminal justice reform activists and organizations motivated by Michelle Alexander's unforgettable argument that "we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it." As the Birmingham News proclaimed, it is "undoubtedly the most important book published in this century about the U.S." Now, ten years after it was first published, The New Press is proud to issue a tenth-anniversary edition with a new preface by Michelle Alexander that discusses the impact the book has had and the state of the criminal justice reform movement today.