Government hails drug treatment for offenders

Offenders who complete Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTOs) are far less likely to reoffend, according to Home Office research published today.

Although the overall reconviction rate was 80%, the study of offenders in the three pilot areas found that only 53% of those who completed their order were convicted of a crime within two years of the start of their sentence, compared with 91% of those whose orders were revoked.

The DTTO is a community sentence designed to break the link between drug using and offending. It is aimed at the most serious and prolific drug-misusing offenders aged 16 and over who commit acquisitive crime to fund their drug habit. The order includes a requirement to attend treatment, mandatory drug testing and court reviews of progress.

The study also showed that, two years after the start of the order, offenders who completed DTTOs committed less crime than in any of the five years prior to sentence.

Nearly a third of offenders completed their orders, enabling this particularly hard-to-treat group, with entrenched patterns of drug misuse and offending, to lead more stable and crime-free lives.

In addition, a £46.2m intensive package of measures to combat drug-related crime, announced earlier this year, is being phased into 30 of the worst affected areas.

The government's package to combat drug-related crime includes community sentences, rehabilitation and aftercare, all of which have been proven to deliver results. For every £1 spent on treatment, £3 is saved in the criminal justice system. Record amounts are being spent on the fight against drugs - £1.2 billion this year, including £503 million on treatment alone.

The Minister for the Correctional Services, Paul Goggins, said: "The figures for reoffending published today are higher than we would like, and too many offenders in the pilot areas failed to complete the programmes. They are returned to court, but given the nature of the target group, who were serious drug-misusing offenders, we should not be surprised by some of the difficulties they present.

"Now we must ensure that more people see the order through to the finish. The most encouraging finding in today's study is that over half of those who do complete stay out of trouble for good."

Some 6,140 DTTOs were made in 2002/03, exceeding the annual commencement target of 6,000.

The DTTO pilot evaluation, published in October 2000, found that there were significant reductions in the drug spend and offending of offenders on the order: The average amount spent on drugs fell from £400 per week in the period before arrest to £25 per week in the early stages of the order; and the average number of crimes committed by offenders subject to the order fell from 137 per month before arrest to 34 per month in the first few weeks of the order.

(gmcg)