Risk to Social Order and Public Safety Drug-Addicted Offenders
Various studies of drug offenders in Virginia confirm the “revolving door” experienced by the criminal justice system.
- Study of offenders released from Virginia prisons in 1993 found that 50% of the offenders originally incarcerated for a drug offense had a new arrest within three years (Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission, 1999).
- Study of felony offenders (defendants charged with fraud, drug possession or grand larceny) diverted from jail or prison in Virginia found a recidivism rate of 33% two years after sentencing (National Center for State Courts, 2002).