ABSTRACT
The empirical literature on coerced treatment offers support for all three of these assumptions. Drug users are responsible for a high proportion of crime, and the frequency of their criminal activity tends to rise and fall in direct relation with their drug use (Anglin and Perrochet 1998; M. R. Chaiken 1986; J. M. Chaiken and Chaiken 1982, 1990; Fagan 1990; McBride and McCoy 1993; White and Gorman 2000). Moreover, coerced treatment is known to be at least modestly effective in reducing both drug use and criminal recidivism (Farabee et al. 1998; Leukefeld and Tims 1988; Marlowe et al. 2001). Finally, drug users who do not initially believe that their drug use is causing serious problems can nonetheless be engaged in treatment and benefit from it (Biernacki 1986; Nurco et al. 1995; Sia et al. 2000).
