Declaring addiction a health crisis could change criminal justice

November 2016

Mona Lynch, Professor of Criminology, Law and Society, is quoted in The Atlantic, using her research to illustrate why drug addicts are not going to recover adequately while in the criminal justice system. She elaborates over the need to have a true investment in public health and treatment programs to genuinely address addiction, instead of simply using the criminal justice system to reform addicts.

From The Atlantic:

“We need to have the investment in public health and treatment programs,” said Lynch, who wrote a book on how federal drug laws are used, among other things, to coerce guilty pleas and secure long sentences. “The criminal-justice system is, of course, a really expensive way to deliver health care. The punitive side of it can be counterproductive, particularly for addicts.”

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