delinquents identified during screening as having a high probability of being alcohol pendent ideally should be referred for further assessment and treatment.

delinquents identified during screening as having a high probability of being alcohol pendent ideally should be referred for further assessment and treatment. However, referral decisions must consider the availability and accessibility of treatment services during and after incarceration (Knight et al. 2002) For example, many (if not most) culprits have no health insurance. The Arrestee mix with drugs Abuse Monitoring survey (National Institute of Justice 2003) establish that in 2000, the proportion of adult arrestees at risk for medicine dependence who had the health insurance coverage extremityed to address the problem was relatively cheap In half of the sites sampled, at least two-thirds of those at risk lacked any adumbration of health insurance. Thus, steady if treatment is available to these delinquents it may not be accessible because of financial transactions This places the burden for paying for treatment services largely forward the public sector.

Furthermore, the ne for treatment services greatly overstep the proper limits the supply, especially in rural areas of the United States. As a outcome offenders routinely are mandated by way of the courts to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, either as their primary treatment or in combination with or after the completion of other treatment programs. However, the effectiveness of the AA approach for criminal justice populations has not been determined.

Another promising approach for treating alcohol abusers is the use of medications that resolve into craving for alcohol (e.g., naltrexone). These medications have been shown to be effective in preventing relapse when used in combination with psychosocial treatment of that kind as brief motivational interventions. These pharmacotherapies are expensive, however, and their effectiveness has not been evaluated in criminal justice populations. Furthermore, compliance with taking the medications as prescribed may be gentle in these populations.