The report examines the connection between drug use and crime and uses data from a survey of prisoners to determine the risk factors in the likelihood of escalating to regular offending and the intervention and treatment options with the greatest chance of diverting this development.

Specialty courts are a response of the criminal justice system to specific problem behaviours and associated issues, such as drug use or domestic violence. Jason Payne examines the history and development of the specialty court concept in Australia. It shows that the programs, although having the same overall aim of reducing reoffending, have significantly different...

Jeremy Prichard and Jason Payne surveyed 370 young people in juvenile detention centres around Australia with the aim of understanding their offending patterns, links with drug and alcohol use, and risk factors. Their study confirms that young people in detention have extensive offending and drug use histories, and experience patterns of abuse, neglect, and family...

Jason Payne evaluates the implementation, operation and outcomes of the pilot program for 26 months from its inception in 2002. The program operates within the Cairns and Townsville magistrates' courts, and aims to target and divert into treatment, rather than prison, high-volume property or drug offenders whose offending is attributable to their drug dependency. The...

Toni Makkai and Jason Payne examine the illegal drug using and criminal careers of male participants in the Drug Use Careers of Offenders (DUCO) project. DUCO surveyed 2135 adult male offenders in prisons in Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory in mid 2001. The report focuses on the development of the criminal career...