CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: DO SUBSTANCE USERS RECEIVE FAIR TREATMENT?
Date
2022-09-22
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ProQuest
Abstract
Drug use in the United States of America is continuing to increase every day. Providing research on the publics opinion of this matter can be a benefit for the future when it comes to public policy changes. There are numerous studies that examines the unfair treatment within the Criminal Justice system, but not many on this specific topic. The purpose of this study was to determine if the public perceives that drug users receive fair treatment within the Criminal Justice system. This quantitative study was designed to see if there is a relationship between whether or not the public feels that substance abusers receive unfair treatment by the Criminal Justice system. There were six independent variables for this study that cover various concepts related to the drug user status. The dependent variable for this study was the public’s perception of drug users receiving unfair treatment received from the Criminal Justice system. There was a total of six hypothesis tested to evaluate the problem statement. The researcher used an online survey to collect the data. The participants were obtained through email and social media outlets. Additionally, the study looked at relationships between alternative to incarceration programs and whether or not the public felt that these were beneficial to substance users or not. The participants were asked whether offering substance users drug court, alternative programs, were beneficial rather than being incarcerated. The data collected demonstrates that the public feels that there is unfair treatment for substance users within the Criminal Justice system. Overall implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.
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