The principal objective of drug treatment programs is usually to reduce drug use. But do such programs also reduce crime? What does the research tell us?

The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) has initiated the publication of a series of systematic reviews, in the context of which internationally renowned researchers are commissioned to perform the studies on our behalf. In this study, the authors have carried out a systematic review of the effects of drug treatment programs on crime which is based on 75 evaluations.

Katy Holloway is Doctor and a Reader in Criminology at the University of Glamorgan, United Kingdom

Trevor H. Bennet is professor and Director of the Centre for Criminology at the University of Glamorgan, United Kingdom

David P. Farrington is Professor of Psychological Criminology at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom