Working with mandated clients can be challenging. Mandates are in place with goals to reduce crime, decrease recidivism in the criminal judicial system, lower the prison population, and cut back on substance use and addiction.

These are all great goals; however, achieving them can be more difficult than proclaiming them. Professionals in the fields of health care,criminal justice. and other social services are given the charge of executing the mandates and bringing the goals to fruition.

Addiction is a serious and widespread health problem: it has a devastating impact on individuals, their significant others, and society. As a health care problem, substance use disorder (SUD) is tied to issues in criminal justice. One of the common consequences of SUD is legal difficulties.

Money, a central issue underlying all mandates, is certainly a complex issue in SUD treatment. It costs money to treat SUD, but it costs more not to treat individuals suffering from them. With so many cutbacks and rising costs, professionals have been asked to do more with less. We are asked to balance the complex and often contradictory needs of our clients, referral sources, funding agencies, boards of directors, and society.

SUD treatment is intimately tied to the criminal justice system. Many of us work directly within the criminal justice system, and many more of us serve clients who are referred by colleagues from courts and correctional programs. There is an expectation that our services will address the mandates. We are expected to rehabilitate individuals, cut back on drug abuse, reduce crime, lower jail populations, and be cost-effective. We are expected to do more, do it better, and do it all with fewer resources. One way to cut back costs is by conducting early interventions. The SASSI screening tools help address the challenge of early intervention by providing a means of identifying and addressing risk. A first step in reducing recidivism in the criminal justice system is to screen legal offenders to identify individuals who are at greatest risk for ongoing legal difficulties and who are likely to have an SUD to provide them with appropriate and timely treatment.