NEARLY FIVE MILLION adults are under community supervision (i.e., probation or parole) in the United States (Maruschak & Parks, 2012). Many of them are placed under community supervision due to drug-related criminal offenses. According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (NCASA, 2010), approximately 70 to 85 percent of all convicted offenders have violated drug laws, were intoxicated at the time of the offense, committed the offense to support a drug habit, or have a history of drug addiction.

Many publications over the last decade have documented the alarming increase in use and abuse of prescription opioids and heroin (Cicero, Inciardi, & Munoz, 2005; Davis, Severtson, Bucher-Bartelson, & Dart, 2014; GAO, 2009; Paulozzi, Budnitz, & Xi, 2006: Pletcher, Kertesz, Kohn, & Gonzales, 2008; Reifler, et al., 2012; Schneider, et al., 2009).

Florida policy makers should be able to answer how well fundamental characteristics of Florida’s prison system - high incarceration rates, poor public safety returns, and enormous public expenditures - meet rigorous standards for both safety and cost-efficiency. Do the current investments, practices, and policy strategies employed by our state’s criminal justice and correctional systems result in the returns Floridians expect and deserve?

As opioid overdoses spiral, first responders and public health agencies are adopting a smartphone application that tracks both deaths and rescues as they happen.

This article was originally published at Stateline, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts, and was written by Christine Vestal.

In the summer of 2016, drug overdose deaths in Baltimore were exploding and health commissioner Dr. Leana Wen told federal Drug Enforcement Administration officials the city needed real-time data to better manage its public health response.

Ensuring Individuals with a Criminal Record Have Access to the Labor Market

Each year, more than 600,000 people are released from federal and state prisons in need of jobs that provide economic security. Research shows that having a job and somewhere to live can reduce the likelihood of recidivism. Yet returning citizens often face substantial barriers to re-entering the labor market. This is especially true of returning citizens of color, who already face multiple barriers to labor market entry.

This report reviews the current and projected status of wearable technologies with potential for use by law enforcement and describes three conceptual integrated vest systems that incorporate these technologies. These three systems are meant to represent what could conceivably be implemented very quickly to enhance existing capabilities, what might be done in the near term to provide additional capabilities, and what might be considered to take advantage of technologies that are still in development and could provide even greater capabilities.

Presents prevalence estimates of drug use, drug use disorders, and participation in drug treatment programs among state prisoners and sentenced jail inmates, including trends in drug use over time by demographics and most serious offense, drug use at the time of offense and whether an inmate committed the offense to obtain drugs, and comparisons to the general population. Data are from BJS's National Inmate Survey, conducted in 2007 and 2008-09.

MARTINSVILE, Va. - For most of the last decade, this once thriving city had the highest unemployment rate in Virginia. Its disability and poverty rates are consistently double the state average, and its population is aging.

In July, the former textile and furniture manufacturing mecca earned another dubious distinction. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, its drugstores dispense the highest volume of opioid painkillers per capita in the nation.

The opioid crisis sweeping the country is putting a growing financial and emotional strain on many communities. More than 4,000 people died from unintentional drug overdoses last year in Ohio alone. Many coroners in the state say the death toll will be higher this year.

CBS News correspondent Tony Dokoupil visited Middletown, Ohio, where the sheriff is refusing to allow deputies to carry the opioid antidote naloxone because of safety concerns.

Massachusetts' highest court soon takes up a controversial case that raises provocative questions about the criminal justice system and addiction.

The case asks if it's constitutional to require someone on probation to remain drug-free. Some say it could be one of the most important cases before the state Supreme Judicial Court in the past decade.