Substance Use Treatment and Crime: A State-Level Analysis

This study examined the impact of substance use treatment rates on crime using a two-way fixed effects model that leveraged year-to-year variations in admissions to substance use treatment facilities within U.S. states from 1992 to 2019. By controlling for time-varying state characteristics, the findings suggested that states with higher admission rates often experienced lower crime rates. Specifically, for every additional 100 admissions per 100,000 people within a state, the violent crime rate decreased by 2.6, and the property crime rate decreased by 11.8. These decreases represented declines of 0.67% and 0.35% relative to the sample mean, respectively. Moreover, this impact was more pronounced among female patients in drug treatment programs, with an additional 100 female admissions associated with a decrease of 9.1 in violent crimes and 36.8 in property crimes.