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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
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Results for drug abuse and crime
205 results foundAuthor: Greater London Authority Title: Community-Led Innovation in Addressing the Problems Caused by Crack Cocaine in London Summary: This report discusses innovative community-led responses to the problems caused by crack cocaine. Details: London: Greater London Authority, 2004 Source: Doyle Training and Consultancy Ltd. Year: 2004 Country: United Kingdom URL: Shelf Number: 117300 Keywords: Community ParticipationCrack CocaineDrug Abuse and Crime |
Author: Shanahan, Marian Title: Estimating the Cost-Savings of Reduced Crime While in Methadone Treatment Summary: The aim of this study was to assess if there was evidence of cost-savings due to crimes averted while individuals were engaged in methadone maintenance as a treatment for heroin use. Two sets of analyses are presented in this paper, and they were produced over a four year period for a population-based sample of New South Wales methadone clients. The first analysis is descriptive and presents the total number of treatment days and crimes committed on and off methadone, and the costs of treatment, gaol and crimes for the sample over the four year study period. The second analysis reports the results of the use of a regression analysis to explore whether methadone treatment impacts upon the costs of crime and gaol. Details: Sydney: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, 2007. 41p. Source: NDARC Technical Report No. 264: accessed May 8, 2018 at: https://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/resource/estimating-cost-savings-reduced-crime-while-methadone-treatment Year: 2007 Country: Australia URL: https://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/resource/estimating-cost-savings-reduced-crime-while-methadone-treatment Shelf Number: 116657 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug OffendersDrug TreatmentHeroinMethadone |
Author: Gorvin, Ian Title: Targeting Blacks: Drug Law Enforcement and Race in the United States Summary: Using 2003 data from 34 states on those newly entering prison because of drug offense convictions, this report documents state by state the dramatically higher proportion and rate at which blacks are sent to prison for drug offenses, compared to whites. Details: New York: Human Rights Watch, 2008. 64p. Source: Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 117802 Keywords: African AmericansDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug ControlDrug OffendersImprisonment |
Author: Cave, Jonathan Title: Tackling Problem Drug Use Summary: The U.K. National Audit Office (NAO) is conducting a value-for-money study on the UK Governments' 2008 drug strategy. This study focuses in particular on local delivery authorities' capacity and capability to effectively tackle proglem drug use through delivery of local services. To inform the NAO's value-for-money study, RAND performed a literature review on problem drug use and reviewed the evidence base, both literature and data, underpinning the strategy. One of the key findings is the narrower focus in the UK on most significant harms may be useful, but also carries risks and drawbacks discussed in detail in the report. Details: Cambridge, UK: RAND Europe, 2010. 66p. Source: Technical Report Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: Shelf Number: 116475 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and Crime |
Author: Torok, Michelle Title: Comparative Rates of Violent Crime Amongst Methamphetamine and Opioid Users: Victimisation and Offending Summary: Background There have been marked changes in methamphetamine use over the past decade as more potent forms of the drug have become increasingly available, particularly crystalline methamphetamine. A major concern of stronger potency methamphetamine is the increased potential for harm, such as psychotic symptoms and violent behaviour. Little is currently known about what effects methamphetamine use has on violent behaviour. The current research was undertaken to improve our understanding of the association between methamphetamine use and violent victimisation and offending. Comprehensive measures including prevalence, type of offence, circumstances surrounding victimisation and offending, and the predictors of violent behaviour were used to achieve a more complex understanding of the issues surrounding methamphetamine use and violence. Methodology A sample of 400 regular methamphetamine and heroin users from the greater Sydney region were interviewed face-to-face regarding their lifetime and most recent experiences of violent victimisation and offending. Participants in the study were recruited through advertisements placed in needle and syringe programs (NSPs), therapeutic communities, street press publications, and word of mouth. To be eligible for inclusion in the survey, respondents had to be at least 18 years of age, have a satisfactory understanding of English, and have used either methamphetamine or illicit opiates at least weekly over the past 12 months. The sample was categorised into three key groups based on whether they used methamphetamine or heroin most regularly: primary methamphetamine users (PM), primary heroin users (PH), and combined primary methamphetamine and heroin users (PMH). Only physical violence was measured in this study, which included assault, armed robbery, homicide, and sexual assault. Key findings Violent victimisation The lifetime risk of violent victimisation was nearly universal. Across the whole sample, 95% had ever been a victim of violence, and nearly half (46%) had experienced victimisation in the past 12 months. The overwhelming majority had been victimised on multiple occasions across a lifetime measure. Methamphetamine use was not a significant risk factor for violent victimisation. The results indicate that the major predictors of violent victimisation among illicit drug users were severity of alcohol use, a predisposition towards antisocial behaviour (i.e. a childhood history of Conduct Disorder), and drug dealing. The data indicates that being involved in illicit drug markets substantially increases the risk of victimisation and that, at some point, those who remain in these environments have a high risk of being assaulted Almost two-thirds of those who had been victimised were also under the influence of a substance at the time they were last victimised. The substances that were most commonly used prior to the most recent victimisation episode were alcohol (25%), psychostimulants (24%), and illicit opioids (24%). Nearly one-quarter of the respondents had used multiple substances prior to most recently being victimised. Violent offending The prevalence of violent offending was also high, with 82% having ever committed a violent crime, and approximately two in five having violently offended in the past 12 months. There were no group differences in the risk of lifetime offending. In the past 12 months, however, the PM group was more likely to have committed a violent crime than the PH group (51% v 35%). Nearly three-quarters (74%) of the sample had ever committed more than one violent crime. Methamphetamine use significantly increased the risk of violent offending in the past 12 months, particularly more frequent methamphetamine use. The increased risk of violent offending associated with methamphetamine use was consistent across a number of indicators, including being at greater risk for being arrested for assault and weapon offences in the preceding 12 months, and methamphetamine users being at greater risk of committing violent crime within the past month. Apart from methamphetamine use, other factors that were found to increase the risk of committing violence were heavier alcohol use, Conduct Disorder, selling drugs, and being younger. Risk perceptions of violence The majority of the sample perceived that it would be 'unlikely' or 'very unlikely' that they would be either a victim of violence (78%) or violent offender (87%) in the following 12 months, despite the high prevalence of violent victimisation and offending experienced in the previous 12 months. The majority of respondents had also witnessed high levels of victimisation and offending, and this also appears to have no impact on their own perceived risk of being exposed to violence in the future. Among those who had recently (i.e. in the last 12 months) been a victim of violence, or physically assaulted someone, the perceived risk of future victimisation and offending was higher than those who had not recently been exposed to violence. Key points: Summary of violent crime among illicit drug users - Violent victimisation was almost universal, with 95% of the sample having ever been victimised, and 46% having been a victim of violence in the past 12 months. - Violent offending was also highly prevalent, with 82% of respondents having committed a violent crime across their lifetime, and 41% having done so in the past 12 months. - Methamphetamine use did not increase the lifetime, or past 12 month, risk of violent victimisation. - Heavier methamphetamine use was associated with a significantly higher risk of violent offending in the past 12 months. - The main form of methamphetamine used did not affect risk of violent victimisation or offending. - The perceived risk of being a victim or offender of a violent crime in the following 12 months was very low, despite the high rates of victimisation, and of committing violent crime, in the past 12 months. Details: Hobart, Tasmania: National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund, 2008. 43p. Source: Internet Resource: Monograph no. 32: Accessed April 17, 2018 at: http://www.ndlerf.gov.au/sites/default/files/publication-documents/monographs/monograph32.pdf Year: 2008 Country: Australia URL: http://www.ndlerf.gov.au/sites/default/files/publication-documents/monographs/monograph32.pdf Shelf Number: 117106 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug-Related ViolenceMethamphetaminesOpioidsVictimizationViolent Crime |
Author: McSweeney, Tim Title: The Treatment and Supervision of Drug-Dependent Offenders: A Review of the Literature Prepared for the UK Drug Policy Commission Summary: The main findings of this review show that some interventions can be effective in reducing illicit drug use and offending behaviors with some drug-dependent offenders. In terms of identifying the most effective strategies, the strongest evidence seems to favor the use of therapeutic communities, interventions modelled on the drug court approach and substitute treatments such as methadone maintenance. By contrast, there is very little evidence for the effectiveness of drug testing and intensive forms of supervision. Details: London: UK Drug Policy Commission, 2008. 88p. Source: Year: 2008 Country: United Kingdom URL: Shelf Number: 111156 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse Policy (U.K.)Drug Abuse TreatmentDrug Offenders |
Author: Gallahue, Patrick Title: The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2010 Summary: This report provides an updated review of the status of the death penalty for drug offenses worldwide, with a particular focus on national legislation and state practice. Details: London: International Harm Reduction Association, 2010. 51p. Source: Year: 2010 Country: International URL: Shelf Number: 118528 Keywords: Death PenaltyDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersDrug Policy |
Author: Harrendorf, Stefan Title: International Statistics on Crime and Justice Summary: This objective of this report is to show users of international crime data what they could learn from these, and provide guidance as to restrictions, pitfalls and strengths of the unique set of data that is now available. The report consists of the following eight chapters: homicide; trends in police-recorded crime; drug crime; complex crimes; responses of the criminal justice system; attributes of criminal justice systems - resources, performance and punitivity; trends in world prison population; and crime and criminal justice statistics challenges. Details: Helsinki: European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control (HEUNI); Vienna: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2010. 176p. Source: Year: 2010 Country: International URL: Shelf Number: 118290 Keywords: Criminal Justice StatisticsDrug Abuse and CrimeHomicideInternational Crime StatisticsPrisons |
Author: McManus, Rob, ed. Title: Altered States in the Palmetto State: Statistical Indicators of Illegal Drug Use Summary: This report brings together criminal justice and public health data to provide an overview of the extent and nature of illegal drug use in South Carolina. The report brings together indicators of illegal drug use such as drug arrests, drug testing results, court filings, admissions to prison and community correctional supervision, drug related emergency room discharges, drug related in-patient discharges and estimates from user surveys. Details: Blythewood, SC: South Carolina Department of Public Safety, Office of Justice Programs, Statistical Analysis Center, 2008. 227p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 117596 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersDrug OffensesDrugs (South Carolina) |
Author: Shoaf, Lisa Contos Title: Evaluation of the Akron Weed and Seed Program 2000-2004 Summary: Operation Weed and Seed is a strategy designed to prevent, control, and reduce violent crime, drug crime, and gang activity in targeted high-crime neighborhoods. The strategy consists of two primary components: a weeding strategy designed to weed out individuals contributing to crime in the neighborhood and a seeding strategy that brings services to the neighborhood dedicated to prevention, intervention, treatment and neighborhood revitalization. This study assesses the city of Akron's Weed and Seed program over the last five years of its existence, from 2000 through 2004, with special emphasis on the weeding component of the program. Details: Columbus, OH: Ohio Office of Criminal Jsutice Services, Statistical Analysis Center, 2005. 50p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2005 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 119152 Keywords: Community PolicingCrime PreventionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug ControlOperation Weed and Seed |
Author: Pryor, Crystal D. Title: Operation UNITE: A Qualitative Analysis Identifying Critical Factors for Implementation Summary: UNITE is an acronym meaning Unlawful Narcotics Investigations, Treatment and Education. It reflects the three-pronged, comprehensive approach deemed necessary to combating substance abuse in Kentucky Fifth Congressional District. Of Kentucky’s 120 counties, 24 of them do not have an organized regional drug task force. Fifteen of these counties with no active drug task force are represented in the Bluegrass Area Development District’s region. Current social and political perceptions across Kentucky recognize Operation UNITE efforts as largely successful. The evaluation responded to the following research questions: What factors lead to success in Kentucky’s Operation UNITE? Are these factors transferable in treating Central Kentucky’s substance abuse problems? An open-ended interview guide was used to collect data from fifteen Operation UNITE and three partnering organizations staff. The results identified 6 critical factors needed to implement Operation UNITE: a three-prong approach, financial resources, strong employee qualities, cross training, communication mediums, and checks and balances. The data collected also identified staff perceptions of internal and external success and challenges to service delivery pathways. The study’s findings are intended to assist in understanding the collaboration, coordination, and functionality of Operation UNITE. The study recommendations the findings be considered when implementing the UNITE regional drug task force model in the Bluegrass Area Development District region. Details: Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky, Martin School of Public Policy & Administration, 2007. 58p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2007 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 119282 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Task ForceNarcoticsSubstance Abuse |
Author: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Independent Evaluation Unit Title: Thematic Evaluation of Counter-Narcotics Enforcement in Central Asia Summary: The programme of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Central Asia covers Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Counter-narcotics enforcement (CNE) is by far the largest operation and is considered strategically important to the region. CNE projects with varying objectives account for 85 per cent of the region’s total portfolio and have been allocated a combined budget of about US$ 40 million. CNE projects are ongoing operations that are expected to remain a primary area of intervention for UNODC in Central Asia in the future. The present thematic evaluation aims to assess UNODC activities in the region by establishing what the Office has achieved to date under the CNE objective and to identify lessons learned and best practices to improve future operations. Details: Vienna: UNODC, 2007. 71p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2007 Country: Asia URL: Shelf Number: 115737 Keywords: Drub Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug ControlDrugsNarcotics |
Author: Bliss, Meredith L. Title: Changes in Indicators of Methamphetamine Use and Property Crime Rates in Oregon Summary: This study examined the effects of methamphetamine use upon property crime rates in Oregon. The study found that rates for both reported total and index crimes reached peaks in Oregon in 1995, and gradually decreased after that. Reported property crime rates displayed a transient decrease in 1996 followed by an increase in 1997, however. Several indicators of the use of methamphetamine in Oregon displayed a similar transient decrease in 1996, suggesting that chnages in the illicit methamphetamine market were expressed in changes in property crime rates. Details: Salem, OR: Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, 2004. 14p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2004 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 119363 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeMethamphetamineProperty Crime (Oregon) |
Author: McBride, Duane C. Title: The Drugs-Crime Wars: Past, Present and Future Directions in Theory, Policy and Program Interventions Summary: Research into the relationship between drug use and crime has generated a substantial body of literature. While these efforts have not established a causal link between the two behaviors, they do confirm a high correlation between drug use and many types of criminal behavior in a) the general population, b) populations of drug users, and c) arrested populations. The literature also shows that the drugs-crime relationship occurs within the framework of societal policies toward drug use that have ranged from regulated commercial approaches to strict prohibition. There is considerable debate about the strength and continuity of the relationship between drug use and crime. It is suggested that research focusing on the relationship would benefit from the application of theoretical models such as Ecosystems Theory and/or Social Capital. These models may help sort out the nature and complexity of the relationship as well as suggest more appropriate interventions. A review of programmatic approaches that have been used to break the drugs-crime relationship is presented that suggests the most successful approaches include a comprehensive range of services from assessment, implementation of services to meet assessed needs, and aftercare within the framework of graduated sanctions and comprehensive case management. In order to further examine the drugs-crime relationship, it is suggested that future research should use an interdisciplinary approach to evaluate the differential impact of state policies as well as and examine the effectiveness of specific treatment program elements. Details: Chicago: ImpacTeen, 2001. 116p. Source: Internet Resource; Research Paper Series, No. 14 Year: 2001 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 119462 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug PolicyDrug TreatmentDrugs |
Author: Sabin, Mike Title: Solutions to the Methamphetamine Crisis in New Zealand: A Study of Supply and Demand-Side Interventions and their Efficacy Summary: Methamphetamine, now second only to cannabis for illicit drug use rates in New Zealand, is commonly smoked, injected, snorted and ingested orally, causing a rapid progression to addiction. Chronic use of the drug often leads to anti-social, violent behaviour and serious mental illness. The purity of methamphetamine is linked to the degree of associated harm, increases of criminal offending and adverse socio-economic consequences. Recent surveys of social and criminal trends links methamphetamine with increasing prison populations, court cases and social costs, with $551 million worth of loss within New Zealand thought to be caused by the drug in 2006; more than any other drug. In analysing ‘what works and what doesn’t’ on the global stage, in particular within the United States, it is clear that New Zealand’s national drug policy of the last 10 years which focuses on harm minimisation, has been, and will continue to fail. Alongside this, with the limited efficacy of the supply-side interventions enacted in New Zealand in the early 2000s, the precursor and chemical diversion schemes are in need of overhauling. It is clear that there is no-one-silver bullet, but it is apparent that in the absence of successful demand reduction Police and Customs will be largely ineffective at tackling the subsequent supply. It is apparent that in the absence of so many of the interventions being employed successfully elsewhere, New Zealand has limited opportunities or likelihood of resolving the methamphetamine crisis. Conversely this study has identified a range of strategies with proven efficacy which if actioned effectively have the potential to bring about rapid change in this country. These strategies include overhauling the national drug policy and abandoning the focus on harm minimisation in favour of an approach based on harm elimination, which encourages citizens, in particular youth, to reject drug use. The establishment of a national drug control policy office which accounts directly to the Prime Minister and ensures administration and accountability of all drug policy objectives and outcomes across all ministries. A refocus of policing priorities toward organised criminal entities and improved powers and legislation to address precursor supply and disrupt criminal markets. The implementation of drug treatment courts and widespread, accessible treatment, alongside effective education and screening intervention. And the introduction of coordinated and concerted youth education and screening programmes, which utilise random student drug testing, and a focus on encouraging youth attitudes and behaviours which reject drug use. Details: Mongonui, New Zealand: MethCon Group Limited, 2008. 87p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2008 Country: New Zealand URL: Shelf Number: 119468 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug ControlDrug PolicyDrug ReformMethamphetamineOrganized Crime |
Author: Australia. Parliament. House of Representatives, Standing Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth Title: Avoid the Harm - Stay Calm: Report on the Inquiry into the Impact of Violence on Young Australians Summary: This report attempts to answer the following qustion - What needs to be done to curb youth violence and address the concerns of young people and of the wider Australian community? As such, it reports on the impact of violence on young Australians with particular reference to: perceptions of violence and community safety among young Australians; links between illicit drug use, alcohol abuse and violence among young Australians; the relationship between bullying and violence and the well-being of young Australians; social and economic factors that contribute to violence by young Australians; and strategies to reduce violence and its impact among young Australians. Details: Canberra: Parliament of Australia, 2010. 180p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2010 Country: Australia URL: Shelf Number: 119529 Keywords: Alcohol Related Crime, DisorderDrug Abuse and CrimeJuvenile OffendersVictims of CrimeViolenceViolent Offenders |
Author: Males, Mike Title: Scapegoating Immigrants: Arizona's Real Crisis Is Rooted in State Residents' Soaring Drug Abuse Summary: This report examines crime and drug abuse trends in Arizona over the last two decades of massive legal and nonlegal Hispanic in-migration. Based on a detailed analysis of law enforcement reports on crime rates in Arizona and the growth of the state’s Hispanic population over the past 20 years, this report finds that widespread assertions by many opinion leaders attributing rising crime to increased immigration are not confirmed by the best information available. To the contrary, this analysis found that crime rates in Arizona have fallen precipitously over the past 20 years as immigration has increased. Not only has crime plummeted, the number of undocumented immigrants in Arizona dropped by an estimated 40 percent, or by 200,000, from 2007 to 2010 due to the state’s economic and employment difficulties. This report suggests that new fears toward immigration have become conflated with deeper anxieties over Arizona’s unadmitted crisis of soaring drug abuse among its resident population. (Excerpts from the report) Details: San Francisco: Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, 2010. 11p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed Aubust 22, 2010 at: http://www.cjcj.org/files/Scapegoating_Immigrants.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.cjcj.org/files/Scapegoating_Immigrants.pdf Shelf Number: 119655 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeIllegal AliensImmigrants (Arizona)Immigration |
Author: Welsh, Brandon C. Title: Effectiveness of Public Area Surveillance for Crime Prevention: Security Guards, Place Managers and Defensible Space Summary: This report presents a systematic review of the effects of surveillance of public spaces by security guards, place mangers and measures to stimulate so called defensible space. Studies were included in these systematic reviews if the surveillance measure in question (i.e., security guards, place managers, and defensible space) was the main focus of the intervention; if there was an outcome measure of crime; if the evaluation design was of high methodological quality, with the minimum design involving before-and-after measures of crime in experimental and comparable control areas; and if the total number of crimes in each area before the intervention was at least 20. The reviews revealed generally encouraging results across the three different types of public area surveillance. There is fairly strong and consistent evidence that the defensible space technique of street closures or barricades is effective in preventing crime in inner-city neighborhoods. Less conclusive statements can be made about the effectiveness of security guards and place managers. This has everything to do with the small number of high quality evaluations that have been carried out on these measures. In the case of security guards, the weight of the evidence suggests that it is a promising technique of formal surveillance when implemented in car parks and targeted at vehicle crimes. The surveillance technique of place managers appears to be of unknown effectiveness in preventing crime in public places. Implications for policy and research are explored. Details: Stockholm: Brottsforebyggande radet (Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention), 2010. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 25, 2010 at: http://www.bra.se/extra/measurepoint/?module_instance=4&name=Effectiviness_of_Public_Area_Surveillance_for_Crime_Prevention.pdf&url=/dynamaster/file_archive/100309/0a3ceabb221375f51f9a82824942a662/Effectiviness%255fof%255fPublic%255fArea%255fSurveillance%255ffor%255fCrime%255fPrevention.pdf Year: 2010 Country: International URL: http://www.bra.se/extra/measurepoint/?module_instance=4&name=Effectiviness_of_Public_Area_Surveillance_for_Crime_Prevention.pdf&url=/dynamaster/file_archive/100309/0a3ceabb221375f51f9a82824942a662/Effectiviness%255fof%255fPub Shelf Number: 119684 Keywords: AggressionCrime PreventionCrime Prevention through Environmental DesignDrug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeMethamphetamine (Australia)Private SecuritySurveillance |
Author: Bruno, Raimondo Title: Benzodiazepine and Pharmaceutical Opioid Misuse and Their Relationship to Crime Summary: The purpose of the current study was to contribute to the understanding of the law enforcement sector in regard to the impact of benzodiazepine and pharmaceutical opiate misuse on crime. In particular, the study aimed: to examine the nature of the illicit market in benzodiazepines and pharmaceutical opiates; to investigate any links between misuse of such drugs and criminal activity; to examine the implications of use for health and law enforcement staff; and to consider opportunities, and the potential impacts of, interventions into this issue. The study was conducted in three Australian jurisdictions where there was evidence of existing or emerging patterns of use of diverted pharmaceutical products amongst individuals who inject illicit drugs. This report details only the Tasmanian-specific primary data collected as part of this larger study. Details: Hobart, Tasmania: National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund, 2007. 186p. Source: Internet Resource: Monograph Series No. 22: Accessed August 28, 2010 at: http://www.ndlerf.gov.au/pub/Monograph_22.pdf Year: 2007 Country: Australia URL: http://www.ndlerf.gov.au/pub/Monograph_22.pdf Shelf Number: 119697 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeIllicit DrugsOpiatesPrescription Drug Abuse |
Author: Burke, Cynthia Title: 2009 Juvenile Arrestee Drug Use in the San Diego Region Summary: This CJ Bulletin, “2009 Juvenile Arrestee Drug Use in the San Diego Region,” is the first in a series presenting data collected (from both juveniles and adults) in the 2009 calendar year and now includes ten years of data. As part of this study, a total of 159 youth were interviewed at Juvenile Hall during two separate months in 2009. Ninety-seven percent (97%) or 154 of these youth provided a urine sample for drug testing purposes (120 males and 34 females). This research bulletin includes the results of urinalysis trends over time, as well as information pertaining to lifetime and recent self-reported drug use, perceived risk and availability of different drugs, and characteristics of the youth that were interviewed and how these factors may be related to drug use. Details: San Diego, CA: Criminal Justice Research Division, SANDAG, 2010. 19p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 28, 2010 at: http://www.sandag.org/uploads/publicationid/publicationid_1496_11514.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.sandag.org/uploads/publicationid/publicationid_1496_11514.pdf Shelf Number: 119700 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeJuvenile Offenders (San Diego) |
Author: Fitzgerald, Jacqueline Title: Trands in Property and Illicit Drug Crime Around the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in Kings Cross: An Update Summary: The Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC) opened in Kings Cross in May 2001. This paper examines whether there have been (a) increases in the volume of robbery, property crime and drug offences in Kings Cross Local Area Command, or (b) increases in the proportion of Kings Cross drug offences occurring in the immediate vicinity of the MSIC, which could be attributed to the MSIC. The volume of crime was indicated by the number of criminal incidents of robbery, property crime and selected drug offences recorded by NSW Police between January 1999 and March 2010. We computed the trends in these offences in Kings Cross LAC from May 2001 to March 2010 and compared the results to the equivalent trends for the rest of Sydney SD. Spatial analyses were used to determine whether drug arrests were concentrated around the MSIC site. Police recorded incidents of possession and dealing of narcotics, cocaine and amphetamines were geocoded and mapped with the results inferred by descriptive statistics and visual inspection. With a few minor exceptions the incidence of robbery and property offences have fallen in the Kings Cross Local Area Command since 2001. This pattern is consistent with the rest of Sydney. Of the six drug offences considered, five have been stable in Kings Cross since 2001. The exception was cocaine possession which increased in both Kings Cross and the rest of Sydney. The spatial analyses showed no pattern of increased drug offences around the MSIC. No evidence was found that the MSIC has had a negative impact on robbery, property crime or drug offences in Kings Cross LAC. Details: Sydney: New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, 2010. 6p. Source: Internet Resource: Crime and Justice Statistics Bureau Brief, Issue Paper no. 51: Accessed September 6, 2010 at: http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/bocsar/ll_bocsar.nsf/vwFiles/bb51.pdf/$file/bb51.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Australia URL: http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/bocsar/ll_bocsar.nsf/vwFiles/bb51.pdf/$file/bb51.pdf Shelf Number: 119745 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffencesDrug TreatmentProperty CrimeRobbery |
Author: Katz, Charles M. Title: Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders Among Recently Booked Arrestees Summary: This special topic report examines the prevalence and characteristics of co-occurring substance abuse and mental health problems among adult arrestees in Maricopa County. The findings suggest that more than 28 percent of adult arrestees in Maricopa County are at risk for a co-occurring disorder, and they face significantly greater difficulties across a number of critical factors, including incarceration, homelessness, and victimization. Details: Phoenix, AZ: Center for Crime Prevention and Community Safety, 2008. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 22, 2010 at: http://cvpcs.asu.edu/aarin/aarin-reports-1/co-occurring-disorder-addendum/co-occurring-final-sept-2008.pdf/view Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: http://cvpcs.asu.edu/aarin/aarin-reports-1/co-occurring-disorder-addendum/co-occurring-final-sept-2008.pdf/view Shelf Number: 113575 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersMentally IllSubstance Abuse |
Author: Great Britain. Home Office Title: Drug-Misusing Offenders: Results from the 2008 Cohort for England and Wales Summary: This report presents statistics on the proven offending by individuals identified as Class A drug-misusing offenders. Both drug use amongst offenders, and their levels of offending can be difficult to measure with confidence. The data presented in this report are intended to provide a proxy measure which indicates the level of proven offending2 by known (Class A) drug-misusing individuals who have been identified through their contact with the criminal justice system. Local agencies work to reduce the offending of individuals who are identified as drug users through a partnership approach involving local authorities, criminal justice integrated teams (CJITs), drug action teams (DATs), treatment services, police, probation, prisons and other partners and agencies. A wide range of interventions and partners are involved. Results from the analysis of two different datasets are presented in this report: a national measure for the whole of England and Wales, and a local measure for individual partnership areas. More information is given on both of these datasets below and in the explanatory notes at the end of the report. It is important to note that neither of these datasets constitute a measure of offending by all drug-misusing individuals; they only cover those offenders that were identified by contact with the criminal justice system in a given time period. Details: London: Home Office, 2010. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 23, 2010 at: http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs10/misc0210.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs10/misc0210.pdf Shelf Number: 119844 Keywords: Crime StatisticsDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersDrug Offenses |
Author: Rodriguez, Nancy Title: Methamphetamine Use Among Recently Booked Arrestees and Detainees in Maricopa County, Arizona Summary: Methamphetamine Use among Recently Booked Arrestees and Detainees in Maricopa County is another in a series of special topic reports for the Arizona Arrestee Reporting Information Network (AARIN). Using data collected from the core interview instrument, the report looks at the percent of adult and juvenile arrestees who use methamphetamine, their social and legal characteristics, treatment history, and other critical factors. Details: Phoenix, AZ: Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety, Arizona State University, 2009. 14p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 5, 2010 at: http://cvpcs.asu.edu/aarin/aarin-reports-1/meth-final-jan-2009.pdf/view Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://cvpcs.asu.edu/aarin/aarin-reports-1/meth-final-jan-2009.pdf/view Shelf Number: 119861 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Offenders (Arizona)Methamphetamines |
Author: Fry, Craig Title: Benzodiazepine and Pharmaceutical Opioid Misuse and their Relationship to Crime: An Examination of Illicit Prescription Drug Markets in Melbourne, Hobart and Darwin. National Overview Report Summary: This National Overview Report presents a review of the literature, an overview of study methodology, key findings and jurisdiction-specific discussion points. It should be read in conjunction with each of the companion Jurisdiction Reports for Melbourne (Smith et al. 2004), Hobart (Bruno, 2004) and Darwin (O’Reilly et al. 2004), which contain detailed data content, and discussion of the findings and issues of local relevance to those study sites. This report avoids duplication of the data content of each Jurisdiction Report, in preference for summary and discussion of the main important findings and themes that have emerged from this comprehensive study. Specifically, the report focuses upon: • Salient issues that have emerged from the review of relevant national and international literature (current knowledge and gaps in the literature); • Comparison of key findings across study sites (descriptive and explanatory/statistical comparisons concerning market characteristics, diversion and links to crime); and • Discussion of the implications of these findings for law enforcement and health services (including implications for front line workers, options for intervention within the market, and future directions). Details: Hobart, Tasmania: National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund, 2007. 214p. Source: Internet Resource: Monograph Series No. 21: Accessed October 6, 2010 at: http://www.ndlerf.gov.au/pub/Monograph_21.pdf Year: 2007 Country: Australia URL: http://www.ndlerf.gov.au/pub/Monograph_21.pdf Shelf Number: 119864 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug MarketsIllicit DrugsOpiatesPrescription Drug Abuse |
Author: Hughes, Caitlin Title: Media Reporting on Illicit Drugs in Australia: Trends and Impacts on Youth Attitudes to Illicit Drug Use Summary: This study starts to address the intersection between news media and illicit drug use. It examines two major aspects of news media: media production – as denoted by patterns and trends in Australian news media reporting on illicit drugs – and media effects – as denoted by impacts on youth attitudes to illicit drug use. The purpose of this study was fourfold: To identify the dominant media portrayals used to denote illicit drugs in Australian news media and dominant portrayals by drug type (cannabis, amphetamines, ecstasy, cocaine and heroin); To identify the extent to which media portrayals have changed over time (from 2003-2008): measured in terms of the number and type of media reports on illicit drugs; To explore the impacts of different media portrayals on youth attitudes to illicit drug use: namely their perceptions of the risks and acceptability of use and their likelihood of future use; and To determine if the media differentially affects sub-populations of youth, and if so, to identify the sub-populations of youth that are most responsive to media reporting on illicit drugs. Details: Sydney: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, 2010. 138p. Source: Internet Resource: Drug Policy Modelling Program, Monograph 19: Accessed October 8, 2010 at: http://www.dpmp.unsw.edu.au/DPMPWeb.nsf/resources/Monograph+16.pdf/$file/Mono+19.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Australia URL: http://www.dpmp.unsw.edu.au/DPMPWeb.nsf/resources/Monograph+16.pdf/$file/Mono+19.pdf Shelf Number: 119888 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse PolicyMedia |
Author: Lulham, Rohan Title: The Magistrates Early Referral Into Treatment Program: Impact of Program Participation on Re-Offending by Defendants with a Drug Use Problem Summary: This bulletin reports on the evaluation of re-offending outcomes for the Magistrates Early Referral Into Treatment (MERIT) drug diversion program in New South Wales, Australia. MERIT provides defendants in NSW Local Courts with the option of undertaking formal drug treatment while on bail. Re-offending outcomes for a cohort of 2,396 defendants who participated in the MERIT program were compared with a comparison group of defendants who did not participate in the MERIT program but who broadly met the eligibility criteria. To estimate the impact of the program we used a treatment effects model with correction for selection bias. Acceptance into the MERIT program, regardless of completion, was found to significantly reduce the number of defendants committing any theft re-offence by an estimated four percentage points. Acceptance and completion of the MERIT program significantly reduced the number of defendants committing any type of offence by an estimated 12 percentage points, and any theft re-offence by four percentage points. This evaluation provides strong support that participation in the MERIT program reduces defendants’ propensity to commit theft offences and, for those who complete the program, substantially reduces their propensity to commit any type of re-offence. Details: Sydney: NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, 2009. 19p. Source: Internet Resource: Crime and Justice Bulletin, No. 131: Accessed October 9, 2010 at: http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/bocsar/ll_bocsar.nsf/vwFiles/cjb131.pdf/$file/cjb131.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Australia URL: http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/bocsar/ll_bocsar.nsf/vwFiles/cjb131.pdf/$file/cjb131.pdf Shelf Number: 119897 Keywords: DiversionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug OffendersRe-OffendingRecidivismTheft |
Author: Harvey, Lynn K. Title: The New Hope Initiative: A Collaborative Approach to Closing an Open-air Drug Market and a Blueprint for Other Communities Summary: This report describes a collaborative community-based approach used to shut down open-air drug markets. It documents the logic, the process and consequences of applying this approach in Winston-Salem, NC. The case study is intended to provide other communities with the basic guidelines for implementing similar strategies in a locally relevant and appropriate way. Details: Winston-Salem, NC: Department of Social Sciences and Center for Community Safety, Winston-Salem State University, 2005. 70p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 11, 2010 at: http://www.wssu.edu/NR/rdonlyres/1BF7A584-539A-41A6-B860-94EED7C3FD2C/0/NewHopeBluePrint.pdf Year: 2005 Country: United States URL: http://www.wssu.edu/NR/rdonlyres/1BF7A584-539A-41A6-B860-94EED7C3FD2C/0/NewHopeBluePrint.pdf Shelf Number: 118557 Keywords: Community ParticipationDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug ControlDrug OffendersOpen-Air Drug Markets |
Author: Bezlov, Tihomir Title: Heroin Users in Bulgaria One Year After Outlawing the Dose for "Personal Use": Law Changes and New Risks Summary: The report reveals the place of heroin use in Bulgaria and its development since the amendment to the Penal Code repealing Paragraph 3 of Art 354a and its provision. The revision gained public popularity as „the single dose law”. It renders criminal every drug substance possession, regardless of the type or quantity of the substance, or whether the individual in possession of the dose is dependent or not. Under the new regulation, the drug wholesalers, the small drug dealers, and those just using, not trading in drugs, are treated equally harshly. The change was carried out, despite keen objections on the part of experts and civil society organizations that it might lead to severe and unpredictable consequences. The research, however, revealed that the ban on the „single dose”, and its negative implications, are only part of a larger nationwide problem caused not only by the legislative framework, but also by the inadequate institutional response. Details: Sofia, Bulgaria: Initiative for Health Foundation and the Open Society Institute Sofia, 2005. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: http://www.csd.bg/fileSrc.php?id=1939 Year: 2005 Country: Bulgaria URL: http://www.csd.bg/fileSrc.php?id=1939 Shelf Number: 119922 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse PolicyDrug Addiction and AbuseHeroin |
Author: Choate, David E. Title: Co-occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders Among Recently Booked Juvenile Detainees Summary: This special topic report examines the prevalence and characteristics of co-occurring substance abuse and mental health problems among juvenile detainees in Maricopa County. The findings come from the Co-occurring Disorder Addendum used during 2007. The findings reveal that almost 30 percent of juvenile detainees were at risk for a co-occurring disorder, and face significantly greater difficulties across a number of critical factors, including incarceration, homelessness, and victimization. Details: Phoenix, AZ: Center for Violence Prevention & Community Safety, Arizona State University, 2009. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 19, 2010 at: http://cvpcs.asu.edu/aarin/aarin-reports-1/co-occurring-disorder-addendum/co-occurring-disorders-among-juvenile-detainees/view?searchterm=juvenile detainees in maricopa county Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://cvpcs.asu.edu/aarin/aarin-reports-1/co-occurring-disorder-addendum/co-occurring-disorders-among-juvenile-detainees/view?searchterm=juvenile detainees in maricopa county Shelf Number: 119993 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeJuvenile InmatesJuvenile OffendersMental HealthMentally Ill Offenders |
Author: Detotto, Claudio Title: Assessing Substitution and Complementary Effects Amongst Crime Typologies Summary: This paper aims at assessing how offenders allocate their effort amongst several crime typologies. Specifically, complementary and substitution effects are tested amongst number of recorded crimes. Furthermore, the extent to which crime is detrimental for economic growth is also tested. The case study is Italy and the time span under analysis is from 1981:1 up to 2004:4. A Vector Autoregressive Correction Mechanism (VECM) is employed after having assessed the integration and cointegration status of the variables under investigation. The main findings are that a bi-directional complementary effect exists between drug related crimes and receiving, whereas a bi-directional substitution effect is detected between robberies, extortions and kidnapping and homicides and falsity, respectively. Furthermore, economic growth produces a positive effect on the growth of homicides, receiving and drug related crimes; while, the growth in robberies, extortion and kidnapping and falsity have a crowding-out effect on economic growth. Details: Munich: University Library of Munich, 2010. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: MPRA Paper No. 20046; Accessed October 21, 2010 at: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/20046/1/MPRA_paper_20046.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Italy URL: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/20046/1/MPRA_paper_20046.pdf Shelf Number: 120036 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeEconomics and CrimeRobberiesUnemployment and Crime |
Author: Victoria. Parliament. Drugs and cRime Prevention Committee Title: Inquiry into the Impact of Drug-Related Offending On Female Prisoner Numbers - Interim Report Summary: The Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee and was given the mandate to examine the impact of drug-related offending on female prisoner numbers. Specifically, the committee was asked to (a) examine the impact of drug-related crime on the female prisoner population; (b) review the demographic profiles of women in custody for drug offences and the types of drug offences; (c) examine underlying causal factors which may influence drug-related offending and repeat offending that result in women entering custody; and (d) recommend strategies to reduce drug-related offending and repeat offending by women, including strategies to address underlying causal factors. Whilst the Committee was unable to complete the reference, particularly as further investigation into the recent increase in prison numbers is required, we were concerned about some of the information provided to us both in submissions and during public hearings. This evidence particularly related to the problems women face when in prison, when released from prison and their high rates of recidivism. The information provided to us was almost unanimous – the housing problem in particular being identified as a significant issue for many post-release women. Accordingly, we have made some recommendations for the post November 2010 government to consider and we hope the 57th Parliament of Victoria will make further recommendations on the other issues we have raised. Details: Melbourne: Government Printer for State of Victoria, 2010. 118p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 25, 2010 at: http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/committees/dcpc/Women_prisoners/Female_prisoners_inquiry_-_interim_report.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Australia URL: http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/committees/dcpc/Women_prisoners/Female_prisoners_inquiry_-_interim_report.pdf Shelf Number: 120086 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeFemale InmatesFemale OffendersFemale PrisonersHousingRecidivismReentry |
Author: Rolles, Stephen, ed. Title: A Comparison of the Cost-effectiveness of Prohibition and Regulation of Drugs Summary: Despite the billions spent each year on proactive and reactive drug law enforcement, the punitive prohibitionist approach has consistently delivered the opposite of its stated goals. The UK Government’s own data clearly demonstrates drug supply and availability increasing; use of drugs that cause the most harm increasing; health harms increasing; massive levels of crime created at all scales leading to a crisis in the criminal justice system; and illicit drug profits enriching criminals, fuelling conflict and destabilising producer and transit countries from Mexico to Afghanistan. This is an expensive policy that, in the words of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, has also created a raft of negative ‘unintended consequences’. The UK Government specifically claims the benefits of any move away from prohibition towards legal regulation of drug markets would be outweighed by the costs. No such cost-benefit analysis, or even a proper impact assessment of existing enforcement policy and legislation has ever been carried out here or anywhere else in the world. Yet there are clear Government guidelines that an impact assessment should be triggered by amongst other things, a policy going out to public consultation or when ‘unintended consequences’ are identified, both of which have happened with drug policy in recent years. Alternative approaches—involving established regulatory models of controlling drug production, supply and use—have not been considered or costed. The limited cost effectiveness analysis of current policy that has been undertaken has frequently been suppressed. In terms of scrutinizing major public policy and spending initiatives, current drug policy is unique in this regard. The generalisations being used to defend continuation of an expensive and systematically failing policy of drugs prohibition, and close down a mature and rational exploration of alternative approaches, are demonstrably based on un-evidenced assumptions. This paper is an attempt to begin to redress these failings by comparing the costs and benefits of the current policy of drug prohibition, with those of a proposed model for the legal regulation of drugs in the UK. We also identify areas of further research, and steps to ensure future drugs policy is genuinely based on evidence of what works. This initial analysis demonstrates that a move to legally regulated drug supply would deliver substantial benefits to the Treasury and wider community, even in the highly unlikely event of a substantial increase in use. Details: Bristol, UK: Transform Drug Policy Foundation, 2009. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 26, 2010 at: http://www.tdpf.org.uk/CBA%20New%202010.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.tdpf.org.uk/CBA%20New%202010.pdf Shelf Number: 120098 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug PolicyDrug Regulation |
Author: Patel, Professor Lord Patel of Bradford Title: The Patel Report: Reducing Drug-Related Crime and Rehabilitating Offenders Summary: The report focuses on drug treatment and interventions for people in prison, people moving between prisons and the continuity of care for people on release from prison. The report outlines the evidence gathered and work carried out by the Review Group and summarises their conclusions and recommendations. Details: London: UK Department of Health, 2010. 216p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 2, 2010 at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/@ps/documents/digitalasset/dh_119850.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/@ps/documents/digitalasset/dh_119850.pdf Shelf Number: 120153 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersDrug TreatmentRehabilitation |
Author: Franco, Celinda Title: Drug Courts: Background, Effectiveness, and Policy Issues for Contress Summary: Drug courts are specialized court dockets, or portions of judges’ calendars of cases, that generally target nonviolent offenders with substance-abuse problems. These programs provide offenders with intensive court supervision, mandatory drug testing, substance-abuse treatment, and other social services as an alternative to adjudication or incarceration. In this way, drug courts are designed to break the cycle of substance abuse, addiction, and crime by changing the behavior of substance-abusing offenders. Participation in these programs is voluntary. Eligible defendants must agree to the program’s requirements and successfully complete the program in exchange for avoiding incarceration, having their criminal charges reduced or dismissed, or having their sentences reduced. Drug courts encourage participants’ compliance and impose sanctions on those who fail to comply with the program’s requirements. Drug courts are widely considered an important strategy for reducing incarceration, providing drug treatment, and reducing drug use and recidivism (reoffending) among nonviolent offenders. Although drug courts are mostly initiated and funded at the state and local level, Congress has supported the development, implementation, and expansion of drug courts through the federal Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program, originally authorized under Title V of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (P.L. 103-322). While the federal drug court grant program authorization of appropriations expired in FY2008, the program has continued to receive appropriations: $40 million for FY2009 (P.L. 111-8) and $45 million for FY2010 (P.L. 111-117). In the 111th Congress, H.R. 6090 would amend the program and extend the authorization of appropriations for drug court grants from FY2011 through FY2017. Congress could consider reauthorizing the program in its current form or amending the program to reflect issues of concern. Since the first drug court was established in 1989, drug court programs have been quickly adopted by communities and states across the country. As of July 2009, there were 2,361 drug courts in operation across the country. Although there are drug courts in many jurisdictions, it is unclear how many drug-abusing offenders participate in these programs or how well they have fared after successfully completing a drug court program. Some estimates indicate that only a small number of potential participants are actually included in these drug treatment programs. Variations in how drug courts determine eligibility, provide substance-abuse treatment, supervise participants, and enforce compliance reflect the adaptability of the drug court model, but also complicate program evaluations, comparisons, and cost-benefit analyses. Nevertheless, research suggests that drug courts reduce substance abuse and recidivism among participants compared to nonparticipants, and are a viable intervention for reducing drug demand among substance-abusing offenders. This report considers these and other issues related to state drug courts. The report includes an overview of state drug courts and the related federal grant program. The report then discusses some of the related issues that may be of interest to Congress if it considers reauthorizing the drug court grant program or other related legislation. Details: Washington, DC: Congressional Research Services, 2010. 29p. Source: Internet Resource: CRS Report for Congress, No. R41448: Accessed November 8, 2010 at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41448.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41448.pdf Shelf Number: 120205 Keywords: Alternatives to IncarcerationDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug CourtsDrug OffendersDrug Treatment |
Author: Adams, Neville Title: Race and the European Criminal Justice System: The Position of Visible Minority Drug Users in the European Criminal Justice System Summary: This is the multi-country report for Europe outlining some of the key issues pertaining to visible minorities and drug use in the criminal justice system. The report is structured so as to ensure that the findings of the primary source research, involving interviews with staff and service users, can be situated within the relevant European wide and national overlapping anti-discriminatory, drug policy and criminal justice contexts. The report structure is as follows: Race and racism, a contextual framework; European anti-discriminatory legislative context; Overview of the normative potential of the EC anti-discriminatory legislation; Visible minorities in Europe and their treatment; European drug policies and legislation; Survey findings; and Conclusion. Details: Brussels: European Commission, Executive Agency for Health and Consumers, 2010. 57p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 22, 2010 at: http://www.connectionsproject.eu/the-project Year: 2010 Country: Europe URL: http://www.connectionsproject.eu/the-project Shelf Number: 120589 Keywords: DiscriminationDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug Offenders (Europe)Minorities |
Author: Mulvey, Edward P. Title: Substance Use and Delinquent Behavior Among Serious Adolescent Offenders Summary: The nexus between substance use and offending during adolescence has important implications for juvenile justice interventions. Many of the adolescents who get in trouble with the law have problems with substance use, and their offending is tied to their involvement with drugs or alcohol. Gaining a deeper understanding of the dynamic ebb and flow of these behaviors is critical to refining treatment approaches and more effectively targeting prevention efforts for adolescent offenders. The right intervention at the right time in the development of these offenders could forestall a lifetime of substance use and offending that fuel each other in a destructive pattern. Much work has been done on the relationship between adolescent substance use and offending, but most studies have focused on general community samples or samples of at-risk youth as they begin to engage in these behaviors. These efforts have produced a sizable literature documenting the factors related to the onset or maintenance of these behaviors independently of each other. Less research has focused on the reciprocal effects of these behaviors on each other during adolescence. Also lacking is a clear understanding of how these behaviors play out beyond the point in early adulthood when youth with established histories of offending and substance use cease one behavior or the other (see Hussong et al., 2004, for an exception). Information gathered from this vantage point, joined with extant research, will contribute to a more complete understanding of the link between substance use and offending and will enhance the knowledge base available to juvenile justice policymakers and practitioners. One OJJDP-sponsored longitudinal study offers a particularly detailed and rich picture of substance use and offending in serious adolescent offenders over time, using regular interviews conducted over a period of 7 years after court involvement. The study, Pathways to Desistance: A Prospective Study of Serious Adolescent Offenders, follows a large sample of serious (overwhelmingly felony) offenders into early adulthood, providing insight into changes across multiple life domains that contribute to offenders’ desisting from or persisting in antisocial activities (Mulvey et al., 2004) (see “About the Pathways to Desistance Study” on p. 8).1 The Pathways study is important to the juvenile justice field because serious offenders, such as those followed in this study, drive much of the policy debate in juvenile justice (Greenwood, 2006) and present the system with some of its most vexing practical challenges. Among its many goals, the study tests whether the relationships between substance use and offending observed in previous studies of community-based youth or youth in detention also hold for individuals who have more serious and/or chronic problems. The study also observes the joint desistance process for substance use and offending. This bulletin describes what is known about the relationships between substance use and offending based on extant research and the Pathways data. It is the beginning, rather than the end, of an involved story. Researchers have observed several interesting and relevant relationships between these behaviors in the sample overall and in individuals during the 2-year period following their court involvement. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how substance use and offending interact and affect the desistance process in these adolescents. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2010. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Juvenile Justice Bulletin: Accessed January 31, 2011 at: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/232790.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/232790.pdf Shelf Number: 120634 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersJuvenile OffendersSubstance Abuse |
Author: Donohue, John J., III Title: Rethinking America's Illegal Drug Policy Summary: This paper provides a critical review of the empirical and theoretical literatures on illegal drug policy, including cross-country comparisons, in order to evaluate three drug policy regimes: criminalization, legalization and “depenalization.” Drawing on the experiences of various states, as well as countries such as Portugal and the Netherlands, the paper attempts to identify cost-minimizing policies for marijuana and cocaine by assessing the differing ways in which the various drug regimes would likely change the magnitude and composition of the social costs of each drug. The paper updates and evaluates Jeffrey Miron’s 1999 national time series analysis of drug prohibition spending and the homicide rate, which underscores the lack of a solid empirical base for assessing the theoretically anticipated crime drop that would come from drug legalization. Nonetheless, the authors conclude that given the number of arrests for marijuana possession, and the costs of incarceration and crime systemic to cocaine criminalization, the current regime is unlikely to be cost-minimizing for either marijuana or cocaine. Details: Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2011. 102p. Source: Internet Resource: NBER Working Paper Series; Working Paper 16776: Accessed February 14, 2011 at: http://mfi.uchicago.edu/publications/papers/donohue_drugpolicy.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://mfi.uchicago.edu/publications/papers/donohue_drugpolicy.pdf Shelf Number: 120757 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse PolicyDrug ControlDrug LegalizationDrug Policy |
Author: Willis, Katie Title: Measuring the Effectiveness of Drug Law Enforcement Summary: Seizing drugs and arresting those who import, manufacture, grow and/or distribute these drugs is often viewed as the most important purpose of drug law enforcement. This view is certainly strong in popular media depictions of organised drug criminals. Unfortunately, the reality is perhaps far less entertaining or straightforward, although just as, if not more, important. While there is no doubt that a key role of drug law enforcement is to remove drugs and high-risk offenders from the community, the most critical factor is what this actually achieves in the longer term. That is, a community that is less burdened by the impact of drugs, such as crime, illness, injury and death. Increasingly, there is both internal and external pressure on drug law enforcement to demonstrate not just how much work they do (the seizures and arrests), but how well they do it (the community impacts)—something that has so far proven very difficult. This paper outlines the nature of these challenges and summarises findings from a national project that shows a practical and effective way forward in measuring the impacts of drug law enforcement. Details: Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2011. 7p. Source: Internet Resource: Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, No. 406: Accessed February 24, 2011 at: http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/7/C/3/%7B7C3C0834-EE1D-4013-88D1-938A0D934782%7Dtandi406.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Australia URL: http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/7/C/3/%7B7C3C0834-EE1D-4013-88D1-938A0D934782%7Dtandi406.pdf Shelf Number: 120875 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug EnforcementDrug Offenders (Australia)Drug Trafficking |
Author: Wood, Darryl S. Title: A Review of Research on Alcohol and Drug Use, Criminal Behavior, and the Criminal Justice System Response in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities Summary: This report considers research on the problem of crime resulting from alcohol and other drug abuse in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities. It provides a review of published research from a variety of disciplines and it includes re-analyses of a number of secondary data sources. Overall, our understanding of alcohol and other drug related crime in AI/AN communities is mixed: the degree to which AI/AN substance use – especially alcohol abuse – accompanies violent crime is fairly well established, while our knowledge about the criminal justice response and legal remedies to the problem is sorely deficient. Details: Vancouver, WA: Washington State University Vancouver, Program in Public Affairs, 2009. 103p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 28, 2011 at: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/231348.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/231348.pdf Shelf Number: 120879 Keywords: Alcohol AbuseAlcohol Related Crime, DisorderAmerican IndiansDrug AbuseDrug Abuse and Crime |
Author: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality Title: The TEDS Report: Characteristics of Probation and Parole Admissions Aged 18 or Older Summary: This report uses data from the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) for 2008 to examine the characteristics of substance abuse treatment admissions referred to treatment by the probation or parole system (hereafter referred to as “probation or parole admissions”). Highlights of the study include the following: ● The most common substances of abuse reported by probation or parole admissions were alcohol (30.6 percent), marijuana (26.4 percent), and methamphetamines (15.6 percent); more than one half reported more than one substance of abuse at admission (59.2 percent)● The majority of probation or parole admissions were male (76.6 percent), had never married (63.1 percent), were between the ages of 18 and 44 (81.3 percent), and were non-Hispanic White (52.3 percent)● Over one third of the probation and parole admissions had less than a high school education (39.6); the majority of these admissions were unemployed (36.8 percent) or not in the labor force (26.2 percent)● The majority of probation or parole admissions had been in treatment at least once before (57.5 percent); 18.4 percent reported three or more prior treatment episodes. Details: Rockville, MD: SAMHSA, 2011. 5p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 9, 2011 at: http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/2k11/231/231Parole2k11Web.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/2k11/231/231Parole2k11Web.pdf Shelf Number: 120912 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeParoleParoleesProbationProbationersSubstance Abuse Treatment |
Author: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Title: South-East Asia: Opium Survey 2010: Lao PDR, Myanmar Summary: This year’s South East Asia Opium Survey shows that while opium poppy cultivation in this region remains well below the problematic levels of the mid-1990s, the relentless rise recorded in the preceding three years continues. In addition, and despite the fact that governments have increase their eradication efforts, we estimate that potential opium production in 2010 has increased by approximately 75 per cent when compared with 2009. This has occurred largely as a result of two combined factors: more area under cultivation and higher yields. Poverty and instability are two of the drivers which push farmers to grow (or sometimes return to growing) illicit crops. The recent global economic crisis appears to have exacerbated the situation for poor communities that cultivate opium poppy. Another factor driving cultivation is the steeply rising price of opium over the last few years. Details: Vienna: UNODC, 2010. 82p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed march 14, 2011 at: http://www.unodc.org/documents/crop-monitoring/sea/SEA_report_2010_withcover_small.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Asia URL: http://www.unodc.org/documents/crop-monitoring/sea/SEA_report_2010_withcover_small.pdf Shelf Number: 120926 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug ControlNarcoticsOpium (Asia) |
Author: Correctional Association of New York Title: Treatment Behind Bars: Substance Abuse Treatment in New York Prisons Summary: Substance abuse is a daunting problem for the majority of prison inmates nationally and more than three-quarters of those in New York State. The devastation that often accompanies substance abuse places notoriously heavy demands on the criminal justice, correctional and substance abuse treatment systems, as well as on inmates, their families and their communities. The prison system has the unique potential to provide effective drug treatment to this captive population, addressing not only the individual needs of inmates but public health and public safety as well. Not only is the prison system in a unique position to provide drug treatment, but a substantial body of research documents that treatment is, on the whole, more effective than incarceration alone in reducing drug abuse and criminal behavior among substance abusers and in increasing the likelihood that they will remain drug- and crime-free. The need to provide more comprehensive substance abuse treatment services in New York State prisons, similar to the increasing need to provide mental health services in prisons as a result of deinstitutionalization of mental hospital patients, has directly been impacted by the Rockefeller drug laws. With their rigid requirements of mandatory minimum sentencing, the Rockefeller drug laws of 1973 radically restricted judicial discretion in utilizing alternatives to incarceration as a response to drug offenses. The result: 11% of the total prison population in 1980 were individuals incarcerated for drug-related offenses; as of January, 2008, that figure was 33%. Though this past year brought significant reform to the Rockefeller Drug Laws, several mandatory minimum sentences are still on the books and a large number of individuals remain ineligible for alternative to incarceration programs. The considerable increase in this population illustrates one of the many factors that make provision of prison-based substance abuse treatment paramount, as the majority of incarcerated individuals will participate in treatment due to the nature of their offense. As of April 2010, the New York State Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) operated 68 facilities, with 57,650 inmates under custody. Eighty-three percent of inmates were designated by DOCS as “in need of substance abuse treatment.” To address their needs, DOCS operates 119 substance abuse treatment programs in 60 of its facilities. As of April l, 2009, two of those programs were licensed as treatment programs by the State’s Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS); the remainder are operated solely under the aegis and oversight of DOCS. The 2009 reforms to the Rockefeller drug laws call for change, however, requiring OASAS to guide, monitor and report on DOCS substance abuse treatment programs. In 2007, the Correctional Association launched a project to evaluate the needs of inmates with substance abuse problems and the State’s response to their needs. The information presented in this report is a result of this effort and presents our findings and recommendations based on visits to 23 facilities, interviews with experts, prison officials and correction officers, more than 2,300 inmate surveys and systemwide data provided by the Department of Correctional Services. Details: New York: Correctional Association of New York, 2011. 325p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 23, 2011 at: http://www.correctionalassociation.org/publications/download/pvp/issue_reports/satp_report_and_appendix_february_2011.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.correctionalassociation.org/publications/download/pvp/issue_reports/satp_report_and_appendix_february_2011.pdf Shelf Number: 121107 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse PolicyDrug Abuse Treatment (New York State)Drug OffendersInmatesPrisonersSubstance Abuse Treatment |
Author: Erickson, Patricia G. Title: Drugs, Violence and Public Health: What Does the Harm Reduction Approach Have to Offer? Summary: This paper considers the topic of drug-related violence — that is, violence on our streets and in our communities — as a serious and urgent aspect of the problem of urban drugs. While violence has traditionally been considered a problem for criminal justice, a matter for the police and courts to respond to, a public-health model also offers a way of understanding, dealing with, and perhaps preventing, violence in urban areas. Harm reduction provides a framework to discuss new options that may be part of a “sensible solution” to the urban-drug problem. I will consider: (1) the fundamental issue of how drugs and violence are related; (2) the effectiveness of the harm-reduction approach and of criminal justice in dealing with violence; and (3) the need and likelihood of adopting this type of solution in Canada. Details: Vancouver, BC: The Fraser Institute, 2001. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 11, 2011 at: http://oldfraser.lexi.net/publications/books/drug_papers/UDErickson.pdf Year: 2001 Country: Canada URL: http://oldfraser.lexi.net/publications/books/drug_papers/UDErickson.pdf Shelf Number: 121293 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug PolicyViolent Crime (Canada) |
Author: Jacobs, Keith Title: Making Sense of Partnerships: A Study of Police and Housing Department Collaboration for Tackling Drug and Related Problems on Public Housing Estates Summary: In recent years, interdepartmental partnerships within the public sector have been heralded as effective instruments for addressing complex social problems. For example, it is claimed that they can motivate staff and facilitate innovative practices that lead to improvements in service delivery. However, though partnerships are widely promoted as a panacea within the sector, there is a paucity of research that has looked at them from a critical perspective or examined how they operate in practice. The aim of this project is to explore the realities of partnership working by focusing on collaboration between the police and housing departments to tackle problems associated with illicit drug activity and anti-social behaviour (ASB) on three Australian public housing estates. The rationale for the project is that, though only a small minority of tenants are perpetrators, their actions can seriously blight the lives of their neighbours. Usually it is the housing department that responds to complaints relating to ASB but, in the more serious cases that are deemed criminal, the police also perform a role. Three locations were chosen as case studies. East Devonport in Tasmania and Girrawheen in Western Australia are areas with a large public housing stock. In East Devonport ASB and illicit drug activities are seen as nascent problems while in Girrawheen these problems are viewed as more pervasive, but to date there has been only limited collaboration between the police and housing departments. Collingwood in Victoria includes a large system-built housing estate that has become a location for the buying and selling of drugs. In Collingwood, police and housing departments have, for many years, worked on a series of partnership projects to address the problem and to enhance community wellbeing. The empirical component of the project entailed two stages. The first stage initiated meetings between the police and housing departments in order for them to agree to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on partnership protocols. The second stage reported on existing and new activities undertaken by both departments over a twelve month period. The research methods entailed participant observation, secondary data collection and qualitative interviews with key personnel. The findings from the case studies are structured around three thematic areas: setting up partnerships, the benefits of partnerships, and the obstacles that can impact on partnership working. Details: Hobart, Tasmania: National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund, 2007. 69p. Source: Internet Resource: Monograph Series No. 26: Accessed April 11, 2011 at: http://www.ndlerf.gov.au/pub/Monograph_26.pdf Year: 2007 Country: Australia URL: http://www.ndlerf.gov.au/pub/Monograph_26.pdf Shelf Number: 121312 Keywords: Antisocial BehaviorDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug EnforcementDrug MarketsPolice PartnershipsPublic Housing |
Author: Listwan, Shelley Johnson Title: The Kootenai and Ada County Drug Courts: Outcome Evaluation Findings. Final Report Summary: Drug courts have played a growing role in responding to the dramatic increase in drug offenses entering the criminal justice system in the past fifteen years. The recognition that drug abuse is a chronic and relapsing condition that requires intensive treatment has changed how the drug offender is treated in the criminal justice system as well as by the general public. Funding for these drug courts across the country and in Idaho has led to a great expansion of this innovation. The first drug court began in Idaho in 1998, currently; there are 30 drug courts in operation. In 2001, the University of Cincinnati was contracted by the Idaho Supreme Court to provide an evaluation of its drug court efforts. The project consists of three phases. In the first phase, the Kootenai and Ada County Drug Courts were selected for outcome evaluations. The second phase will include a statewide process evaluation that will detail how well selected drug courts across the state have been implemented, how effectively they process their cases, and whether they are serving their intended target populations. Finally, the third phase will include a statewide outcome evaluation of selected courts across the state. The evaluation effort is designed to inform the courts and stakeholders of how well drug courts have been implemented and their overall effectiveness. This report illustrates the results of the phase one outcome study and provides a preliminary picture of the effectiveness of two drug courts in Idaho. Details: Cincinnati, OH: Center for Criminal Justice Research, University of Cincinnati, 2005. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 15, 2011 at: http://www.isc.idaho.gov/adakootenai_0705.pdf Year: 2005 Country: United States URL: http://www.isc.idaho.gov/adakootenai_0705.pdf Shelf Number: 101493 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Courts (Idaho)Drug Offenders |
Author: Yapp, Jamie Richard Title: The Profiling of Robbery Offenders Summary: This thesis has investigated the offence of robbery. Specifically, the semi-systematic review analysed commercial armed robbery, grouping offenders in terms of an apparent scale of professionalism to amateurism. Within armed robbery, target hardening strategies appear to have reduced opportunities for professionals, with a corresponding increase in amateur armed robbers fuelled by drug habits. The empirical study found that levels of interaction used by an offender with a victim increased with offender age. Interaction was lower for a robbery committed in an external location and for offenders with previous convictions for offences against the person and property. The violence facet could not be labelled as a specific discriminatory predictor. The findings from the research and semi-systematic review distinguished between two types of robbery offender; a career professional and an amateur antisocial robber. A career professional is older and more experienced, more likely to offend in a commercial location, commit the crime in a planned and controlled manner, use high levels of interaction and lower levels of violence. An amateur antisocial robber is more likely to commit an offence outside, have previous convictions for offences against the person and property and/or be under the influence of an illegal substance. The offence is likely to be opportunistic and chaotic, characterised by high levels of violence and low levels of interaction. The Inventory of Offender Risk, Needs and Strengths (IORNS) psychometric measure was analysed. It has the potential to provide an assessment of a robbery offender's ongoing treatment and risk management. However, it requires further validation and reliability analysis before it is deemed appropriate in doing so. The case study highlighted the impact of cannabis misuse on a robbery offender's behaviour pattern and mental illness. Implications for offender treatment needs, future therapeutic intervention and risk management are discussed along with the need for further validation of the proposed model. Details: Birmingham, UK: The Centre for Forensic and Criminological Psychology, The University of Birmingham, 2010. 279p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed April 25, 2011 at: http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/1059/1/Yapp10ForenPsyD.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/1059/1/Yapp10ForenPsyD.pdf Shelf Number: 121489 Keywords: Armed RobberyCommercial PropertiesDrug Abuse and CrimeProfilingRisk AssessmentRobbery (U.K.)Violent Crime |
Author: Victoria. Sentencing Advisory Council Title: Does Imprisonment Deter? A Review of the Evidence Summary: Deterrence can be described as the prevention of crime through the fear of a threatened – or the experience of an actual – criminal sanction. General deterrence is aimed at reducing crime by directing the threat of that sanction at all potential offenders. Specific deterrence is aimed at reducing crime by applying a criminal sanction to a specific offender, in order to dissuade him or her from reoffending. Deterrence is only one of the purposes of sentencing in Victoria, determined by section 5(1) of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic). The other purposes are: punishment, denunciation, rehabilitation and community protection (incapacitation). The scope of this paper is limited to examining the sentencing purpose of deterrence only – it does not present an analysis of the evidence of imprisonment’s effectiveness in regard to other sentencing purposes. There is an overlap in some studies when measuring deterrence and incapacitation; however, the paper does not draw conclusions on the effectiveness of imprisonment as a means of reducing crime through incapacitation. Deterrence theory is based upon the classical economic theory of rational choice, which assumes that people weigh up the costs and benefits of a particular course of action whenever they make a decision. Deterrence theory relies on the assumption that offenders have knowledge of the threat of a criminal sanction and then make a rational choice whether or not to offend based upon consideration of that knowledge. Rational choice theory, however, does not adequately account for a large number of offenders who may be considered ‘irrational’. Examples of such irrationality can vary in severity – there are those who are not criminally responsible due to mental impairment, those who are drug affected or intoxicated and those who simply act in a way that is contrary to their own best interests. Research shows that the majority of offenders entering the Victorian criminal justice system have a history of substance use that is directly related to their offending. That people are not perfectly rational and do not always make decisions that are in their own best interests is supported by studies in behavioural economics. Behavioural economic theory proposes that individuals make decisions on the basis of mperfect knowledge by employing ‘rules of thumb’, rather than strict logic, and are subject to limits on their willpower. People are also subject to a great number of patterns of deviation in judgment that occur in particular situations (known as ‘cognitive biases’), which influence decision-making in predictable – but often irrational – ways. The evidence from empirical studies of deterrence suggests that the threat of imprisonment generates a small general deterrent effect. However, the research also indicates that increases in the severity of penalties, such as increasing the length of terms of imprisonment, do not produce a corresponding increase in deterrence. It has been suggested that harsher penalties do not deter because many crimes are committed in circumstances where it is difficult to identify when, or if, offenders have considered the consequences of their criminal behaviour. In addition, otherwise rational individuals are more strongly influenced by the perceived immediate benefits of committing crime and individuals ‘discount’ the cost of future penalties. A consistent finding in deterrence research is that increases in the certainty of apprehension and punishment demonstrate a significant deterrent effect. Perceptions about the certainty of apprehension, for example, may counter the ‘present bias’ and reinforce the potential cost of committing crime. This result is qualified by the need for further research that separates deterrable from non-deterrable populations. Research into specific deterrence shows that imprisonment has, at best, no effect on the rate of reoffending and often results in a greater rate of recidivism. Possible explanations for this include that: prison is a learning environment for crime, prison reinforces criminal identity and may diminish or sever social ties that encourage lawful behaviour and imprisonment is not the appropriate response to many offenders who require treatment for the underlying causes of their criminality (such as drug, alcohol and mental health issues). Harsh prison conditions do not generate a greater deterrent effect, and the evidence shows that such conditions may lead to more violent reoffending. The empirical evidence on the effectiveness of imprisonment as a deterrent to crime suggests that the purposes of sentencing should be considered independently – according to their own merits – and that caution should be exercised if imprisonment is to be justified as a means of deterring all crimes and all kinds of offenders. Details: Melbourne: Sentencing Advisory Council, 2011. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Sentencing Matters: Accessed July 5, 2011 at: http://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/sites/sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/files/does_imprisonment_deter_a_review_of_the_evidence.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Australia URL: http://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/sites/sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/files/does_imprisonment_deter_a_review_of_the_evidence.pdf Shelf Number: 121964 Keywords: DeterrenceDrug Abuse and CrimeImprisonmentPunishmentRational Choice TheorySentencing (Australia)Substance Abuse |
Author: Eisenbach-Stangl, Irmgard Title: Two Worlds of Drug Consumption in Late Modern Societies Summary: Europeans belong to the largest consumers of illicit drugs, absorbing about one fifth of the global heroin, cocaine and cannabis supply, as well as one third of ecstasy production (UNODC World Drug Report, 2008). However, the vast majority of Europeans have never tried any illicit substance. In popular perception, illicit drugs still represent alien cultures challenging traditional European patterns, including consumption of our favourite drugs – alcoholic beverages. Illicit drug-taking, no matter what type of drug and its amount, is considered an evil in itself; it is regarded as a serious transgression of social norms. This perception is perpetuated and reinforced by legal norms which – in most European countries – penalize a wide range of behaviours associated with illicit drugs. As a rule, this includes the possession and consumption of illegal drugs. Parallel to that, most European countries have established extended drug services dealing with drug-related problems in a more assimilative way. A crucial issue has been how many people transgress social and legal norms. Therefore, the general public, policy-makers, politicians and drug professionals alike demand, first of all, information on the prevalence of drug consumption. The question of what and how much they consume seems to be almost irrelevant. Only a few years ago the Global Workshop on Drug Information Systems (2002) identified the need for improved methods of estimating the quantities of illicit drugs consumed by users to complement the increasing sophistication and reliability of data on drug production and on drug seizure. Another important gap in the literature is the absence of reliable information on the costs of drug consumption at individual level. This knowledge is crucial to understanding the economic (and criminal) behaviour of individual consumers which includes not only drug purchasing but also continuous efforts to generate money to buy drugs. To fill these knowledge gaps, a project was carried out by the European Centre in collaboration with UNODC and financed by the Austrian federal ministry of European and international affairs. The European monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug addiction acted as observer. The overall goal of the project was to contribute to the development of useful and appropriate models of estimating drug consumption. The objectives were to assess consumption patterns of five main drugs – heroin, cocaine, amphetamines, ecstasy, cannabis – including the amounts consumed, and to assess consumption costs for each of the drugs. The study was based on data gathered from two different samples of drug users in six cities in six European union countries. Details: Vienna: European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, 2011. 17p. Source: Internet Resource: Policiy Brief: Accessed July 8, 2011 at: http://www.euro.centre.org/data/1263572258_23948.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Europe URL: http://www.euro.centre.org/data/1263572258_23948.pdf Shelf Number: 122014 Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addiction (Europe)Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse PolicyDrug Policy |
Author: Ness, Alex Title: Patterns of Mephedrone, GHB, Ketamine and Rohypnol Use Among Police Detainees: Findings from the DUMA Program Summary: In recognition of the need for ongoing monitoring of new or less common drug types, the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC), as part of the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program, interviewed 824 police detainees about their knowledge of and experience with mephedrone, GHB, Ketamine and Rohypnol. Mephedrone was the least known of the four drugs, with only 221 detainees (27%) reporting knowledge of the drug. Only six detainees (<1%) had used the drug in the previous 12 months, while 30 detainees (4%) knew of someone dealing mephedrone at the time they were interviewed. Detainees in East Perth were the most likely to have reported knowledge of mephedrone. GHB was known to more than half of all detainees interviewed (53%) and had been used in the 12 months prior to interview by 23 detainees (3%). More detainees had been offered GHB (8%), or knew of a dealer selling GHB (6%), than any of the other four drug types. Ketamine was known to 43 percent of detainees and had been used by three percent. The prevalence of Ketamine use was equal with GHB, however, knowledge of a current Ketamine dealer was lower (4%). Rohypnol was the most widely known of the four drug types (59%), however, use of the drug in the 12 months prior to interview was lower than for GHB or Ketamine (1%). Details: Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2011. 6p. Source: Internet Resource: Research in Practice, No. 16: Accessed July 11, 2011 at: http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/0/6/0/%7B0605DBE8-C4C4-46C6-807E-042F849D1826%7Drip16_003.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Australia URL: http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/0/6/0/%7B0605DBE8-C4C4-46C6-807E-042F849D1826%7Drip16_003.pdf Shelf Number: 122020 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Offenders (Australia) |
Author: Kirven, Mary Beth Title: Kansas Drug Court Feasibility Study Summary: The Kansas Supreme Court contracted with the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) to research the feasibility and practicality of instituting state-wide level management over drug courts within the state. To date, there has been no centralized, statewide effort to encourage the growth of drug courts or exercise any state-level administration and oversight of traditional drug courts within the state. Seven drug courts are currently operating in Kansas – all of them homegrown by court personnel who sought to meet the needs of their individual jurisdictions. Some of these drug courts operate in conjunction with state mandated Senate Bill 123 (SB 123) programs. Kansas has institutionalized the SB 123 programs which provide treatment to adults convicted of a first or second drug possession offense. The question now facing Kansas is whether it should support and institutionalize, at the state level, the development of traditional drug courts. Research accumulated over the last two decades when drug courts first started clearly supports the conclusion that drug courts are effective for high-risk/high needs offenders. Drug courts have been shown to reduce recidivism, reduce costs, and help individuals maintain sobriety. Long term cost reductions are achieved through the avoidance of law enforcement efforts, judicial case processing, and victimization resulting from re-offending. Short-term cost reductions are achieved because individuals are diverted from jail or prison at least for the time that they are in the program. Utilization of traditional drug court models have benefited a significant number of offenders who enter the criminal justice system with serious substance abuse problems and have lowered prison and jail costs by closing the revolving door that seems to trap so many addicts in the cycle of drug abuse and criminal behavior. Drug courts seem to strike the proper balance between the need to protect community safety and the need to improve public health and well being; between the need for treatment and the need to hold people accountable for their actions; between hope and redemption on the one hand and good citizenship on the other. Drug courts keep nonviolent drug-addicted individuals in treatment for long periods of time and supervise them closely, which is the cornerstone of their success. The challenge facing many drug courts now is how can they be sustained and become integrated into the criminal justice system. If drug courts are to be a long term answer to the problem of drug addiction and crime, drug courts must be institutionalized by the state. Institutionalization has been described as “the process by which individual drug courts evolve from separate experimental entities to a statewide network that is stable, far-reaching, reliably funded and closely monitored.”1 Drug courts usually start with an initial grant from the Department of Justice which generally runs for three to five years. After that period the drug court has to find other resources either at the local level or the state level to sustain it. The most precarious time for drug courts is when they have to shift from guaranteed federal funding to local or state funding. More and more, states are stepping up to fund drug courts because drug courts have been shown to effectively reduce recidivism thereby reducing jail and prison bed costs. Whether drug courts should be institutionalized in Kansas is the question before the Supreme Court and the Kansas Sentencing Commission. So far drug courts have developed in Kansas without concerted state assistance and are very limited in the number of people they can serve because of limited resources. If drug courts are institutionalized in Kansas then more with less concern about sustainability because in addition to local and federal funding, state funds would be made available Details: Denver, CO: National Center for State Courts, 2011. 55p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 19, 2011 at: http://www.sji.gov/PDF/KS_Drug_Court_Feasibility_Study.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.sji.gov/PDF/KS_Drug_Court_Feasibility_Study.pdf Shelf Number: 122108 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Courts (Kansas)Drug OffendersDrug Treatment |
Author: Fox, James Alan Title: Meth Crime Rises as Budget Axe Falls: Will Congress Cut Law Enforcement and Investments that Help Get Kids on the Right Track? Summary: The more than 2,500 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, state Attorneys General, other law enforcement leaders, and violence survivors of FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS are determined to see that dangerous criminals are put behind bars. Today, one of the toughest crime challenges facing America’s law enforcement is the methamphetamine epidemic. Like the crack epidemic of the 1980s, meth is sweeping much of the country leaving broken families, traumatized communities and an increase in crimes committed by meth addicts. The number of meth addicts has recently doubled. FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS analyzed the best available data and research, and provides the first national estimate on crime committed by meth addicts: property and violent crimes doubled to six million crimes in 2004 compared to 2002. Despite the new laws and enforcement efforts to shut down home labs, meth addiction is spreading as new, more potent, crystal meth is moving in from Mexico. While the wave of meth abuse and meth-related crime continues to sweep eastward across the country, Congress is debating severe budget cuts to law enforcement and investments in children proven to prevent crime. America’s anti-crime arsenal contains no more powerful weapons than crime fighters on our streets and in our courts and proven prevention programs such as Head Start, pre-kindergarten, and educational child care; child abuse and neglect prevention; effective youth development activities for the after-school and summer hours; and intervention programs to help troubled kids. Details: Washington, DC: Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2006. 17p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 3, 2011 at: http://www.jfox.neu.edu/Documents/methreport06.pdf Year: 2006 Country: United States URL: http://www.jfox.neu.edu/Documents/methreport06.pdf Shelf Number: 122293 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse PreventionMethamphetamine (U.S.) |
Author: McGregor, Catherine Title: Prescription Drug Use Among Detainees: Prevalence, Sources and Links to Crime Summary: This report is the first of its kind in Australia to examine the self-reported use of illicit pharmaceuticals among a sample of police detainees surveyed as part of the Australian Institute of Criminology’s Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program. In all, 986 detainees were interviewed, of which 19 percent reported having recently used pharmaceutical drugs for non-medical purposes in the past 12 months — nearly five times as high as reported by the general Australian population. Non-medical prescription drug use was found to be substantially higher in the detainee population by comparison with the general community. Among the detainees surveyed, more prescription drug users were unemployed, derived their income from welfare or benefits, considered themselves drug dependent, were currently on a drug-related charge and had been arrested or imprisoned in the previous 12 months by comparison with non-users. Most pharmaceuticals were sourced from family and friends or from the person’s usual doctor and pharmacy. There was little support for the view that pharmaceuticals are commonly obtained through script forgery or over the internet. Benzodiazepines, followed by opioids, were the most commonly used pharmaceuticals for non-medical purposes in this sample of police detainees. This paper provides policymakers with valuable information about the reasons for use and the methods by which pharmaceuticals are typically accessed for non-medical purposes. Further research to investigate the methods of obtaining illicit pharmaceuticals from within the general community is needed. Details: Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2011. 6p. Source: Internet Resource: Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, No. 423: Accessed August 11, 2011 at: http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/tandi.aspx Year: 2011 Country: Australia URL: http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/tandi.aspx Shelf Number: 122361 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersPrescription Drug AbusePrescription Fraud |
Author: Taxman, Faye S. Title: Evaluating the Implementation & Impact of a Seamless System of Care for Substance Abusing Offenders: The HIDTA Model Summary: By the end of the year 2000, more than 6.5 million adults were under the supervision of the correctional system, and more than half of these offenders are estimated to have significant substance abuse problems. Traditional, boundary-laden treatment and control strategies have been unable to change offender drug use and criminal behavior. Among the state probation populations, the proportion of offenders who successfully complete their supervision has dropped from seventy (70) percent to sixty (60) percent in the past decade, due in large part to offenders’ failure to abide by the conditions of their release related to abstinence from druglalcohol use and/or participation in treatment. In 1999 alone, fourteen (14) percent of the probation population (244,700) and forty two (42) percent of the parole population (173,800) were returneasent to prison for a rule violation and/or a new offense. Invariably, this is the result of the offender’s continued involvement in drug use and/or drug-related criminal behavior. Without significant increases in resource levels, treatment availability and quality will continue to be major barriers to offender change. The question that remains is how to utilize the leverage of the criminal justice system in a manner that supports-rather than subverts-treatment goals. In response, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) sponsored a demonstration project that commenced in 1994 to pilot new strategies to improve treatment services to offenders, specifically the formulation of a new model of incorporating treatment within the criminal justice system - the Seamless System of Care. The HIDTA Model was designed to target hard-core, substance abusing offenders who are both difficult clients for treatment providers and difficult offenders for community supervision agents. Part of this demonstration project was the restructuring of the treatment and supervision delivery systems for criminal justice offenders within the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program in the Washington, DC - Baltimore corridor. Each of the 12 participating jurisdictions (VA: Alexandria City, Arlington County, Fairfax/ Falls Church, Loudon County, Prince William County; MD: Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Charles County, Howard County, Montgomery County, Prince William County, and the District of Columbia) developed a seamless system tailored to their own socio-legal environment which included system reforms consistent with the core components of the HlDTA model. The HIDTA model is based on the concept of the boundaryless system that “transcends the traditional organizational boundaries to focus attention on improved outcomes”(Taxman & Bouffard:2000:41). Specifically, a main objective of the ONDCP demonstration project was to redefine the relationship between the criminal justice and treatment systems from one based on the brokerage of services (case management) to one defined by rationing and triage (systemic case management). The four key components of the HIDTA seamless system include: (1) continuum of care, (2) supervision, (3) urinalysis testing, and (4) compliance measures and graduated sanctions. This evaluation report provides a detailed examination of the development, implementation, and initial impact of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Model, based on a multi- site (12 jurisdictions) analysis of the program. Using a simple pre-post, non-experimental design, data were collected at each of these twelve sites on the total population of offenders admitted to the HIDTA program in 1997 (N=1,216). By using a non-experimental design to conduct our initial review, we could provide preliminary outcome data to jurisdictions while focusing our evaluation resources on the critical question of level of implementation. Data were collected on the following: (1) demographic and criminal history, (2) treatment placement and movement through treatment, (3) criminal justice supervision and services, (4) drug testing results, and (5) the use of graduated sanctions by either the treatment agency or the criminal justice agency. The integration of records from treatment providers and criminal justice agency providers was critical to assessing the impact of the HlDTA Model on the offenders included in this study. Details: College Park, MD: University of Maryland Center for Applied Policy Studies, Bureau of Governmental Research, 2002. 56p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 26, 2011 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/197046.pdf Year: 2002 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/197046.pdf Shelf Number: 122557 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse Treatment, Inmates (U.S.)Drug OffendersPrisoners |
Author: Kirby, Amy Title: Engaging Substance Misusing Offenders: A Rapid Review of the Substance Misuse Treatment Literature Summary: The Offender Engagement Programme (OEP) seeks to investigate the hypothesis that one-to-one work with those under probation supervision can be a powerful vehicle for facilitating behavioural change. By establishing what supports effective engagement and better understanding how to overcome the barriers which hinder these processes, the aim of the OEP is to better enable practitioners to reduce reoffending and change probationers’ lives through their one-to-one engagement with them. Here we report findings of a rapid review about engagement in the substance misuse treatment and criminogenic literature. Details: London: Institute for Criminal Policy Research, 2011. 65p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 7, 2011 at: http://www.icpr.org.uk/media/31487/Rapid%20review%20-%20engaging%20and%20retaining%20substance%20users%20final.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.icpr.org.uk/media/31487/Rapid%20review%20-%20engaging%20and%20retaining%20substance%20users%20final.pdf Shelf Number: 122676 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse Treatment (U.K.)Drug OffendersProbationers |
Author: Jacobson, Mireille Title: Regulating Medical Marijuana Dispensaries: An Overview with Preliminary Evidence of Their Impact on Crime Summary: Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have passed laws that allow certain individuals to use marijuana for medical purposes. This report provides an overview of state medical marijuana laws and preliminary findings on the relationship between medical marijuana dispensaries and local crime, based on results from an ongoing analysis in the City of Los Angeles. The authors analyzed data for the ten days prior to and ten days following the June 7, 2010, closure of over 70 percent of the 638 dispensaries then in operation. Crime reports within a few blocks around closed dispensaries were compared with crime reports near those that remained open. The authors found that crime increased in the vicinity of closed dispensaries relative to the vicinity around dispensaries allowed to remain open. The effects are concentrated on crimes, such as breaking and entering and assault, which may be particularly sensitive to the presence of security. Hypotheses for what might drive these results include the loss of on-site security and surveillance, a reduction in foot traffic, a resurgence in outdoor drug activity, or a change in police efforts. Details: Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2011. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 26, 2011 at: http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/technical_reports/2011/RAND_TR987.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/technical_reports/2011/RAND_TR987.pdf Shelf Number: 122906 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug PolicyMedical Marijuana |
Author: Queensland. Crime and Misconduct Commission Title: Illicit Drug Use in Queensland A Survey of Households 2002–05 Summary: The procurement, use and misuse of illicit drugs is a serious problem facing society today. In 1998, for example, it was estimated that the social and health costs associated with illicit drug use in Australia totalled $6.1 billion (Collins & Lapsley 2002). Illicit drug use has been linked with several forms of violence and predatory street crime (Makkai & Payne 2003), sexual exploitation (Johnson 2004) and a host of social problems including family dysfunction and poor educational outcomes (Prichard & Payne 2005). For those involved in drug use, there are health risks such as disease transmission through needle sharing and problems associated with anxiety, aggression and depressed mood (Loxley, Toumbourou & Stockwell 2004). Given the relevance of illicit drug use to law enforcement, operational activities, strategic research and policy development, the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) undertakes a range of monitoring activities to assess illicit drug use patterns in Queensland. These monitoring activities include discrete projects such as reviewing and analysing data about detainees in watch-houses (CMC DUMA report, in press), individual research projects about drugs such as cocaine and amphetamines, and the inclusion of questions about illicit drug use in the annual household survey conducted by the Office of Economic and Statistical Research (OESR). The subsection of the household survey conducted for the CMC is referred to as the Queensland Household Illicit Drug Use Survey (QHIDUS). Questions included in the QHIDUS seek population-level information about: the prevalence of illicit drug use (cannabis, amphetamines, heroin, ecstasy, hallucinogens and sleeping pills/tranquillisers used for non-medical purposes) patterns of drug use (age of first use, frequency of use, recent usage) perceptions of the health risks associated with drug use perceptions of the ease of obtaining illicit drugs various socio-demographic factors that may be associated with drug use. Although population-level research usually underestimates the true level of illegal or hidden activities such as drug use, it can provide a valuable source of information which can, in turn, be compared with survey results of other populations and triangulated with qualitative research, to provide a detailed overview of current and changing drug-use patterns. Details: Brisbane: Crime and Misconduct Commission, 2007. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 4, 2011 at: http://www.cmc.qld.gov.au/data/portal/00000005/content/87421001161922260587.pdf Year: 2007 Country: Australia URL: http://www.cmc.qld.gov.au/data/portal/00000005/content/87421001161922260587.pdf Shelf Number: 107701 Keywords: Crime SurveyDrug Abuse and Addiction (Australia)Drug Abuse and CrimeIllicit Drugs |
Author: Butts, Jeffrey A. Title: Organizing for Outcomes: Measuring the Effects of Reclaiming Futures in Four Communities Summary: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) Reclaiming Futures initiative was designed to increase positive outcomes for youth involved with drugs, alcohol and crime by shifting the efforts of the juvenile justice system and the substance abuse treatment system to incorporate strategies that are more community oriented, family focused, and closely coordinated. The Foundation launched Reclaiming Futures by awarding project grants to ten communities in 2002. In four of these communities, researchers tracked the efforts of local Reclaiming Futures projects as they worked to improve the effectiveness of interventions for young offenders. The four communities included Santa Cruz County in California, Cook County (Chicago) in Illinois, a multiple-jurisdiction project in the state of New Hampshire, and King County (Seattle), Washington. The four local evaluation projects assessed the influence of Reclaiming Futures on the actual experiences of youth involved in the juvenile justice and substance abuse treatment systems. The studies examined whether youth received substance abuse screening and assessment more often and more quickly after the implementation of Reclaiming Futures. They asked whether youth participated more frequently in treatment programs and received more support services as a result of Reclaiming Futures. Finally, they examined case processing and case referral patterns to determine whether Reclaiming Futures was associated with changes in youth behavior, as measured by recidivism, or the prevalence of new contacts with law enforcement and the courts. Details: Portland, OR: Reclaiming Futures, Graduate School of Social Work, Portland State University, 2009. 42p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 22, 2011 at: http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/14831reclaimingfuturesorganizingforoutcomes2009.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/14831reclaimingfuturesorganizingforoutcomes2009.pdf Shelf Number: 123086 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug OffendersJuveniles Offenders (U.S.)RecidivismSubstance Abuse Treatment |
Author: Williams, Nancy J. Title: Crime and Medical Marijuana Dispensaries: Exploring the Ecological Association between Crime and Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Summary: Routine activities theory purports that crime occurs in places with a suitable target, motivated offender, and lack of guardianship. Medical marijuana dispensaries (MMDs) may be places that satisfy these conditions, but this has not yet been studied. The current study examined whether or not the density of MMDs are associated with crime. Design: An ecological, cross-sectional design was used to explore the spatial relationship between density of MMDs, sociodemographics and two types of crime rates (violent crime and property crime) in 95 Census tracts in Sacramento, California during 2009. Spatial error regression methods were used to determine associations between crime rates and density of MMDs, controlling for neighborhood characteristics. Findings: Violent and property crime rates were positively associated with percent commercially zoned, percent one person households, and unemployment rate. Higher violent crime rates were associated with concentrated disadvantage. Property crime rates were positively associated with percent of population 15 to 24 years, percent owner occupied households, and presence of highway ramps. Density of MMDs was not associated with violent or property crime rates. Conclusions: Consistent with previous work, variables measuring routine activities at the ecological level were related to crime. There were no observed associations between the density of MMDs and either violent or property crime rates in this study. These results suggest that the density of MMDs may not be associated with increased crime rates or that measures dispensaries take to reduce crime (i.e., doormen, video cameras) may increase guardianship, such that it deters possible motivated offenders. Details: Los Angeles: California Center for Population Research, University of California - Los Angeles, 2011. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: On-Line Working Paper Series PWP-CCPR-2011-010: Accessed October 26, 2011 at: http://papers.ccpr.ucla.edu/papers/PWP-CCPR-2011-010/PWP-CCPR-2011-010.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://papers.ccpr.ucla.edu/papers/PWP-CCPR-2011-010/PWP-CCPR-2011-010.pdf Shelf Number: 123151 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug PoliceMedical Marijuana (California)Routine ActivitiesSpatial Analysis |
Author: Mink, Michael D. Title: Violence and Rural Teens Teen Violence, Drug Use, and School-Based Prevention Services in Rural America Summary: This study had three main purposes: (1) to explore the prevalence of violence-related exposures and drug use among rural teens, (2) to investigate the effects of race and gender on the risk of exposure to violence and drug use, and (3) to compare the policies and mental health care services of rural and urban schools. The sections below summarize the results of this research: Exposure to Violence: This study found no evidence to support the common assumption that rural youth are protected from exposure to violence. • Of the 15 measures of violence activities, none showed a significantly lower prevalence among rural teens when compared to suburban and urban teens. In fact, rural teens were more likely than urban or suburban teens to have carried a weapon within the last 30 days. These results suggest that rural teens are equally or more likely than suburban and urban teens to be exposed to violent activities. Drug Use: Rural teens are at significantly greater risk of using drugs than both suburban and urban teens. • Five of the 13 measures of drug use showed a significantly higher prevalence rate among rural teens: chewing tobacco (11.5%), chewing tobacco at school (7.6%), smoking cigarettes at school (14.8%), using crack/cocaine (5.9%), and using steroids (7.4%). Only one measure showed a significantly higher prevalence rate among urban teens (smoking marijuana at school at 6.8%). The remaining seven measures showed no differences by residence. • Of important note is the prevalence of crystal meth use among rural teens. The proportion of rural teens who reported every using crystal meth (15.5%) was almost double the proportion of urban (8.8%) and suburban teens (9.5%). Crystal meth was the 4th most commonly used drug among rural teens after alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana, making it more popular among rural teens than chewing tobacco. Effects of Race: Racial differences for exposure to violence and drug use are negligible among rural teens. • Non-white rural teens were no more likely than white rural teens to experience the 15 measures of exposure to violence. This result was similar to comparable comparisons among urban teens but not suburban teens, where non-white teens were more likely than white teens to experience 9 of the violence exposure measures. • Among rural teens, only one measure of drug use differed by race: rural non-white teens were less likely to report chewing tobacco compared to rural white teens. This pattern was strikingly different from the racial differences found among urban teens (9 differences) and suburban teens (7 differences). Effects of Gender: Exposures to violence and drug use vary by gender among rural teens. • Among rural teens, females are more likely than males to be coerced into sex or engage in suicide behaviors, while males are more likely than females to use weapons, be threatened at school, or engage in fighting behaviors. Male teens are also more likely than female teens to chew tobacco and smoke marijuana, both on and off school grounds. Teen Violence Services: Rural schools offer somewhat fewer teen violence services than rural schools. • Rural schools were less likely than urban schools to offer peer counseling and self help services, but just as likely to offer 14 other violence prevention and treatment services. • There were very few significant differences between rural and urban school in the way these services are delivered. Out of the 66 possible combinations of violence-related services and service delivery option, only 6 showed significantly lower utilization rates for rural schools. The remaining 60 combinations showed no differences by location. Teen Violence Services Personnel: Mental health care staff in rural schools are available for fewer hours, have fewer hiring requirements, and receive training for fewer teen violence services than their counterparts in urban schools. • Rural and urban schools were equally likely to have a guidance counselor, a psychologist, and a social worker on staff. However, all three of these professionals were available for significantly fewer hours per week in rural schools. • Rural and urban schools were equally likely to require a graduate degree, board certification, and a state license for newly hired guidance counselors and for newly hired psychologists. However, rural schools were significantly less likely than urban schools to require a graduate degree or a state license for newly hired school social workers. • Mental health care staff from rural schools were less likely than their counterparts in urban schools to receive training for certain teen violence services. Specifically, Mental Health Care Coordinators were less likely to receive training in suicide prevention, family counseling, peer counseling, and self help, while Health Education Coordinators in rural schools were less likely to receive training in tobacco use prevention. School Environment: Overall, rural schools report fewer policies and security practices that prevent violence and drug use than do urban schools. • Rural schools were less likely than urban schools to report using five (5) administrative policies to prevent student violence: prohibiting gang paraphernalia, student education on suicide prevention, violence prevention, and tobacco use prevention, and having a council for school health. The remaining 13 measures showed no differences by school location. • In response to student fighting, rural schools were less likely than urban schools to encourage or require participation in a student assistance program. • Rural schools were more likely than urban schools to monitor school hallways and to arm their security staff, but less likely to use a closed campus, prohibit bookbags, require school uniforms, use surveillance cameras, use uniformed police, use undercover police, and use security guards. The remaining seven school security measures did not differ by school location. Details: Columbia, SC: South Carolina Rural Health Research Center, 2005. 87p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 29, 2011 at: http://rhr.sph.sc.edu/report/(4-5)%20Violence%20and%20Rural%20Teens.pdf Year: 2005 Country: United States URL: http://rhr.sph.sc.edu/report/(4-5)%20Violence%20and%20Rural%20Teens.pdf Shelf Number: 123173 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeJuvenile OffendersRural AreasRural CrimeSchool CrimeTeenagersViolence |
Author: Prendergast, Michael Title: Final Report on the UCLA-ISAP Evaluation of the 1,000 Bed Expansion of Therapeutic Community Treatment Programs for Prisoners Summary: This report summarizes the quantitative results of UCLA Integration Substance Abuse Programs 5-year process evaluation of the California Department of Corrections (CDC) 1,000-bed expansion of therapeutic community (TC) Programs for prisoners. The process evaluation was conducted over the full 5-year term of the evaluation study and involved the collection and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data. This report only presents quantitative process findings related to client characteristics, treatment participation (in-prison and aftercare) and return-to-custody rates. Details: Los Angeles: UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs (ISAP), 2003. 33p. Source: Report Available at the Don M. Gottfredson Library of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University Year: 2003 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 123239 Keywords: Alcohol Treatment ProgramsCorrectional ProgramsDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersRecidivismSubstance Abuse Treatment (California) |
Author: Malloch, Margaret Title: Interventions for Drug Users in the Criminal Justice System: Scottish Review Summary: The purpose of this review was to examine the available research evidence on criminal justice interventions in Scotland in terms of „effectiveness‟, (measured by rates of reconviction/reoffending, and reductions in drug use) and costs. The review also recognises the current policy emphasis on „recovery‟, which requires a wider acknowledgement of the possible mechanisms for measuring „success‟ and a wider vision for the process of recovery itself. The review was undertaken between August and November 2010. This review found that there are a number of difficulties in determining effectiveness in the area of drug interventions - sample numbers within evaluations are often small, the nature of interventions make it difficult to identify control groups and therefore to isolate factors making an impact or indeed, to measure the overall impact of the intervention itself; change often comes from a number of different factors; different methods are often used to measure different outcomes over different periods of time making it impossible to compare effectiveness across interventions. The existence of major gaps in the evidence base for drug interventions is acknowledged internationally. In spite of these limitations, some broad observations can be made from the evidence currently available and which has been considered as part of this review. The rationale for providing drug interventions through the criminal justice system is to fast-track individuals whose criminal activity is directly related to problem drug use into treatment. Evidence on treatment outcomes suggests that the benefit-cost ratio for structured interventions makes such intervention cost-effective (ranging from 2.5:1 to 9.5:1 depending on methods used) making drug treatment in general an economically viable option in terms of costs and benefits. Evidence from Scotland suggests that the total social and economic cost of illicit drug use is just under £3.56 billion (around £61,000 per problem drug user). Estimated costs of crime are reduced significantly for individuals in treatment (from £12,713 for individuals with no intervention in place; to £1,536 for those in treatment for more than one year). Reductions in re-offending appear to be consistent features of evaluations of interventions (where this outcome is available) along with reductions in drug use for individuals who engage with the interventions. Where re-offending continues, evidence suggests that there is a reduction in the rate of re-offending from levels of re-offending prior to the intervention. There is evidence to indicate that retention in treatment and a consequent „good‟ outcome is consistently predicted by the relationship between readiness for treatment and change, motivation and commitment, and the therapeutic relationship. There does not appear to be any significant difference in outcome between those who access treatment through the criminal justice system and those who access it voluntarily. While this highlights the viability of coerced treatment, it would equally suggest that diverting individuals into treatment may be as effective as intervening through the criminal justice system. In order to avoid „net-widening‟, it is important that intensive interventions are used for „high tariff‟ individuals and ensuring that community resources can be accessed outside the criminal justice system. Qualitative evidence, gathered from both professional respondents and service users, provides some positive elements from the Scottish evaluations of criminal justice interventions for drug users; however in terms of outcome and cost effectiveness, there is limited data from which conclusions of overall effectiveness can be drawn: There is currently no evidence to indicate that mandatory drug testing of arrestees provides any benefits, although it does provide some indication of the incidence of drug use among those tested and can provide a basis for directing individuals to appropriate services. Evaluations of arrest referral schemes are unable to provide evidence of benefits beyond the immediacy of the intervention, largely due to lack of evidence on longer-term outcomes including take-up of onward referrals. However, the recent evaluation of the arrest referral intervention for persistent offenders in Glasgow does provide some evidence of reductions in reconviction rates and benefits in terms of cost when individuals engage with services. Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTOs) and Drug Courts are both associated with reductions in drug use and reoffending, with improved outcomes for those who complete Orders. Drug Courts appear to be slightly more successful in terms of reconviction rates than DTTOs. Evidence on the effectiveness of lower tariff DTTOs (DTTO IIs) is inconclusive, however international literature on the use of intensive interventions mitigates against the use of intensive interventions for individuals who are low tariff offenders. Combined residential and community-based interventions such as the 218 Centre and Turnaround have much to offer in promoting recovery, given the holistic nature of the intervention; however although cost data is available there is currently no corresponding data on rates of reoffending/reconviction with which to measure cost-effectiveness. While prison may be an effective point of intervention for some problem drug users, evidence from Scotland is limited, with no reconviction analysis of prison-based drug related interventions currently available. Levels of re-offending on release from prison appear to be directly related to the availability of aftercare provision. Details: Edinburgh: Scottish Centre for Crime & Justice Research, 2011. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Report No. 05/2011: Accessed November 19, 2011 at: http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/documents/SCCJR%20REVIEW%20OF%20EFFECTIVENESS.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/documents/SCCJR%20REVIEW%20OF%20EFFECTIVENESS.pdf Shelf Number: 123364 Keywords: Cost-Benefit AnalysisCosts of Criminal JusticeDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Offenders (Scotland)Drug TreatmentSubstance Abuse Treatment |
Author: Burke, Cynthia Title: 2010 Juvenile Arrestee Drug Use in the San Diego Region Summary: This CJ Bulletin, “2010 Juvenile Arrestee Drug Use in the San Diego Region,” is the first in a series presenting data collected (from both juveniles and adults) in the 2010 calendar year and now includes eleven years of data. As part of this study, a total of 136 youth were interviewed at Juvenile Hall during two separate months in 2010. Ninety-six percent (96%) or 131 of these youth provided a urine sample for drug testing purposes (103 males and 28 females). This research bulletin includes the results of urinalysis trends over time, as well as information pertaining to lifetime and recent self-reported drug use, perceived risk and availability of different drugs, and characteristics of the youth that were interviewed and how these factors may be related to drug use. In addition, all of the data (percentages and raw numbers) captured through the juvenile interviews and urinalyses for 2004 through 2010 are available online at www.sandag.org/cj. Details: San Diego: SANDAG, Criminal Justice Research Division, 2011. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: CJ Bulletin: Accessed January 19, 2012 at: http://www.sandag.org/uploads/publicationid/publicationid_1595_13155.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.sandag.org/uploads/publicationid/publicationid_1595_13155.pdf Shelf Number: 123663 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AdditionDrug Abuse and CrimeJuvenile Offenders (San Diego) |
Author: Burke, Cynthia Title: 2010 Adult Arrestee Drug Use in the San Diego Region Summary: This SANDAG CJ Bulletin is one in a series1 highlighting findings from data collected as part of the Substance Abuse Monitoring (SAM) program. Since 2004, when federal funding for the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) program was suspended, San Diego has been the only site to continue this project uninterrupted. With funding from SANDAG’s Criminal Justice Clearinghouse, these data have been reported on an annual basis, providing useful information to policy makers, as well as law enforcement, prevention, and treatment professionals regarding drug use trends over time. In 2010, this data collection effort was generously supported by the California Border Alliance Group (CBAG), County of San Diego Alcohol and Drug Services (ADS), the District Attorney’s Office, and the Public Safety Group. Their support, as well as the cooperation of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, is gratefully acknowledged. As part of this project, arrestees are approached (using a random sampling method) within 48 hours of their arrest and booking into jail. If the arrestee is available and willing to participate in a confidential survey, s/he is asked a series of questions related to her/his drug use history and to provide a urine sample for drug testing. In 2010, 563 male arrestees were selected to be interviewed at the Vista and Central Jails and 269 female arrestees were selected at Las Colinas. Of these 832 arrestees, 802 completed the interview and also provided a valid urine sample for analysis. This research bulletin includes updated information regarding self-reported drug use, the results of urinalysis trends since 2000, factors related to drug use, drug market dynamics, prior justice system contact, participation in other risky behaviors, and prior receipt of drug and/or mental health treatment. Details: San Diego, CA: SANDAG, Criminal Justice Research Division, 2011. 29p. Source: Internet Resource: CJ Bulletin: Accessed January 19, 2012 at: http://www.sandag.org/uploads/publicationid/publicationid_1621_13749.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.sandag.org/uploads/publicationid/publicationid_1621_13749.pdf Shelf Number: 123664 Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addition (San Diego)Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug MarketsUrinalysis |
Author: Ng, Simon Title: Pharmaceutical Drug Use Among Police Detainees Summary: In light of increased concern regarding the illegal use of prescription medication and the extent of the diversion of pharmaceuticals into the black market, the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) incorporated a set of new questions into its Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program in 2011. Analysis showed that one in three (36%) of 825 adult police detainees self-reported using either buprenorphine, methadone, morphine, benzodiazepines or dexamphetamine at least once in the past 12 months. Benzodiazepines were the most commonly used pharmaceutical drug among police detainees (25%), followed by morphine (12%), buprenorphine (8%), methadone (7%) and dexamphetamine (4%). Of those detainees who had used pharmaceuticals, as many as two in three (63%) reported obtaining them from at least one of a number of illegitimate sources. This equates to a prevalence of 23 percent across all detainees interviewed. A larger proportion of detainees (16%) were classified as illegitimate benzodiazepine users than illegitimate morphine (9%), buprenorphine (5%), methadone or dexamphetamine users (3%, respectively). The most common method for obtaining pharmaceutical drugs illegitimately was to receive them from family or friends without paying. Overall 14 percent of all detainees reported doing so at least once in the past 12 months. Despite obtaining pharmaceutical drugs predominantly from family or friends, the vast majority of self-reported users said that they were “easy” or “very easy” to obtain on the street (without a prescription). Benzodiazepines were most frequently reported as easy or very easy to obtain on the street (86%), followed by buprenorphine and morphine (76%, respectively). More than half of those detainees using buprenorphine (59%) and morphine (53%) knew of someone dealing the drug at the time of their arrest. This was the case for 47 percent of dexamphetamine users, 42 percent of benzodiazepine users and 38 percent of methadone users. Details: Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2012. 7p. Source: Internet Resource: Research in Practice, DUMA, No. 23: Accessed February 17, 2012 at: http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/2/0/1/%7B201F4B72-265D-40FD-AF41-F6787C226396%7Drip23_001.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Australia URL: http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/2/0/1/%7B201F4B72-265D-40FD-AF41-F6787C226396%7Drip23_001.pdf Shelf Number: 124148 Keywords: Black MarketDrug Abuse and CrimePrescription Drug Abuse (Australia) |
Author: Atkinson, Amanda Title: Interpersonal violence and illicit drugs Summary: Interpersonal violence and illicit drug use are major public health challenges that are strongly linked. Involvement in drug use can increase the risks of being both a victim and/or perpetrator of violence, while experiencing violence can increase the risks of initiating illicit drug use. Details: Liverpool: Centre for Public Health, Liverpool John Moores University, WHO Collaborating Centre for Violence Prevention, 2009. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 4, 2012 at http://www.who.int/violenceprevention/interpersonal_violence_and_illicit_drug_use.pdf Year: 2009 Country: International URL: http://www.who.int/violenceprevention/interpersonal_violence_and_illicit_drug_use.pdf Shelf Number: 124379 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeIllicit DrugsInterpersonal Violence |
Author: Cowen, Nick Title: Rehabilitating Drug Policy: What Can We Do Better to Reduce Offending by Drug Addicts? Summary: This report examines what is currently working in drug rehabilitation, and what could be done better, with specific reference to the criminal justice system and criminal justice outcomes in England and Wales. The following sections attempt to answer two key questions: 1. What drug interventions are effective? 2. How should effective drug interventions be delivered? The primary evidence is a series of open-ended interviews with practitioners and advocates in the field of drug addiction. In addition, this report attempts to distil some of the implications of current empirical evidence on treatment. Greater weight is given to systematic reviews of the evidence where they have been carried out. Details: London: Civitas, 2012. 55p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 30, 2012 at: http://www.civitas.org.uk/crime/RehabilitatingDrugsPolicy2012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.civitas.org.uk/crime/RehabilitatingDrugsPolicy2012.pdf Shelf Number: 125097 Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addiction (U.K.)Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug OffendersDrug Policy |
Author: Porter, Nicole D. Title: Cracked Justice Summary: In August 2010 President Barack Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act (FSA), historic legislation that reduced the quantity-based sentencing differential between federal crack and powder cocaine convictions that resulted in significant racial disparities and excessive penalties. The bipartisan measure addressed the 100-to-1 disparity that punished defendants with five grams of crack cocaine (also known as cocaine base) with the same five-year mandatory minimum penalty imposed on powder cocaine defendants with 100 times that amount. Lawmakers rushed to establish the disparity and stiff sentences for crack cocaine in 1986 when the growing hysteria around the drug’s emergence in urban communities climaxed because of the death of a college basketball star whose overdose, officials believed, was caused by crack cocaine. The policy advances at the federal level, which reduced the disparity to 18-to-1, provide an opening for reevaluating similar state policies enacted during the height of the crack cocaine “epidemic,” and followed the lead of Congress. While each state maintains its own laws governing offenses involving crack cocaine, and none maintain the extreme 100-to-1 differential between crack and powder cocaine, the harsh penalties for low-level crack cocaine offenses are considerable and produce significant consequences. Today 13 states maintain sentencing disparities between crack and powder cocaine offenses. These include: In Missouri, where a defendant convicted of selling six grams of crack cocaine faces the same prison term –a ten-year mandatory minimum – as someone who sells 450 grams of powder cocaine, or 75 times that amount.. In Oklahoma, which maintains a 6-to-1 quantity-based sentencing disparity, a ten-year mandatory minimum sentence is triggered for five grams of crack cocaine and 28 grams of powder cocaine. In Arizona, which has a 12-to-1 disparity, nine grams of powder cocaine or less than a gram of crack cocaine trigger five-year prison terms for trafficking offenses. Harsh drug penalties like these are a contributing factor to the exceptionally high rates of incarceration and overcrowding in state prison facilities. During the 1980s, policy responses to drug abuse deprioritized treatment in favor of enforcement and sentencing enhancements. A quadrupling of investments in drug enforcement ramped up drug arrests.1 Moreover, since the early days of the war on drugs, the number of Americans incarcerated for drug offenses in state prisons has increased from 19,000 in 1980 to 265,000 by 2008. Fiscal pressure to tighten state corrections budgets, along with mounting evidence documenting the unfair and unwarranted structure of these sentencing laws, suggests that lawmakers should reexamine the sentencing differential between crack and powder cocaine. According to the National Governors Association, 46 states expect budget deficits this year. High rates of incarceration are expensive to maintain and sentencing changes that limit terms for low-level drug offenses, including crack cocaine, can effectively conserve resources without adverse effects on public safety. States like Kansas, Michigan, New York, and New Jersey have enacted policy changes in recent years that significantly reduced prison populations, while maintaining public safety and curbing the cost of incarceration. Details: Washington, DC: The Sentencing Project, 2011. 18p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 30, 2012 at: http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/dp_Cracked%20Justice.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/dp_Cracked%20Justice.pdf Shelf Number: 125099 Keywords: Disparities in SentencingDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersDrug Offenses (U.S.) |
Author: Murray, Chad Title: Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations and Marijuana: The Potential Effects of U.S. Legalization Summary: Mexico's drug war has claimed more than 30,000 lives since 2006. The intensity and duration of this violence has produced an environment in which “few Mexican citizens feel safer today than they did ten years ago, and most believe that their government is losing the fight.” However, the problem of drug violence in Mexico is not domestic, but transnational in nature. President Barack Obama recently noted that “we are very mindful that the battle President Calderón is fighting inside of Mexico is not just his battle; it's also ours. We have to take responsibility just as he is taking responsibility.” It is U.S. demand for illicit drugs that provides the primary incentive for Mexican narcotics trafficking. Therefore, there is a possibility that a change in U.S. drug policy could negatively affect the revenues of Mexican DTOs, and even their ability to wage violence. This paper will examine the validity of that argument, as well as several of the issues that would accompany such a fundamental policy shift. The purpose of this report is to evaluate current U.S. policy on marijuana, extract lessons learned from policy changes in other countries, analyze the effects that legalization of marijuana in the United States might have on Mexican DTOs, and provide recommendations for future U.S. policies. Current U.S. laws will serve as a starting point to determine if existing decriminalization or medicinal marijuana reforms have had any impact on Mexican DTOs. After examining what effects, if any, these policies have had, reforms in other countries will be examined. From the case studies of Portugal, the Netherlands, and Mexico, lessons will be drawn to give context to any possible ramifications or benefits of U.S. marijuana legalization. Finally, concrete recommendations will be made on whether recent marijuana policy reforms should be maintained, improved, or repealed. Details: Washington, DC: George Washington University, The Elliott School of International Affairs, 2011. 43p. Source: Internet Resource: Elliott School of International Affairs/Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission: Capstone Report: Accessed April 30, 2012 at: http://elliott.gwu.edu/assets/docs/acad/lahs/mexico-marijuana-071111.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico URL: http://elliott.gwu.edu/assets/docs/acad/lahs/mexico-marijuana-071111.pdf Shelf Number: 125103 Keywords: DecriminalizationDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug PolicyDrug Trafficking (Mexico)Drug Violence |
Author: Jiggens, John Lawrence Title: Marijuana Australiana : Cannabis Use, Popular Culture and the Americanisation of Drugs Policy in Australia, 1938-1988 Summary: The word 'marijuana' was introduced to Australia by the US Bureau of Narcotics via the Diggers newspaper, Smith's Weekly, in 1938. Marijuana was said to be 'a new drug that maddens victims' and it was sensationally described as an 'evil sex drug'. The resulting tabloid furore saw the plant cannabis sativa banned in Australia, even though cannabis had been a well-known and widely used drug in Australia for many decades. In 1964, a massive infestation of wild cannabis was found growing along a stretch of the Hunter River between Singleton and Maitland in New South Wales. The explosion in Australian marijuana use began there. It was fuelled after 1967 by US soldiers on rest and recreation leave from Vietnam. It was the Baby-Boomer young who were turning on. Pot smoking was overwhelmingly associated with the generation born in the decade after the Second World War. As the conflict over the Vietnam War raged in Australia, it provoked intense generational conflict between the Baby-Boomers and older generations. Just as in the US, pot was adopted by Australian Baby-Boomers as their symbol; and, as in the US, the attack on pot users served as code for an attack on the young, the Left, and the alternative. In 1976, the 'War on Drugs' began in earnest in Australia with paramilitary attacks on the hippie colonies at Cedar Bay in Queensland and Tuntable Falls in New South Wales. It was a time of increasing US style prohibition characterised by 'tough-on-drugs' right-wing rhetoric, police crackdowns, numerous murders, and a marijuana drought followed quickly by a heroin plague; in short by a massive worsening of 'the drug problem'. During this decade, organised crime moved into the pot scene and the price of pot skyrocketed, reaching $450 an ounce in 1988. Thanks to the Americanisation of drugs policy, the black market made 'a killing'. In Marijuana Australiana I argue that the 'War on Drugs' developed -- not for health reasons -- but for reasons of social control; as a domestic counter-revolution against the Whitlamite, Baby-Boomer generation by older Nixonite Drug War warriors like Queensland Premier, Bjelke-Petersen. It was a misuse of drugs policy which greatly worsened drug problems, bringing with it American-style organised crime. As the subtitle suggests, Marijuana Australiana relies significantly on 'alternative' sources, and I trawl the waters of popular culture, looking for songs, posters, comics and underground magazines to produce an 'underground' history of cannabis in Australia. This 'pop' approach is balanced with a hard-edged, quantitative analysis of the size of the marijuana market, the movement of price, and the seizure figures in the section called 'History By Numbers'. As Alfred McCoy notes, we need to understand drugs as commodities. It is only through a detailed understanding of the drug trade that the deeper secrets of this underground world can be revealed. In this section, I present an economic history of the cannabis market and formulate three laws of the market. Details: Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology, Centre for Social Change Research, 2004. 294p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed April 30, 2012 at: http://eprints.qut.edu.au/15949/ Year: 2004 Country: Australia URL: http://eprints.qut.edu.au/15949/ Shelf Number: 125108 Keywords: CannabisDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug ControlDrug PolicyDrug ProhibitionMarijuana (Australia)Organized Crime |
Author: Larkin, Jim R. Title: An Empirical Analysis of Alcohol Use, Drug Prohibition Enforcement and Major Crime in the USA Using State Level Aata for the 1990s Summary: This study assesses the aggregate association in the USA (1988-2005) between alcohol and other drug consumption, drug prohibition enforcement and crimes against persons and property while controlling for potential confounders. Its main aim is to contribute to existing econometric evidence about the effectiveness of drug law enforcement as a tool for reducing other types of crime. A secondary aim is to address the question of whether increases in cannabinoid use and decreases in alcohol contributed to the enigmatic 1990s US nationwide crime decline. Details: Adelaide: University of Adelaide, School of Economics, 2008. 73p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 8, 2012 at: http://economics.adelaide.edu.au/events/archive/2008/An-Empirical-Analysis-of-Alcohol-Use-Drug-Prohibition-Enforcement-and-Major-Crime-in-the-USA-using-state-level-data-for-the-1990s.pdf Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: http://economics.adelaide.edu.au/events/archive/2008/An-Empirical-Analysis-of-Alcohol-Use-Drug-Prohibition-Enforcement-and-Major-Crime-in-the-USA-using-state-level-data-for-the-1990s.pdf Shelf Number: 125175 Keywords: Albohol Abuse ( U.S.)Alcohol ProhibitionAlcohol Related Crime, DisorderDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Prohibition |
Author: Kevin, Maria Title: Corrections Treatment Outcome Study (CTOS) on Offenders in Drug Treatment: Results from the Drug Summit Demand Reduction Residential Programs Summary: This report documents program activity and outcomes of offenders who participated in the suite of Drug Summit-funded treatment programs in NSW correctional centres over a three and a half year period to December 2010. This evaluation forms part of a broader initiative, the Corrections Treatment Outcome Study (CTOS), within Corrective Services NSW. The CTOS methodology sought to examine the short and medium term cognitive and behavioural outcomes of program participants, identify factors affecting program success and explore the view of staff and participants involved. In addition to program entry and exit assessments, objective measures were derived from official records on offences in custody, detected drug use in custody and recidivism post-release. Details: Sydney: Corrective Services, NSW, 2011. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Bulletin 31: Accessed May 8, 2012 at: http://www.correctiveservices.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/366484/corrections-treatment-outcome-study.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Australia URL: http://www.correctiveservices.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/366484/corrections-treatment-outcome-study.pdf Shelf Number: 125176 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse Treatment ProgramsDrug Offenders (Australia)Recidivism |
Author: Adams, Sharyn Title: Collaborating to Fight Drug Crime: Profile of the DuPage County Metropolitan Enforcement Group Summary: Drug task forces were developed to more efficiently and effectively fight proliferation of illicit drugs. Local police have jurisdictional restraints making it difficult to combat drug markets extending through multiple cities, and counties (Smith, Novak, Frank, & Travis, 2000). Drug task forces work across jurisdictions and pool resources, knowledge, and personnel. MEGs and task forces are staffed by officers representing federal, state, county, and local police agencies. Drug task force officers work undercover, using confidential sources, to purchase drugs in order to gather the intelligence to make arrests (Reichert, 2012). There are two kinds of drug task forces that operate in Illinois—metropolitan enforcement groups (MEG) and multi-jurisdictional drug task forces. MEGs have been in existence in Illinois since the 1970’s through the Intergovernmental Drug Enforcement Act [30 ILCS 715/1]. MEG policy boards engage in an active, formal role in the management of operations. MEG policy boards are required to include an elected official and the chief law enforcement officer, or their designees, from each participating unit of government. An elected official from one of the participating agencies must be designated to act as financial officer of the MEG to receive operational funds. MEG operations are limited to the enforcement of drug laws and delineated weapons offenses and the investigation of street gang-related crimes. Multi-jurisdictional drug task forces began in the 1980’s using the organizational authority from the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act [5 ILCS 220/1]. Task force policy boards are not governed by legislated structure or composition requirements or restricted by statute in their scope of operations. Periodically, the ICJIA profiles Illinois MEGs and task forces to provide a general overview of the drug crime problems in the various jurisdictions and share responses to these problems. These profiles can provide information to MEG and task force directors and policy board members to guide decision-making and the allocation of resources. All current and previous profiles can be accessed on the ICJIA’s website: http://www.icjia.state.il.us. This profile focuses on the DuPage County Metropolitan Enforcement Group (DUMEG), which covers DuPage County with an estimated total population of 932,541 in 2010. In 2011, 23 local police agencies participated in DUMEG. These agencies served more than two-thirds, or 69 percent, of the population in DuPage County. A participating agency is defined as one that contributes either personnel or financial resources to the task force. Twelve officers and one State’s Attorney Inspector were assigned to DUMEG in 2011, nine of the officers were assigned by participating agencies and three from the Illinois State Police (ISP).These officers are dedicated full-time to the task force and work out of a central task force office. Details: Chicago: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, 2012. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 9, 2012 at: http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/megprofiles/DuPage_MEG_Profile_042012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/megprofiles/DuPage_MEG_Profile_042012.pdf Shelf Number: 125230 Keywords: CollaborationDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Enforcement (Illinois)Partnerships |
Author: Great Britain. National Health Service. National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse Title: Estimating the Crime Reduction Benefits of Drug Treatment and Recovery Summary: The Home Office estimates that drug related crime costs £13.9bn per year and that offenders who use heroin, cocaine or crack cocaine commit between a third and a half of all acquisitive crimes. As a result, reducing drug-related crime is one of the main objectives of the government’s drug strategy. This recognises that the provision of good quality drug treatment, combined with stable housing and employment, can be very effective in preventing high volume acquisitive offending. Drug addicted people often develop a tolerance through daily compulsive use, which can result in an expensive addiction. For instance, the estimated average value of drugs used in the four weeks prior to treatment among participants of the Drug Treatment Outcomes Research Study (DTORS) was £1,2964. With little income they may resort to crime to pay for their drug use. This might include acquisitive crimes such as shoplifting, burglary or robbery, or other financially motivated crimes such as soliciting and begging. Drug treatment is designed to reduce people’s need for drugs, which in turn reduces the driving force behind their drug-related offending. The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) has worked closely with economists in the Home Office (HO) and the Department of Health (DH) to build a Value for Money (VFM) model in response to the National Audit Office recommendation to develop a framework for evaluating value for money in relation to the previous drug strategy. The VFM model estimates the crime prevention and health improvement benefits of treatment and recovery. This is the first time such estimates have been made at a national level. This report sets out a detailed explanation of how the estimates were calculated for the crime component of the VFM model and has been endorsed by HO. It will be followed by a publication later this year on the health improvement benefits of drug treatment, presenting our work with DH on the potential improvements to Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) from drug treatment and recovery. Crime prevention and health improvement are not the only potential benefits of drug treatment. There are a variety of different harms associated with drug use and we hope to look at other potential benefits of treatment and recovery in relation to these in the future. We estimate that drug treatment and recovery systems in England may have prevented approximately 4.9m crimes in 2010-11, with an estimated saving to society of £960m in costs to the public, businesses, the criminal justice system and National Health Service (NHS). We also estimate that approximately 19.6m crimes may be prevented over the course of the Spending Review 2010 period (SR10) (2011-12 to 2014-15), with an estimated saving to society of £3.6bn. In addition we estimate that up to a further 4.1m offences may be prevented over a nine year period (from 2011-12 to 2019-2020), because we estimate that 13,702 people who left treatment in 2010-11 will go on to sustain long term recovery, with an estimated value of £700m. We also estimate that continued investment in drug treatment over the SR10 period could lead to up to an estimated 54,000 former clients sustaining long term recovery which may prevent up to 16.6m more offences with an estimated value of up to £2.6bn by 2023-24. The model also helps us to estimate the potential impact of disinvestment in adult drug treatment. We estimate that, all else being equal, for every £1m taken out of the system there could be an increase of approximately 9,860 drug-related crimes per year at an estimated cost to society of over £1.8m. These findings are based on an empirical analysis of data from the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) linked to conviction records from the Police National Computer (PNC) and on self reported offences data from DTORS. Details: London: National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, 2012. 29p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 14, 2012 at: http://www.nta.nhs.uk/uploads/vfm2012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.nta.nhs.uk/uploads/vfm2012.pdf Shelf Number: 125256 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse Treatment (U.K.)Drug Offenders |
Author: Virginia. Secretary of Public Safety Title: Report on the Status and Effectiveness of Offender Drug Screening, Assessment and Treatment - 2011 Summary: In 1998, Virginia’s General Assembly passed House Bill 664 and Senate Bill 317 (HB664/SB317) enacting the Drug Offender Screening, Assessment, and Treatment (DSAT) Initiative. The DSAT legislation, subsequently amended in 1999, outlined specific substance abuse screening and assessment provisions that became effective for offenses committed on or after January 1, 2000. These provisions, contained in §§ 16.1-273, 18.2-251.01, 19.2-299, 19.2-299.2 and 19.2-123(B), of the Code of Virginia, target three offender groups: juveniles, adult felons, and adult misdemeanants. Because several different types of offenders are subject to the Code mandates, the Initiative affects staff and clients of numerous agencies, including the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), the Department of Corrections (DOC), local community-based probation and pretrial services agencies administered by the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), the Commission on Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program (VASAP), and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS). The Interagency Drug Offender Screening and Assessment Committee (the Committee) was created by § 2.2-223 (formerly § 2.1-51.18:3) to oversee the screening and assessment provisions contained in the Code of Virginia. The Committee, with representation from all affected agencies and the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission, is charged with ensuring the quality and consistency of the screening and assessment process across the Commonwealth. Significant budget and staff reductions have affected each of the principal agencies. In response to cuts in funding since 2001, particularly the elimination of Substance Abuse Reduction Effort (SABRE) funds, agencies involved in screening and assessment activities have re-examined protocols and developed alternative strategies to maximize the use of remaining resources. Despite the elimination of a substantial number of staff positions formerly devoted to this task, agencies have continued their efforts to address offenders’ substance abuse needs by streamlining the process utilizing other screening instruments and otherwise attempting to make this task manageable for the fewer number of staff involved. The number and type of services available have decreased significantly. The lack of resources has also greatly limited the ability to coordinate services across agencies. Thus, the Committee, or workgroup have evaluated the effectiveness of offender screening, assessment, and treatment independently and within in their own agency. It is recommended that due to budget cuts, legislation surrounding the DSAT Initiative (§§ 16.1-273, 18.2-251.01, 19.2-123(B), 19.2-299, and 19.2-299.2 of the Code of Virginia) should be eliminated from the Code of Virginia. Details: Richmond, VA: Virginia Office of the Secretary of Public Safety, 2012. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 16, 2012 at: http://leg2.state.va.us/dls/h&sdocs.nsf/4d54200d7e28716385256ec1004f3130/e2da8bbfc675ce80852577ee0066fc2e?OpenDocument Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://leg2.state.va.us/dls/h&sdocs.nsf/4d54200d7e28716385256ec1004f3130/e2da8bbfc675ce80852577ee0066fc2e?OpenDocument Shelf Number: 125316 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Addiction and AbuseDrug Offenders (Virginia)Drug Treatment |
Author: Wish, Eric D. Title: The Maryland Adult Offender Population Urine Screening (OPUS) Program: Final Report Summary: In 2005, CESAR piloted an innovative cost-effective method to measure drug use trends in offenders in Maryland, using urine specimens already collected and tested for a small panel of drugs by the Division of Parole and Probation (DPP). The 2005 OPUS study sampled 299 specimens obtained from adult parolees and probationers in six counties in Maryland (Baltimore City, Baltimore, Howard, Prince George’s, Charles and Washington counties) and retested the specimens for an expanded panel of 30 drugs. The findings indicated considerable promise of the OPUS methodology for providing the state with information regarding the availability and use of drugs by offenders. The current study used the OPUS methodology to obtain 1,061 specimens from the three Maryland DPP labs that process urine specimens submitted from 55 DPP collection sites. These specimens were sent to a laboratory for testing of an extended panel of 31 drugs. As we found in the prior pilot study, the most common drugs detected were marijuana, cocaine, benzodiazepines, and morphine. Again, we found almost no evidence of methamphetamine use and that most PCP positives came from offenders in Prince George’s County. On the other hand, a larger percentage of buprenorphine positives were detected (5% vs. 13%, p<.001) than we found in 2005, suggesting greater use of this relatively newly prescribed drug in Maryland. Considerable geographic differences were found in the patterns of drugs detected across Maryland. Only 4% of the tested specimens were found to test positive solely for a drug in the expanded screen. It therefore appears that the current five drug DPP screen identifies 96% of all recent drug users. The OPUS methodology may provide states with a relatively quick and low cost method for monitoring drug trends in offenders. Details: College Park, MD: Center for Substance Abuse Research (CESAR), University of Maryland, College Park, 2009. 70p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 2, 2012 at: http://www.goccp.maryland.gov/msac/documents/bjag-2005-1080.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.goccp.maryland.gov/msac/documents/bjag-2005-1080.pdf Shelf Number: 125441 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersUrine Testing |
Author: McCarty, Maggie Title: Drug Testing and Crime-Related Restrictions in TANF, SNAP, and Housing Assistance Summary: Throughout the history of social assistance programs, administrators have attempted to limit access only to those families considered “worthy” of assistance. Policies about worthiness have included both judgments about need—generally tied to income, demographic characteristics, or family circumstances—and judgments about moral character, often as evidenced by behavior. Past policies evaluating moral character based on family structure have been replaced by today’s policies, which focus on criminal activity, particularly drug-related criminal activity. The existing crime and drug-related restrictions were established in the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, when crime rates, especially drug-related violent crime rates, were at peak levels. While crime rates have since declined, interest in expanding these policies has continued. The three programs examined in this report—the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps), and federal housing assistance programs (public housing and Section 8 tenant and project-based assistance)—are similar, in that they are administered at the state or local level. They are different in the forms of assistance they provide. TANF provides cash assistance and other supports to low-income parents and their children, with a specific focus on promoting work. SNAP provides food assistance to a broader set of poor households including families with children, elderly households, and persons with disabilities. The housing assistance programs offer subsidized rental housing to all types of poor families, like SNAP. All three programs feature some form of drug- and other crime-related restrictions and all three leave discretion in applying those restrictions to state and local administrators. Both TANF and SNAP are subject to the statutory “drug felon ban,” which bars states from providing assistance to persons convicted of a drug-related felony, but also gives states the ability to opt-out of or modify the ban, which most states have done. Housing assistance programs are not subject to the drug felon ban, but they are subject to a set of policies that allow local program administrators to deny or terminate assistance to persons involved in drug-related or other criminal activity. Housing law also includes mandatory restrictions related to specific crimes, including sex offenses and methamphetamine production. All three programs also have specific restrictions related to fugitive felons. Recently, the issue of drug testing in federal assistance programs has risen in prominence. In the case of TANF, states are permitted to drug-test recipients; however, state policies involving suspicionless drug testing of TANF applicants and recipients are currently being challenged in courts. SNAP law does not explicitly address drug testing, but given the way that SNAP and TANF law interact, state TANF drug testing policies may affect SNAP participants. The laws governing housing assistance programs are silent on the topic of drug testing. The current set of crime- and drug-related restrictions in federal assistance programs are not consistent across programs, meaning that similarly situated persons may have different experiences based on where they live and what assistance they are seeking. This variation may be considered important, in that it reflects a stated policy goal of local discretion. However, the variation may also be considered problematic if it leads to confusion among eligible recipients as to what assistance they are eligible for or if the variation is seen as inequitable. Proposals to modify these policies also highlight a tension that exists between the desire to use these policies as a deterrent or punishment and the desire to support the neediest families, including those that have ex-offenders in the household. Details: Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2012. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: CRS Report R42394: Accessed July 2, 2012 at: http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/R42394_20120307.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/R42394_20120307.pdf Shelf Number: 125450 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersDrug Testing (U.S.)Housing Assistance |
Author: Zedillo, Ernesto Title: Rethinking the “War on Drugs” Through the US-Mexico Prism Summary: The papers contained in this book are based on presentations from the conference Rethinking the “War on Drugs” Through the US-Mexico Prism, organized by the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut on May 12 and 13, 2011. The motivation for the conference reflected in this volume stems from our belief that the existing framework for dealing with drug policies does not work. As part of our ongoing effort to support the creation and dissemination of ideas toward preserving international peace and security, we organized a forum at the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization in which we could take stock and distill the relevant research and empirical evidence generated over the years with regard to the present drug policies and make an effort to determine whether there is some potential for alternative policies. We elected to confront the research and existing policies with the state of affairs on this issue as seen through the prism of Mexico and the US. Details: New Haven, CT: Yale Center for the Study of Globalization at Yale University, 2012. 175p. Source: Internet Resource: A Yale Center for the Study of Globalization eBook: Accessed July 20, 2012 at: http://www.ycsg.yale.edu/center/forms/rethinking-war-on-drugs.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico URL: http://www.ycsg.yale.edu/center/forms/rethinking-war-on-drugs.pdf Shelf Number: 125710 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug EnforcementDrug PolicyDrug TraffickingDrug ViolenceWar on Drugs (Mexico and U.S.) |
Author: Ricklund, Peter Title: Rapid Referral Program: Spectrum Youth & Family Services: Outcome Evaluation Summary: The Rapid Referral Program is a partnership between Spectrum Youth & Family Services of Burlington, Vermont and the Chittenden County District Court. The purpose of this partnership is to increase access to mental health and substance abuse assessment services for individuals involved in the criminal justice system whose charge(s) are related to substance use. The main objective of the Program is to provide judges with a mechanism at arraignment to rapidly refer defendants to Spectrum Youth Services for substance abuse screening and treatment rather than delaying services until the case is disposed by the court. An outcome evaluation attempts to determine the effects that a program has on its participants. In the case of the Rapid Referral Program (hereafter “the Program”), the objective of this outcome evaluation was to determine the extent to which the Program impacts recidivism among Program participants. An indicator of post-Program criminal behavior that is commonly used in outcome evaluations of criminal justice programs is the number of participants who recidivate -- that is, are convicted of a crime after they complete the Program. For this study an analysis of the criminal history records of the 171 subjects who were referred and accepted into the Program from November, 2008 to September, 2011 was conducted using the Vermont criminal history record of participants as provided by the Vermont Criminal Information Center at the Department of Public Safety. The Vermont criminal history record on which the recidivism analysis was based included all charges and convictions prosecuted in a Vermont District Court that were available as of December 5, 2011. The criminal records on which the study was based do not contain Federal prosecutions, out-of-state prosecutions, or traffic tickets. MAJOR CONCLUSIONS 1. The Rapid Referral Program serves its designated target population. 2. The Rapid Referral Program serves defendants who possess a variety of risk factors generally considered to be related to recidivism. 3. The Rapid Referral Program appears to be a promising approach for positively impacting recidivism among Program participants. 4. The vast majority of Rapid Referral Program participants that recidivate are convicted of new crimes within one year of Program completion. Estimates suggest that the percentage of participants who recidivate is not likely to increase as post-Program elapsed time continues to increase for participants. 5. Generally, post-Program reconvictions for Rapid Referral Program participants involved minor types of crime. 6. The Rapid Referral Program seems to be relatively successful in reducing the number of reconvictions for alcohol and drug crimes among participants after Program completion. 7. The Rapid Referral Program recidivists tended to commit post-Program crime in Chittenden County. Details: Northfield Falls, VT: Vermont Center for Justice Research, 2012. 29p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 19, 2012 at: http://www.vcjr.org/reports/reportscrimjust/downloads-2/files/Spectrum%20Report.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.vcjr.org/reports/reportscrimjust/downloads-2/files/Spectrum%20Report.pdf Shelf Number: 126747 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentMental Health ServicesRecidivismSubstance Abuse (Vermont) |
Author: Wicklund, Peter Title: Windsor County Sparrow Project: Outcome Evaluation Summary: The Sparrow Project was initiated in the spring of 2009 when it was awarded an H.859 Justice Reinvestment Pilot Project grant from the Vermont Court Administrator’s office (CAO). The grant application was submitted by Health Care and Rehabilitation Services of Southeastern Vermont (HCRS) in collaboration with the Windsor District Court, the Windsor County State’s Attorneys Office, a group of Windsor County public defenders, Probation & Parole for the Springfield and Hartford Districts, and the Field Service Division of the Agency of Human Services for the Springfield and Hartford districts. Bill H.859 was passed during the 2007/2008 Legislative session. The Sparrow Project was designed to address a critical need in the community to meet the challenges facing defendants with substance abuse and/or mental health issues. The Sparrow Project offers effective alternatives to incarceration through a viable community-based treatment plan. Through clinical case management services, the Sparrow Project is focused on increasing the availability of therapeutic services to defendants and veterans in Windsor County charged with non-violent property felonies, drug felonies, and other charges. The Sparrow Project is designed to help improve the quality of life for these individuals by decreasing recidivism, helping them develop the skills they need to make healthy decisions, and moving them towards recovery, in order to become successful participants in our community. During the study period 58% of Sparrow Project participants (56 of 97) completed the Project. An outcome evaluation attempts to determine the effects that a program has on participants. In the case of the Sparrow Project the objective of this outcome evaluation was to determine the extent to which participation in the Sparrow Project reduced recidivism among program participants. An indicator of post-program criminal behavior that is commonly used in outcome evaluations of criminal justice programs is the number of participants who recidivate -- that is, are convicted of a crime after they complete the program or, in the case of this study, while they are in the program or after they are dis-enrolled from the program. An analysis of the criminal history records of the 103 subjects who were referred to and accepted into the Sparrow Project from March 30, 2009 to October 28, 2011 was conducted using the Vermont criminal history record of participants as provided by the Vermont Criminal Information Center at the Department of Public Safety. The Vermont criminal history record on which the recidivism analysis was based included all charges and convictions prosecuted in a Vermont District Court that were available as of January 23, 2012. The criminal records on which the study was based do not contain Federal prosecutions, out-of-state prosecutions, or traffic tickets. MAJOR CONCLUSIONS 1. The Sparrow Project appears to be a promising approach for reducing recidivism among Project participants who completed the Project. Participants who successfully completed the Project had a reconviction rate of 17.9% which is substantially less than the 29.3% recidivism rate for those participants who were dis-enrolled from the Project. 2. Participants who successfully completed the Sparrow Project recidivated at the same pace as did participants who were dis-enrolled from the Project. For the recidivists who successfully completed the Sparrow Project, 100% of those reconvictions for any new crime occurred in less than one year. For the recidivists who were unsuccessful in completing the Project, 91.7% (11 of 12) of reconvictions for any new crime occurred in less than one year, and only one occurred during the first year after being dis-enrolled from the Project. Further analysis indicated that though the vast majority of recidivism occurs within the first year, it is unlikely that recidivism will increase substantially as post-Project elapsed time continues to increase for participants. 3. The Sparrow Project appears to be a promising approach for reducing the number of post-Project reconvictions for participants who completed the Project. The reconviction rate for those participants who completed the Project was 39 reconvictions per 100 participants versus 66 reconvictions per 100 participants for the dis-enrolled group. There were no felony reconvictions for participants who successfully completed the Project, whereas there were four felony reconvictions for the dis-enrolled group. For both groups approximately 85% of their reconvictions involved (listed in order of frequency) motor vehicle charges violations of conditions of release, drug crimes, theft, false information to a law enforcement officer, and violation of probation. There was only one reconviction for a violent crime (Domestic Assault); it involved a participant from the “successful completion” group. Details: Northfield Falls, VT: Vermont Center for Justice Research, 2012. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 19, 2012 at: http://www.vcjr.org/reports/reportscrimjust/reports/sparrowreport_files/SparrowRpt_6-20-12.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.vcjr.org/reports/reportscrimjust/reports/sparrowreport_files/SparrowRpt_6-20-12.pdf Shelf Number: 126748 Keywords: Alternatives to IncarcerationDrug Abuse and Addiction (Vermont)Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersDrug TreatmentMental Health ServicesRecidivism |
Author: Adams, Sharyn Title: Collaborating to Fight Drug Crime: Profile of the Quad Cities County Metropolitan Enforcement Group Summary: Drug task forces were developed to more efficiently and effectively fight proliferation of illicit drugs. Local police have jurisdictional restraints making it difficult to combat drug markets extending through multiple cities, and counties (Smith, Novak, Frank, & Travis, 2000). Drug task forces work across jurisdictions and pool resources, knowledge, and personnel. MEGs and task forces are staffed by officers representing federal, state, county, and local police agencies. Drug task force officers work undercover, using confidential sources, to purchase drugs in order to gather the intelligence to make arrests (Reichert, 2012). There are two kinds of drug task forces that operate in Illinois—metropolitan enforcement groups (MEG) and multi-jurisdictional drug task forces. MEGs have been in existence in Illinois since the 1970’s through the Intergovernmental Drug Enforcement Act [30 ILCS 715/1]. MEG policy boards engage in an active, formal role in the management of operations. MEG policy boards are required to include an elected official and the chief law enforcement officer, or their designees, from each participating unit of government. An elected official from one of the participating agencies must be designated to act as financial officer of the MEG to receive operational funds. MEG operations are limited to the enforcement of drug laws and delineated weapons offenses and the investigation of street gang-related crimes. Multi-jurisdictional drug task forces began in the 1980’s using the organizational authority from the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act [5 ILCS 220/1]. Task force policy boards are not governed by legislated structure or composition requirements or restricted by statute in their scope of operations. Periodically, the ICJIA profiles Illinois MEGs and task forces to provide a general overview of the drug crime problems in the various jurisdictions and share responses to these problems. These profiles can provide information to MEG and task force directors and policy board members to guide decision-making and the allocation of resources. All current and previous profiles can be accessed on the ICJIA’s website: http://www.icjia.state.il.us. This profile focuses on the Quad Cities Metropolitan Enforcement Group (QCMEG), which covers Rock Island County with an estimated total population of 147,546 in 2010. In 2010, 5 local Illinois police agencies and 5 agencies from Iowa participated in the QCMEG. A participating agency is defined as one that contributes either personnel or financial resources to the task force. Twelve officers and one office manager and one criminal analyst were assigned to the QCMEG in 2010, seven of the officers were assigned by participating agencies from Illinois and five from Iowa. These officers are dedicated full-time to the task force and work out of a central task force office. Details: Chicago, IL: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, 2012. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 22, 2012 at http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/megprofiles/QCMEG_092012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/megprofiles/QCMEG_092012.pdf Shelf Number: 126769 Keywords: CollaborationDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Enforcement (Illinois)Partnerships |
Author: Adams, Sharyn Title: Collaborating to Fight Drug Crime: Multi-jurisdictional Task Forces: A Profile of the Blackhawk Area Task Force Summary: Drug task forces were developed to more efficiently and effectively fight proliferation of illicit drugs. Local police have jurisdictional restraints making it difficult to combat drug markets extending through multiple cities, and counties (Smith, Novak, Frank, & Travis, 2000). Drug task forces work across jurisdictions and pool resources, knowledge, and personnel. MEGs and task forces are staffed by officers representing federal, state, county, and local police agencies. Drug task force officers work undercover, using confidential sources, to purchase drugs in order to gather the intelligence to make arrests (Reichert, 2012). There are two kinds of drug task forces that operate in Illinois—metropolitan enforcement groups (MEG) and multi-jurisdictional drug task forces. MEGs have been in existence in Illinois since the 1970’s through the Intergovernmental Drug Enforcement Act [30 ILCS 715/1]. MEG policy boards engage in an active, formal role in the management of operations. MEG policy boards are required to include an elected official and the chief law enforcement officer, or their designees, from each participating unit of government. An elected official from one of the participating agencies must be designated to act as financial officer of the MEG to receive operational funds. MEG operations are limited to the enforcement of drug laws and delineated weapons offenses and the investigation of street gang-related crimes. Multi-jurisdictional drug task forces began in the 1980’s using the organizational authority from the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act [5 ILCS 220/1]. Task force policy boards are not governed by legislated structure or composition requirements or restricted by statute in their scope of operations. Periodically, the ICJIA profiles Illinois MEGs and task forces to provide a general overview of the drug crime problems in the various jurisdictions and share responses to these problems. These profiles can provide information to MEG and task force directors and policy board members to guide decision-making and the allocation of resources. All current and previous profiles can be accessed on the ICJIA’s website: http://www.icjia.state.il.us. This profile focuses on the Blackhawk Area Task Force (BATF), which covers Carroll, Henry, Ogle, and Whiteside Counties with an estimated total population of 177,868 in 2010. In 2010, five local police agencies participated in BATF. A participating agency is defined as one that contributes either personnel or financial resources to the task force. Nine officers were assigned to BATF in 2010, six of the officers were assigned by participating agencies and three from the Illinois State Police (ISP).These officers are dedicated full-time to the task force and work out of a central task force office. Details: Chicago, IL: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, 2012. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 22, 2012 at http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/megprofiles/BATF_Profile_082012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/megprofiles/BATF_Profile_082012.pdf Shelf Number: 126770 Keywords: CollaborationDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Enforcement (Illinois)Partnerships |
Author: Adams, Sharyn Title: Collaborating to Fight Drug Crime: Multi-jurisdictional Task Forces: A Profile of the State Line Area Narcotics Team Summary: Drug task forces were developed to more efficiently and effectively fight proliferation of illicit drugs. Local police have jurisdictional restraints making it difficult to combat drug markets extending through multiple cities, and counties (Smith, Novak, Frank, & Travis, 2000). Drug task forces work across jurisdictions and pool resources, knowledge, and personnel. MEGs and task forces are staffed by officers representing federal, state, county, and local police agencies. Drug task force officers work undercover, using confidential sources, to purchase drugs in order to gather the intelligence to make arrests (Reichert, 2012). There are two kinds of drug task forces that operate in Illinois—metropolitan enforcement groups (MEG) and multi-jurisdictional drug task forces. MEGs have been in existence in Illinois since the 1970’s through the Intergovernmental Drug Enforcement Act [30 ILCS 715/1]. MEG policy boards engage in an active, formal role in the management of operations. MEG policy boards are required to include an elected official and the chief law enforcement officer, or their designees, from each participating unit of government. An elected official from one of the participating agencies must be designated to act as financial officer of the MEG to receive operational funds. MEG operations are limited to the enforcement of drug laws and delineated weapons offenses and the investigation of street gang-related crimes. Multi-jurisdictional drug task forces began in the 1980’s using the organizational authority from the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act [5 ILCS 220/1]. Task force policy boards are not governed by legislated structure or composition requirements or restricted by statute in their scope of operations. Periodically, the ICJIA profiles Illinois MEGs and task forces to provide a general overview of the drug crime problems in the various jurisdictions and share responses to these problems. These profiles can provide information to MEG and task force directors and policy board members to guide decision-making and the allocation of resources. All current and previous profiles can be accessed on the ICJIA’s website: http://www.icjia.state.il.us. This profile focuses on the State Line Area Narcotics Team (SLANT), which covers two Illinois counties (Stephenson and Winnebago), as well as one Wisconsin county (Green) with an estimated total population of 342,975 in Illinois and 36,842 in Wisconsin in 2010. In 2010, 6 local police agencies participated in SLANT. A participating agency is defined as one that contributes either personnel or financial resources to the task force. Eleven officers were assigned to SLANT in 2010, seven of the officers were assigned by participating agencies and four from the Illinois State Police (ISP). These officers are dedicated full-time to the task force and work out of a central task force office. Details: Chicago, IL: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, 2012. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 22, 2012 at http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/megprofiles/SLANT_Profile_082012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/megprofiles/SLANT_Profile_082012.pdf Shelf Number: 126771 Keywords: CollaborationDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Enforcement (Illinois)Partnerships |
Author: Adams, Sharyn Title: Collaborating to Fight Drug Crime: Multi-jurisdictional Task Forces: A Profile Task Force 6 Summary: Drug task forces were developed to more efficiently and effectively fight proliferation of illicit drugs. Local police have jurisdictional restraints making it difficult to combat drug markets extending through multiple cities, and counties (Smith, Novak, Frank, & Travis, 2000). Drug task forces work across jurisdictions and pool resources, knowledge, and personnel. MEGs and task forces are staffed by officers representing federal, state, county, and local police agencies. Drug task force officers work undercover, using confidential sources, to purchase drugs in order to gather the intelligence to make arrests (Reichert, 2012). There are two kinds of drug task forces that operate in Illinois—metropolitan enforcement groups (MEG) and multi-jurisdictional drug task forces. MEGs have been in existence in Illinois since the 1970’s through the Intergovernmental Drug Enforcement Act [30 ILCS 715/1]. MEG policy boards engage in an active, formal role in the management of operations. MEG policy boards are required to include an elected official and the chief law enforcement officer, or their designees, from each participating unit of government. An elected official from one of the participating agencies must be designated to act as financial officer of the MEG to receive operational funds. MEG operations are limited to the enforcement of drug laws and delineated weapons offenses and the investigation of street gang-related crimes. Multi-jurisdictional drug task forces began in the 1980’s using the organizational authority from the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act [5 ILCS 220/1]. Task force policy boards are not governed by legislated structure or composition requirements or restricted by statute in their scope of operations. Periodically, the ICJIA profiles Illinois MEGs and task forces to provide a general overview of the drug crime problems in the various jurisdictions and share responses to these problems. These profiles can provide information to MEG and task force directors and policy board members to guide decision-making and the allocation of resources. All current and previous profiles can be accessed on the ICJIA’s website: http://www.icjia.state.il.us. This profile focuses on the Task Force 6, which covers DeWitt, Livingston, and McLean counties with an estimated total population of 225,083 in 2010. In 2010, six local police agencies participated in Task Force 6. These agencies served more than two-thirds, or 69 percent, of the population in the region. A participating agency is defined as one that contributes either personnel or financial resources to the task force. Six officers were assigned to Task Force 6 in 2010, five of the officers were assigned by participating agencies and one from the Illinois State Police (ISP).These officers are dedicated full-time to the task force and work out of a central task force office. Details: Chicago, IL: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, 2012. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 22, 2012 at http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/megprofiles/TaskForce6_MEG_Aug2012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/megprofiles/TaskForce6_MEG_Aug2012.pdf Shelf Number: 126772 Keywords: CollaborationDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Enforcement (Illinois)Partnerships |
Author: Adams, Sharyn Title: Collaborating to Fight Drug Crime: Multi-jurisdictional Task Forces: A Profile of the Multi-County Narcotics Enforcement Group Summary: Drug task forces were developed to more efficiently and effectively fight proliferation of illicit drugs. Local police have jurisdictional restraints making it difficult to combat drug markets extending through multiple cities, and counties (Smith, Novak, Frank, & Travis, 2000). Drug task forces work across jurisdictions and pool resources, knowledge, and personnel. MEGs and task forces are staffed by officers representing federal, state, county, and local police agencies. Drug task force officers work undercover, using confidential sources, to purchase drugs in order to gather the intelligence to make arrests (Reichert, 2012). There are two kinds of drug task forces that operate in Illinois—metropolitan enforcement groups (MEG) and multi-jurisdictional drug task forces. MEGs have been in existence in Illinois since the 1970’s through the Intergovernmental Drug Enforcement Act [30 ILCS 715/1]. MEG policy boards engage in an active, formal role in the management of operations. MEG policy boards are required to include an elected official and the chief law enforcement officer, or their designees, from each participating unit of government. An elected official from one of the participating agencies must be designated to act as financial officer of the MEG to receive operational funds. MEG operations are limited to the enforcement of drug laws and delineated weapons offenses and the investigation of street gang-related crimes. Multi-jurisdictional drug task forces began in the 1980’s using the organizational authority from the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act [5 ILCS 220/1]. Task force policy boards are not governed by legislated structure or composition requirements or restricted by statute in their scope of operations. Periodically, the ICJIA profiles Illinois MEGs and task forces to provide a general overview of the drug crime problems in the various jurisdictions and share responses to these problems. These profiles can provide information to MEG and task force directors and policy board members to guide decision-making and the allocation of resources. All current and previous profiles can be accessed on the ICJIA’s website: http://www.icjia.state.il.us. This profile focuses on the Multi-County Narcotics Enforcement Group (MCNEG), which covers Knox, Marshall, Peoria, Stark, Tazewell, and Woodford counties with an estimated total population of 432,105 in 2010. In 2010, eight local police agencies participated in MCNEG. A participating agency is defined as one that contributes either personnel or financial resources to the task force. Ten officers were assigned to MCNEG in 2010, eight of the officers were assigned by participating agencies and two from the Illinois State Police (ISP).These officers are dedicated full-time to the task force and work out of a central task force office. Details: Chicago, IL: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, 2012. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 22, 2012 at http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/megprofiles/MCNEG_092012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/megprofiles/MCNEG_092012.pdf Shelf Number: 126773 Keywords: CollaborationDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Enforcement (Illinois)Partnerships |
Author: Adams, Sharyn Title: Collaborating to Fight Drug Crime: Multi-jurisdictional Task Forces: A Profile of the West Central Illinois Task Force Summary: Drug task forces were developed to more efficiently and effectively fight proliferation of illicit drugs. Local police have jurisdictional restraints making it difficult to combat drug markets extending through multiple cities, and counties (Smith, Novak, Frank, & Travis, 2000). Drug task forces work across jurisdictions and pool resources, knowledge, and personnel. MEGs and task forces are staffed by officers representing federal, state, county, and local police agencies. Drug task force officers work undercover, using confidential sources, to purchase drugs in order to gather the intelligence to make arrests (Reichert, 2012). There are two kinds of drug task forces that operate in Illinois—metropolitan enforcement groups (MEG) and multi-jurisdictional drug task forces. MEGs have been in existence in Illinois since the 1970’s through the Intergovernmental Drug Enforcement Act [30 ILCS 715/1]. MEG policy boards engage in an active, formal role in the management of operations. MEG policy boards are required to include an elected official and the chief law enforcement officer, or their designees, from each participating unit of government. An elected official from one of the participating agencies must be designated to act as financial officer of the MEG to receive operational funds. MEG operations are limited to the enforcement of drug laws and delineated weapons offenses and the investigation of street gang-related crimes. Multi-jurisdictional drug task forces began in the 1980’s using the organizational authority from the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act [5 ILCS 220/1]. Task force policy boards are not governed by legislated structure or composition requirements or restricted by statute in their scope of operations. Periodically, the ICJIA profiles Illinois MEGs and task forces to provide a general overview of the drug crime problems in the various jurisdictions and share responses to these problems. These profiles can provide information to MEG and task force directors and policy board members to guide decision-making and the allocation of resources. All current and previous profiles can be accessed on the ICJIA’s website: http://www.icjia.state.il.us. This profile focuses on the West Central Illinois Task Force (WCITF), which covers Adams, Brown, Fulton, Pike, Schuyler, and Warren Counties (WCITF counties) with an estimated total population of 152,790 in 2010. In 2010, six local police agencies participated in WCITF. A participating agency is defined as one that contributes either personnel or financial resources to the task force. Fifteen officers were assigned to WCITF in 2010, eight of the officers were assigned by participating agencies and seven were from the Illinois State Police (ISP).These officers are dedicated full-time to the task force and work out of a central task force office. Details: Chicago, IL: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, 2012. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 22, 2012 at http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/megprofiles/WCITF_MEG_Aug2012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/megprofiles/WCITF_MEG_Aug2012.pdf Shelf Number: 126775 Keywords: CollaborationDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Enforcement (Illinois)Partnerships |
Author: Reichert, Jessica Title: Examining Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Task Force Operations in Illinois Summary: Local police departments across the country struggle to fight drug crime without dedicated resources. Drug task forces were designed to combine resources of many local police departments and provide services across jurisdictions. Illinois’ metropolitan enforcement groups (MEGs) and multi-jurisdictional drug task forces are charged with combating mid-level drug crime, including drug distribution and sales. MEGs and task forces are staffed by officers representing federal, state, county, and local police agencies. Officers often work undercover, using confidential sources, to purchase drugs in order to gather the intelligence to make arrests. In Illinois in the 1970’s, MEGs were developed through the Intergovernmental Drug Enforcement Act [30 ILCS 715/1]. MEG policy boards play an active, formal role in the management of operations. MEG policy boards are required to include an elected official and the chief law enforcement officer (or their designees) from each participating unit of government. An elected official from one of the participating agencies must be designated to act as financial officer of the MEG to receive operational funds. MEG operations are limited to enforcing drug laws and certain weapons offenses, as well as the investigation of street gang-related crimes (Adams, 2012). Multi-jurisdictional drug task forces began in the 1980’s through the organizational authority from the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act [5 ILCS 220/1]. Drug task force policy boards are not governed by legislated structure or composition requirements or restricted by statute in their scope of operations the way MEGs are (Adams, 2012). In this report, MEGs and multi-jurisdictional drug task forces will be referred to as “drug task forces.” Twenty-two drug task forces operate in Illinois. The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA) supports these task forces with federal Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grants. In state fiscal year 2011, ICJIA funded 19 drug task forces (Figure 1). In 2011, ICJIA funded 208 drug task force officers and 19 support staff. Three drug task forces receive the majority of their funding through the Illinois State Police. In order to study drug task force operations, ICJIA researchers conducted two focus groups comprised of officers working on ICJIA-funded drug task forces. The goals of the focus groups were to: Provide general information on drug task forces in a published report; and, Identify programmatic issues that can help establish performance measures and strategic priorities. Focus group participants offered information on drug task force goals and priorities, the identification of drug trends, operations, funding, collaboration, and success. Details: Chicago, IL: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, 2012. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 22, 2012 at http://www.icjia.org/public/pdf/ResearchReports/Examining_multi-jurisdictional_drug_task_force_operations_Aug2012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.icjia.org/public/pdf/ResearchReports/Examining_multi-jurisdictional_drug_task_force_operations_Aug2012.pdf Shelf Number: 126777 Keywords: CollaborationDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Enforcement (Illinois)Partnerships |
Author: Adams, Sharyn Title: Collaborating to Fight Drug Crime: Multi-jurisdictional Task Forces: A Profile of the Vermilion County Metropolitan Enforcement Group Summary: Drug task forces were developed to more efficiently and effectively fight proliferation of illicit drugs. Local police have jurisdictional restraints making it difficult to combat drug markets extending through multiple cities, and counties (Smith, Novak, Frank, & Travis, 2000). Drug task forces work across jurisdictions and pool resources, knowledge, and personnel. MEGs and task forces are staffed by officers representing federal, state, county, and local police agencies. Drug task force officers work undercover, using confidential sources, to purchase drugs in order to gather the intelligence to make arrests (Reichert, 2012). There are two kinds of drug task forces that operate in Illinois—metropolitan enforcement groups (MEG) and multi-jurisdictional drug task forces. MEGs have been in existence in Illinois since the 1970’s through the Intergovernmental Drug Enforcement Act [30 ILCS 715/1]. MEG policy boards engage in an active, formal role in the management of operations. MEG policy boards are required to include an elected official and the chief law enforcement officer, or their designees, from each participating unit of government. An elected official from one of the participating agencies must be designated to act as financial officer of the MEG to receive operational funds. MEG operations are limited to the enforcement of drug laws and delineated weapons offenses and the investigation of street gang-related crimes. Multi-jurisdictional drug task forces began in the 1980’s using the organizational authority from the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act [5 ILCS 220/1]. Task force policy boards are not governed by legislated structure or composition requirements or restricted by statute in their scope of operations. Periodically, the ICJIA profiles Illinois MEGs and task forces to provide a general overview of the drug crime problems in the various jurisdictions and share responses to these problems. These profiles can provide information to MEG and task force directors and policy board members to guide decision-making and the allocation of resources. All current and previous profiles can be accessed on the ICJIA’s website: http://www.icjia.state.il.us. This profile focuses on the Vermilion County Metropolitan Enforcement Group (VMEG), which covers Vermilion County with an estimated total population of 8,625 in 2010. In 2010, 2 local police agencies participated in VMEG. This is the only narcotics unit serving Vermilion County. A participating agency is defined as one that contributes either personnel or financial resources to the task force. Eight officers and two support personnel were assigned to VMEG in 2010, four of the officers were assigned by participating agencies and four from the Illinois State Police (ISP).These officers are dedicated full-time to the task force and work out of a central task force office. Details: Chicago, IL: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, 2012. 47p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 22, 2012 at http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/megprofiles/VMEG_Aug2012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/megprofiles/VMEG_Aug2012.pdf Shelf Number: 126778 Keywords: CollaborationDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Enforcement (Illinois)Partnerships |
Author: Yap, Renee Title: Coca, Bolivia, and the War on Drugs: the Tension between Freedom from Fear and Freedom from Want Summary: This thesis aims to demonstrate the tension between human security’s core categories of freedom from fear and freedom from want. The two core categories of human security are often held to be complementary to each other. However, by applying a human security analysis to the War on Drugs in Bolivia, particularly with reference to the ideas of freedom from fear and freedom from want, it can be seen that the War on Drugs in Bolivia typifies a freedom from fear approach. This is illustrated through the War on Drugs focus on protecting individuals from physical violence and human rights abuses relating to situations of conflict, as well as its use of coercion strategies, such as sanctions or non-unilateral force; all of these of which are usual to a freedom from fear approach. An examination of how the War on Drugs has impacted upon the individuals of Bolivia reveals that despite the desired outcome of protecting individual safety and well-being, the War on Drugs has actually compromised the safety and well-being of Bolivians. In addition, in typifying freedom from fear, the War on Drugs in Bolivia has also challenged freedom from want by marginalising or threatening economic, community, food and health security, and thus defying claims that freedom from fear and freedom from want are complementary. This thesis concludes that by pursuing political and personal security, freedom from fear marginalises and even contests food, health, environmental and most especially economic and community security – the focal points of freedom from want. Security policies adopted to address transnational threats in developing countries must ensure that they not only account for the freedom from fear and freedom from want components of human security, but that they also account for, and manage, the potential for freedom from fear to undermine the wider goals of freedom from want. Details: Wellington, NZ: Victoria University of Wellington, 2010. 81p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed October 24, 2012 at: http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10063/1424/thesis.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2010 Country: Bolivia URL: http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10063/1424/thesis.pdf?sequence=1 Shelf Number: 126784 Keywords: CocaineDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug TraffickingDrug ViolenceWar on Drugs (Bolivia) |
Author: Leiken, Robert S. Title: Mexico's Drug War Summary: Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón staked his presidency on a military campaign against the country’s crime syndicates, deploying half of Mexico’s combat ready troops and tens of thousands of federal police in 18 states. The conflict has caused 50,000 deaths, more than five times what America has lost in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. In Washington, several high officials and political leaders assert that Mexico faces an insurgency that may require American military assistance. But is Mexico’s “war” a low intensity conflict or a high intensity crime scene? Does Mexico face a “criminal insurgency” or a turf war? Does the situation present a national security threat or a law enforcement crisis? Should it be addressed primarily by the military or the police? Should the U.S. be sending military or police advisors? Is the current death toll an inevitable by-product of strategic progress or a signal of failure? Details: Washington, DC: Center for the National Interest, 2012. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 25, 2012 at: http://www.cftni.org/42460_CNI_web.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico URL: http://www.cftni.org/42460_CNI_web.pdf Shelf Number: 126798 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug CartelsDrug ControlDrug TraffickingDrug War (Mexico)Organized Crime |
Author: Mitchell, Ojmarrh Title: The Effectiveness of Incarceration-Based Drug Treatment on Criminal Behavior: A Systematic Review Summary: Many, if not most, incarcerated offenders have substance abuse problems. Without effective treatment, these substance-abusing offenders are likely to persist in non-drug offending. The period of incarceration offers an opportunity to intervene in the cycle of drug abuse and crime. Although many types of incarceration-based drug treatment programs are available (e.g., therapeutic communities and group counseling), the effectiveness of these programs is unclear. The objective of this research synthesis is to systematically review quasi-experimental and experimental (RCT) evaluations of the effectiveness of incarceration-based drug treatment programs in reducing post-release recidivism and drug relapse. A secondary objective of this synthesis is to examine variation in effectiveness by programmatic, sample, and methodological features. In this update of the original 2006 review (see Mitchell, Wilson, and MacKenzie, 2006), studies made available since the original review were included in an effort to keep current with emerging research. Details: Oslo: Campbell Collaboration, 2012. 76p. Source: Internet Resource: Campbell Systematic Reviews 2012:18: Accessed November 9, 2012 at: www.campbellcollaboration.org Year: 2012 Country: International URL: Shelf Number: 126905 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug Offenders |
Author: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs Title: Cannabis Production and Markets in Europe Summary: This study brings together available evidence to provide a comprehensive analysis of cannabis production and markets across the EU. It combines information from EMCDDA routine reporting — data on patterns of prevalence and use, seizures, police reports, drug-law offences, cannabis potency and retail market prices — with literature on cannabis markets to create an in-depth analysis of the issue in a European context. The analysis presented in this volume covers, as far as possible, the 30 countries that participate in the EMCDDA’s reporting system. That is the 27 EU Member States, Croatia, Turkey and Norway. The information reviewed is based on a number of sources and methodologies. We list below the main sources and data used as a basis for the analysis, and more detailed methodological notes are provided throughout the text. Some of the data used in this report are derived from the EMCDDA’s routine monitoring, based on its Reitox network of national focal points. Data on prevalence and patterns of drug use, drug seizures, police reports of drug law offences, cannabis potency and retail prices are part of the quantitative data sets submitted by reporting countries on an annual basis. Quantitative data are routinely analysed and made available in the online Statistical bulletin (EMCDDA, 2011b), but more in-depth analyses were carried out for this publication. In addition, the EMCDDA’s routine monitoring includes a national narrative report providing an overview of the drug phenomenon and, among other issues, information on drug supply and drug trafficking, drug laws and sentencing practices. Legal texts held in the European Legal Database on Drugs (ELDD) and an ad hoc consultation of the legal correspondents network that informs the database were also used as sources of information for this report. In addition, two independent studies were carried out to obtain more detailed data and other information on specific aspects of cannabis production and markets in Europe. The issue of market shares of different cannabis products was a focus of both of these exercises. First, the national focal points, within the context of a Selected issue data collection exercise (Reitox national focal points, 2009), provided an overview of cannabis production (brief history, plantations seized, ‘grow shops’), distribution of cannabis at national level (structure and actors, wholesale prices, retail outlets, transaction sizes) and cannabis supply reduction responses (law enforcement activities, cannabis seizures, cannabis offences). These national contributions result from an analysis of different sources, including quantitative data, targeted studies, research, expert opinions and information from operational actors such as law enforcement. Second, the EMCDDA commissioned a study (Costes et al., 2009) to provide an overview of cannabis production methods (covering topics such as materials and costs) and typologies of growers, and of cannabis flows and trafficking routes to and within Europe. The authors carried out a survey based on key informants drawn from across Europe as part of this exercise. This report is also informed by an extensive review of the literature, which took in both scientific papers published in peer-reviewed journals and the ‘grey literature’ 16 (including reports from international organisations). For a number of the issues addressed in this report, the literature served as the only information source or as a complement. Analysis of the literature proved to be key in areas where standardised data collections are relatively rare, in particular on the botany of cannabis and on the production of cannabis both outside and within Europe. Chapter 1 reviews the origins of cannabis and its diffusion. Consideration is given to the morphology and anatomy of this interesting plant — which can be characterised by its extreme natural variation. This is accompanied by an analysis of production issues, including cultivation and processing for consumption. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the source countries for the cannabis imported into Europe. It includes a critical review of the considerable, and arguably insurmountable, challenges associated with estimating global cannabis production. The chapter focuses mainly on cannabis production in, and exportation to Europe from, the five regions and countries (the ‘big five’) most often mentioned as a source: North Africa (Morocco), south-west Asia (Afghanistan), the Balkans (Albania), the Middle East (Lebanon) and sub-Saharan Africa (South Africa). Chapter 3 is dedicated to cannabis production in Europe. Starting with the historical context, including the substitution of imported resin by domestically produced herb in some countries, it then reviews available evidence of the extent and type of cannabis cultivation across Europe. A typology of cannabis growers and their motivations is discussed. Distribution, either social or commercial, is addressed, and an analysis of issues related to transactions and prices is presented. Cannabinoid contents, and in particular tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), are addressed in Chapter 4, as are issues affecting the sampling and quantitative analysis of THC in cannabis products. This is followed by a review of the data available on cannabis potency in Europe. Chapter 5 focuses on cannabis consumption. Starting with an overview of the situation and trends in cannabis use in Europe, it then reviews the results of the few studies that have estimated the size of the market for cannabis in Europe. It ends with an analysis of the market shares at consumer level of cannabis herb and cannabis resin across Europe. Differences in the legislations controlling cannabis cultivation and supply in Europe are discussed in Chapter 6, which also provides an analysis of data on cannabis offences reported by law enforcement, and of cannabis seizures across Europe. The chapter ends with a brief overview of the strategies and tactics employed by law enforcement in their fight against cannabis cultivation and cannabis trafficking in Europe. Details: Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2012. 274p. Source: Internet Resource: EMCDDA Insights Series No 12; Accessed November 9, 2012 at: http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/insights/cannabis-market Year: 2012 Country: Europe URL: http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/insights/cannabis-market Shelf Number: 126911 Keywords: CannabisDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Markets (Europe)Drug OffendersDrug SmugglingMarijuana |
Author: Nicosia, Nancy Title: Does Mandatory Diversion to Drug Treatment Eliminate Racial Disparities in the Incarceration of Drug Offenders? An Examination of California's Proposition 36 Summary: Like other states, minorities are disproportionately represented in the California’s state prison system, particularly for drug offenses. Unlike other states, California has had a policy of mandatory diversion to drug treatment for non-violent drug offenders since mid-2001 (Proposition 36). Using a rich dataset including current and prior criminal charges from 1995 through 2005 in California, we examine whether disparities in court dispositions to prison and drug treatment between White and Blacks male drug offenders are explained by observable case and criminal justice characteristics. We estimate the extent to which remaining observable disparities are affected by Proposition 36. We find that Black and White male drug offenders differ considerably on covariates, but by weighting on the inverse of a nonparametric estimate of the propensity score, we can compare Blacks to Whites that are on average equivalent on covariates. Unadjusted disparities in the likelihood of being sentenced to prison are substantially reduced by propensity score weighting. Proposition 36 reduces the likelihood of prison overall, but not differentially for Blacks. By contrast, racial disparity in diversion to drug treatment is not reduced by propensity score weighting. There is some evidence that Proposition 36 increased diversion for Blacks. Details: Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2012. 49p. Source: Internet Resource: NBER Working Paper Series; Working Paper 18518: Accessed November 20, 2012 at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w18518.pdf?new_window=1 Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w18518.pdf?new_window=1 Shelf Number: 126942 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse Treatment (U.S.)Drug OffendersRacial DisparitiesSentencing Disparities |
Author: Ritter, Alison Title: Evaluating Drug Law Enforcement Interventions Directed Towards Methamphetamine in Australia Summary: Methamphetamine belongs in the class of stimulant drugs referred to as Amphetamine Type Stimulants (ATS). The category of ATS includes ecstasy, amphetamine and methamphetamine. This research project concerned itself with the amphetamine and methamphetamine class and excluded ecstasy (and henceforth we use the generic term methamphetamine). In Australia, methamphetamine is available in three forms—powder, base and crystal. Methamphetamine is associated with significant harms and is an important drug policy priority. The National Amphetamine-Type Stimulants Strategy (2008–2011) (Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy, 2008) articulates the following priority areas in relation to methamphetamine: • improve community awareness and understanding of amphetamine-type stimulant use and related problems; • reduce the supply of amphetamine-type stimulants; • develop specific strategies to prevent and reduce amphetamine type stimulant use; and • develop organisational and system capacity to prevent and respond to amphetamine-type stimulant problems This research concerns the second priority area—reducing the supply of methamphetamine. The specific aims of the research were twofold: • to provide a rich description of the Australian methamphetamine supply chains in order to inform drug law enforcement interventions; and • to conduct an initial economic evaluation comparing law enforcement interventions directed at the methamphetamine market. The work focused on the methamphetamine market(s) and supply chains in Australia above the retail level. Previous research (eg McKetin, McLaren, & Kelly, 2005) has examined retail methamphetamine markets in Australia. Governments and policymakers are interested in determining which interventions are more or less effective than others, such that the scarce funding resources can be allocated in the most efficient manner possible. There is scant research available to law enforcement to guide such decisions. The main impediments to such research are the fundamental methodological challenges inherent in such an undertaking. This project is an attempt to conduct a preliminary analysis comparing the costs and impacts of different types of law enforcement. It is a ground-breaking study as this has not been previously attempted and it should be seen as the initial development of a methodological approach that can be improved upon with subsequent research. The project aimed to determine the relative cost-to-impact ratios of different law enforcement strategies aimed at reducing methamphetamine production and distribution. In an environment focused on efficiency in resource allocation, it is hoped that this research will provide the impetus for further research on the effectiveness of drug law enforcement. As the results of such research accumulate, it is hoped that policymakers will be able to use the information to improve decision making on law enforcement investment. As with all research, this study has limitations, which we hope will be addressed in future research. The economic results should be read with these limitations in mind. • This study assessed the difference between four drug law enforcement interventions in terms of the impact (value of seized drugs) against expenditure (government costs). It is not a cost-effectiveness or a cost– benefit study. The results are reported in terms of the ranking of the interventions against each other. This study does not allow one to draw conclusions about the overall efficiency or value for money represented by drug law enforcement. Future research, which builds on this work, could include a cost-effectiveness analysis, between drug law enforcement interventions and across drug law enforcement and other interventions which reduce methamphetamine use (such as drug treatment). • In this evaluation, the measure of policing impact was the monetary value of seized methamphetamine (or precursor). This is an imperfect impact measure. Drug law enforcement that results in seized product can also impact on the overall capacity of a criminal network. • This study used the value of seized drugs as the measure to compare law enforcement interventions. However, drug law enforcement may change other financial aspects for drug criminals, such as increase the costs of manufacture and distribution (by seizing assets), increase the risks of arrest and imprisonment (opportunity costs) and increase the operational costs of running a business (costs of new avoidance strategies adopted against drug law enforcement). The aggregate costs are the losses to illicit drug enterprises due to drug law enforcement activities. A comprehensive analysis would include each of these aspects and calculate ‘total loss’ due to drug law enforcement. However, in this preliminary work, we were not able to cost each of these components and hence used only replacement costs (seizures) to represent the loss. • There are other important impacts of drug law enforcement interventions—deterrence, public safety and public amenity, and disruptions on other crimes that criminal networks are engaged in that have not been included in this study; future research could adopt the broader, taxpayer (societal) perspective, rather than policing agency perspective. • In this study, we evaluate the relative impact of discrete law enforcement interventions. However, in reality, law enforcement interventions are likely to exert synergistic effects such that the combined impact of a suite of interventions is likely to be greater than the sum of the impact of individual interventions. Thus, an important caveat to our results relates to the cumulative impact of law enforcement interventions. The current project did not examine the impact of cumulative or multi-pronged interventions. • There is a substantial lack of data across many areas of illicit drug markets. We had difficulty obtaining methamphetamine price data, information about market structure, police agency budgets and detailed seizure data. Some of these data, such as information about markets, involves ethnographic research. For quantitative data, consideration should be given to the development of data collection systems which would facilitate illicit drug market and law enforcement effectiveness research (eg collection of data which connects price and purity of seizures). • Our study did not include the relative impact of precursor regulations and the enforcement of these regulations, nor did it include source country interventions conducted by Australian law enforcement. There is currently very little empirical evidence to guide policy decisions about drug enforcement interventions directed to methamphetamine. In fact, the paucity of research on the effectiveness of law enforcement across all illicit drugs ‘continues to pose a major barrier to applying these policies effectively’ (Babor, et al., 2010 p. 258.) Decisions about which methamphetamine supply control policy to fund, which policies should receive increased funding, or how to derive the most effective balance of priorities, are currently uninformed by the results of research. There is a clear and pressing need for further research that examines the effectiveness of law enforcement interventions directed at methamphetamine. The current study aims to begin to fill this gap. Details: Canberra: National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund, 2012. 133p. Source: Internet Resource: Monograph Series No. 44: Accessed November 24, 2012 at: http://www.ndlerf.gov.au/pub/Monograph_44.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Australia URL: http://www.ndlerf.gov.au/pub/Monograph_44.pdf Shelf Number: 126990 Keywords: AmphetaminesDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug EnforcementDrug MarketsDrug OffendersDrug TreatmentIllegal DrugsMethamphetamine (Australia) |
Author: Johnson, Lallen Title: Classifying Drug Markets by Travel Patterns: Testing Reuter and MacCoun's Typology of Market Violence Summary: Research to date has demonstrated significant relationships between the presence of outdoor drug markets and violent crime. Scholars have neglected however, to consider the role of travel distance on the drugs/violence nexus. The current study examines whether features of the distributions of travel distance to markets of drug buyers, drug sellers, or the interaction between the two distributions predicts drug market violence levels net of surrounding community demographic structure. Reuter and MacCoun's (1992) as yet untested model about the connections between drugs and violent crime, predicts that the interaction of drug seller and buyer distance distributions from varying distances more powerfully drug market violence levels than buyer and average distance averages. This suggests that how the travel patterns of the two major participants in drug markets intersect is key to understanding differences. That model is tested here. In addition, for comparison purposes, impacts of buyer and seller travel median distances are modeled separately. This work uses 5 years (2006-2010) of incident and arrest data from the Philadelphia Police Department. Reuter and MacCoun's model will be tested using the following analytical techniques. First, a methodology for locating and bounding drug markets using a nearest neighbor, hierarchical clustering technique is introduced. Using this methodology 34 drug markets are identified. Second, hierarchical linear models examining buyers and sellers separately predict travel distances to drug markets. Arrestees are nested within markets. This technique separates influences on distance arising from arrestees from drug market distance differences. Third, how market level median travel distance affects within drug market violence is considered. Specifically, the main effects of median buyer travel distance and median seller travel distance on drug market violence are captured using separate Poisson hierarchical linear models. Finally, impacts of the interaction between buyer and seller distance, Reuter and MacCoun's (1992) focus, are explored in another series of generalized hierarchical linear models. The main findings from the dissertation are as follows: 1. Results provide partial support for Reuter and MacCoun's drug market-violence model using multiple operationalizations. Public markets--those in which buyers and sellers travel from outside their own neighborhoods--are expected to be the most violent. 2. Separate raw distance measures for buyers and sellers correlate with within-drug market violence, after controlling for community demographics. 3. A negative effect of socioeconomic status and violence holds even when modeled with drug market variables. 4. As the proportion of crack cocaine sales within drug markets increases so too does within-market violence. Conceptual implications highlight the need to investigate social ties as an intervening variable in the travel distance »» drug market violence relationship. It is not clear from this research whether the travel distances of drug offenders in some way explains the amount or strength of social ties in a drug market, which in turn serves to suppress or elevate within-drug market violence. Policy implications suggest that Reuter and MacCoun's drug market types may connect with specific policing responses. Policing efforts may not receive much support from community residents because dense social networks may discourage reporting illicit activity. Markets drawing dealers and customers from farther away, and located around commercial and recreational centers may be amenable to place-based policing initiatives and coordinated intervention strategies with multiple city agencies. Details: Philadelphia: Temple University, 2012. 228p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed December 4, 2012 at: Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 127124 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Markets (Philadelphia, U.S.)Drug ViolenceHierarchical Linear ModelingJourney to Crime |
Author: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction Title: Prisons and Drugs in Europe: The Problem and Responses Summary: This Selected issue starts off by reviewing the available data on drug use among prison populations in Europe, focusing on injecting drug use and other health risk behaviours. Major health risks for drug-using prisoners, including blood-borne infections and infections that can affect all prisoners equally, such as tuberculosis, are discussed. Also mentioned is the role of prison environments, where overcrowding and unsanitary conditions are not uncommon, and the higher-than-average occurrence of psychiatric problems among prisoners. The first section concludes by describing the increased risk of death among prisoners, both in custody and after release. The second part of the report focuses on responses to the health needs of drug-using prisoners in European countries. The study looks at how the internationally recognised rights of prisoners and the European and international rules that set standards for the care of prisoners apply to those with drug problems. The administration of prison healthcare in European countries is examined, and national policies are reviewed. This is followed by an overview of the available information on drug-related service provision in Europe, from prison entry to prison release, addressing counselling, treatment of drug dependence and the prevention of infectious diseases and drug overdose. Details: Lisdon: EMCDDA, 2012. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 10, 2012 at: http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/attachements.cfm/att_191812_EN_TDSI12002ENC.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Europe URL: http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/attachements.cfm/att_191812_EN_TDSI12002ENC.pdf Shelf Number: 127181 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Offenders (Europe)Prisoner DeathsPrisoner HealthPrisoners |
Author: Lynch, Shannon M. Title: Women's Pathways to Jail: The Roles & Intersections of Serious Mental Illness & Trauma Summary: This multi-site study addressed critical gaps in the literature by assessing the prevalence of serious mental illness (SMI), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and substance use disorders (SUD) in women in jail and pathways to offending for women with and without SMI. Using a randomly selected sample (N = 491) from rural and urban jails, this study employed a structured diagnostic interview to assess current and lifetime prevalence of SMI (e.g., major depression, bipolar, and psychotic spectrum disorders), PTSD, and SUD in women in jail. Women’s prior access to treatment and level of functional impairment in the past 12 months was also assessed. Next, qualitative Life History Calendar (LHC) interviews were conducted with a subset of the sample (N = 115) to examine how onset of different types of criminal activity and delinquency vary as a function of mental health status and trauma exposure. Finally, we also interviewed corrections staff members (N = 37) at participating jail sites to assess staff members’ perceptions about the prevalence of mental health difficulties in women in jail as well as staff beliefs about women’s pathways to jail. Notably, 43% of participants met criteria for a lifetime SMI, and 32% met SMI criteria in the past 12 months. Substance use disorders were the most commonly occurring disorders, with 82% of the sample meeting lifetime criteria for drug or alcohol abuse or dependence. Similarly, PTSD rates were high with just over half the sample (53%) meeting criteria for lifetime PTSD. Women also met criteria for multiple lifetime disorders at high rates. Finally, 30 to 45% of individuals who met criteria for a current disorder reported severely impaired functioning in the past year. Women with SMI reported greater rates of victimization and more extensive offending histories than women who did not meet criteria for lifetime SMI. In a test of our proposed model, experiences of childhood victimization and adult trauma did not directly predict offending histories; instead both forms of victimization increased the risk of poor mental health, and poor mental health predicted a greater offending history. Next, quantitative LHC data were analyzed to elucidate patterns of offending over the lifespan. SMI significantly increased women’s risk for onset of substance use, drug dealing/charges, property crime, fighting/assault, and running away. In addition, experiences of victimization predicted risk of offending. The third component of this study included interviews with corrections staff including supervisors, health practitioners, and corrections officers/deputies. These staff members indicated a general awareness that women’s experiences of victimization were linked with their entry into the criminal justice system. Further, many staff were aware of women’s mental health problems. In particular, they expressed concern that there were limited resources in jail for women struggling with mental illness, and that women were then released from jail with little to no assistance to support their attempts to change behavior and lifestyle. Understanding female offenders’ pathways to offending, including both risk for onset and risk for continued offending, helps elucidate the complexity of their experiences and identify key factors and intervening variables that may ameliorate or exacerbate risk. This type of research is critical to development of gender responsive programming, alternatives to incarceration, and problem-solving court initiatives. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, 2012. 91p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 17, 2013 at: https://www.bja.gov/Publications/Women_Pathways_to_Jail.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: https://www.bja.gov/Publications/Women_Pathways_to_Jail.pdf Shelf Number: 127341 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeFemale Offenders (U.S.)JailsMentally Ill OffendersPost-Traumatic Stress DisorderSubstance Abuse and Crime |
Author: Telesca, Donatello Title: Modeling Criminal Careers as Departures from a Unimodal Population Age-Crime Curve: The Case of Marijuana Use Summary: A major aim of longitudinal analyses of life course data is to describe the within- and between individual variability in a behavioral outcome, such as crime. Statistical analyses of such data typically draw on mixture and mixed-effects growth models. In this work, we present a functional analytic point of view and develop an alternative method that models individual crime trajectories as departures from a population age-crime curve. Drawing on empirical and theoretical claims in criminology, we assume a unimodal population age-crime curve and allow individual expected crime trajectories to differ by their levels of offending and patterns of temporal misalignment. We extend Bayesian hierarchical curve registration methods to accommodate count data and to incorporate influence of baseline covariates on individual behavioral trajectories. Analyzing self-reported counts of yearly marijuana use from the Denver Youth Survey, we examine the influence of race and gender categories on differences in levels and timing of marijuana smoking. We find that our approach offers a flexible and realistic model for longitudinal crime trajectories that fits individual observations well and allows for a rich array of inferences of interest to criminologists and drug abuse researchers. Details: Seattle, WA: Department of Statistics, University of Washington, 2011. 27p. Source: Internet Resource: Technical Report no. 5882: Accessed January 22, 2013 at: http://www.stat.washington.edu/research/reports/2011/tr588.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.stat.washington.edu/research/reports/2011/tr588.pdf Shelf Number: 127347 Keywords: Criminal CareersCriminal TrajectoriesDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersLongitudinal StudiesMarijuana |
Author: Adams, Sharyn Title: Collaborating to Fight Drug Crime: Multi-Jurisdictional Task Forces. Profile of the South Central Illinois Drug Task Force Summary: Drug task forces were developed to more efficiently and effectively fight proliferation of illicit drugs. Local police have jurisdictional restraints making it difficult to combat drug markets extending through multiple cities, and counties. Drug task forces work across jurisdictions and pool resources, knowledge, and personnel. MEGs and task forces are staffed by officers representing federal, state, county, and local police agencies. Drug task force officers work undercover, using confidential sources, to purchase drugs in order to gather the intelligence to make arrests. There are two kinds of drug task forces that operate in Illinois—metropolitan enforcement groups (MEG) and multi-jurisdictional drug task forces. MEGs have been in existence in Illinois since the 1970’s through the Intergovernmental Drug Enforcement Act [30 ILCS 715/1]. MEG policy boards engage in an active, formal role in the management of operations. MEG policy boards are required to include an elected official and the chief law enforcement officer, or their designees, from each participating unit of government. An elected official from one of the participating agencies must be designated to act as financial officer of the MEG to receive operational funds. MEG operations are limited to the enforcement of drug laws and delineated weapons offenses and the investigation of street gang-related crimes. Multi-jurisdictional drug task forces began in the 1980’s using the organizational authority from the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act [5 ILCS 220/1]. Task force policy boards are not governed by legislated structure or composition requirements or restricted by statute in their scope of operations. Periodically, the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA) profiles Illinois MEGs and task forces to provide a general overview of the drug crime problems in the various jurisdictions and share responses to these problems. These profiles can provide information to MEG and task force directors and policy board members to guide decision-making and the allocation of resources. All current and previous profiles can be accessed on the ICJIA’s website: http://www.icjia.state.il.us. This profile focuses on the South Central Illinois Drug Task Force (SCIDTF), which covers Bond, Calhoun, Greene, Jersey, Macoupin, and Montgomery Counties with an estimated total population of 137,597 in 2010. In 2010, 2 local police agencies participated in SCIDTF. A participating agency is defined as one that contributes either personnel or financial resources to the task force. Seven officers and one office manager were assigned to SCIDTF in 2010, five of the officers were assigned by participating agencies and two from the Illinois State Police (ISP).These officers are dedicated full-time to the task force and work out of a central task force office. Details: Chicago: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, 2012. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 24, 2013 at: http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/megprofiles/SCIDTF_112012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/megprofiles/SCIDTF_112012.pdf Shelf Number: 127375 Keywords: CollaborationDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Enforcement (Illinois)Partnerships |
Author: Kensy, Julia Title: Drug Policy and Women: Addressing the Negative Consequences of Harmful Drug Control Summary: A number of reports have documented the negative consequences of current prohibitionist drug control policies on health, human rights and development, and these are the subject of growing international attention. The past thirty years has also seen a growing number of studies on women’s participation in all levels of the drug trade. However, limited research currently exists on the particular impact of drug control on women. This briefing paper focuses on this gap. This briefing aims to highlight the effects of drug policy on women as producers, suppliers and consumers of drugs in order to inform and guide policy makers on practices that should be avoided, as well as highlight those policies which effectively incorporate and address women’s needs. This briefing also features ‘snapshots’ from women and service providers working with women that are affected by drug policies. These snapshots explore the complex consequences that drug policies have on both individuals and services. Such snapshots also highlight examples of interventions that seek to address the negative consequences of drug control and provide positive support to women. Details: London: International Drug Policy Consortium, 2012. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: IDPC Briefing Paper: Accessed January 30, 2013 at: http://www.grea.ch/sites/default/files/drug-policy-and-women-addressing-the-consequences-of-control.pdf Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://www.grea.ch/sites/default/files/drug-policy-and-women-addressing-the-consequences-of-control.pdf Shelf Number: 127443 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug AddictionDrug Control PoliciesFemale Drug Offenders |
Author: Government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia Title: The Bolivia Country Program 2010-2015. Capacity Building in Response to Drugs, Organized Crime, Terrorism, Corruption, and Economic Crime Threats in Bolivia Summary: Bolivia is located in the center of South America and shares borders with Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile and Peru. Extending across 1,098,581 km (424,160 sq miles), it has an estimated population of 10 million inhabitants (2009), 66% of whom live in urban areas. According to the Constitution, Bolivia is a Social, Unitary State of Plurinational Communitarian Law, free, independent, sovereign, democratic, intercultural, decentralized and with autonomies. It was founded on political, economic, judicial, cultural and linguistic plurality and pluralism, within the integrative process of the country. In 2005, approximately 59% of the population was living without their basic needs satisfied, and 37% lived in extreme poverty. In 2007, the estimated per capita income was US $1,363 a year. The life expectancy rate is 63 years, while the infant mortality rate for this same period was defined at 61 for every 1000 live births. After a long period characterized by political instability and social conflicts, in 2005 indigenous leader Evo Morales was elected President of what is now the Plurinational State of Bolivia, marking the beginning of a period of profound political and socioeconomic change. A Constitutional Assembly was summoned to enact these changes, and at the end of 2008 a new constitutional text was approved, which enabled all institutional structures to be adapted to the new ethno-cultural and regional plurality of the country. The New Political State Constitution incorporates important advances and changes in citizen rights, gender, natural resources and administration of justice. The Government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia has shifted from a neoliberal development model to a mixed economy, where the State plays a greater role in the economy. In so doing, the State has taken control of the principal source of income in the country: hydrocarbons, namely natural gas, and is promoting other important industrial development projects in the fields of metallurgy, construction, food and paper. The surplus generated from natural gas exportation to neighboring countries contributes to income redistribution policies, in addition to boosting the national petroleum company. In this way, the past few years have witnessed the creation of wealth redistribution mechanisms aimed at reversing the existing conditions of poverty and inequality, such as the Dignity Payment for senior citizens, the Juancito Pinto Bond for the student population and the Juana Azurduy Bond for pregnant women. The principal macroeconomic indicators show that the Bolivian economy has improved. From 2006-2009, the GDP grew at an average annual rate of 4.8%, the inflation was 0.3% at the end of this period and the fiscal surplus was 2.5% of the GDP. Private foreign inversion recovered in 2006, at US $278 million, topping off at US $370 million in 2008. Exportations in 2008 reached US $4,846 million, resulting in a positive trade balance of US $1,223 million. In 2009 the external public debt increased to US $2,583 million, following an important reduction in previous years. These indicators show a generally positive economic performance within a framework of both internal and external macroeconomic stability, providing greater strength to the Bolivian State´s fight against poverty. The Government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, encouraged by the U.N., is making important efforts to reach the Millennium Goals. Bolivia has been declared the third country in the region free of illiteracy, with the backing of UNESCO. Likewise, gender gaps in primary education and infant and maternal mortality rates have been reduced, and basic sanitary services have reached a considerable proportion of the rural population. In Bolivia, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has been working since the end of the 1980s on alternative development projects in coca growing regions, including the construction of infrastructure for social and productive uses, improving agricultural production, encouraging forestry and agroforestry development, promoting the microbusiness sector and job skills training. The UNODC also implemented drug prevention programs within the educational system, as well as strengthening the government entities related to controlling drug use and related crimes, including the implementation of informational systems for monitoring coca plantations, alternative development and illegal drug use. Technical cooperation activities have been reduced in the past few years, from an annual portfolio of US $5.4 million in 2002 to US $1.6 million in 2009. As a result, in April of 2009, the UNODC representative finalized his/her mission in the country and decided to reduce office personnel, as the reduced volume of activities no longer justified a Representation Office in Bolivia. As of June of 2009, development program activities were administered with the aid of the Latin America and the Caribbean Unit (LACU/DO) of UNODC, based in Vienna. In June of 2009, the Government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia requested that the Executive Director of the UNODC maintain Office Representation status in the country and continue providing technical assistance. They also asked the European Commission to reinforce the UNODC´s financial cooperation program in the country. In response to this request, the UNODC sent a programming mission headed by the Head of the Latin American and the Caribbean Unit to the country in October of 2009. The objectives of the mission were: i) Prepare a Country Program 2010- 2015 document in direct collaboration with State institutions and international organizations; ii) Exchange criteria with the Government authorities of the Plurinational State of Bolivia about the reestablishment of an active/functional Office of Representation; and iii) Support the implementation of the profile of projects currently in process. In order for the Country Program to be prepared with accurate information, the agenda of the mission included a workshop with participants from governmental institutions and international organizations. The participants analyzed the current status of the fight against drugs, organized crime and corruption. They also identified priority areas where the UNODC could provide technical assistance. Sixty three representatives of 12 different State institutions working in drug and crime prevention were present at the workshop, as well as 19 counterparts from international organizations. The workshop´s success was a result of the participants´ interest in the topic, the high level of discussion generated and the quality of proposals which were produced. This UNODC Bolivia Country Program (2010-2015) reflects the primary conclusions and recommendations which came out of the workshop, as well as information obtained in interviews with the participating institutions. Details: La Paz, Bolivia: Government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, 2010. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 7, 2013 at: http://www.unodc.org/documents/bolivia//proyectos_bolivia/The_UNODC_Bolivia_Country_Program_2010-2015.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Bolivia URL: http://www.unodc.org/documents/bolivia//proyectos_bolivia/The_UNODC_Bolivia_Country_Program_2010-2015.pdf Shelf Number: 127529 Keywords: CorruptionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Trafficking (Bolivia)Economic CrimeOrganized CrimeTerrorism |
Author: Innes, Martin Title: Mapping and Measuring the Social Harms of Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour; Towards an Outcomes-Based Approach to Community Safety in Wales Summary: This document reports findings from an exploratory study designed to conceptually and empirically develop the concept of ‘social harm’. Social harm is defined as the negative collective impacts associated with an illegal or disorderly act, or social control intervention. The study had three key aims: 1) To establish a more robust conceptual definition of social harm in relation to the impacts of crime and disorder; 2) Reflecting this definition, to develop a more sophisticated method of measuring the distribution and intensity of social harm; 3) Apply these measures to test what insights they may afford in relation to how crime and disorder affects communities and neighbourhoods. Engagement with these aims is set against a backdrop where harm has become an increasingly influential idea in some areas of the criminal justice system. In particular, it is commonly used in relation to illegal narcotics and has acquired some traction in relation to measures designed to address serious and organised crime. These developments notwithstanding, wider uptake and use of the concept of harm has been inhibited by difficulties in deriving robust and stable measurements, as well as a lack of clarity in thinking about what precisely constitutes harm and how it differs from other measures. The work conducted for this study suggests that harm can be differentiated from several other allied concepts of risk, threat and vulnerability. Examining these helps to define and clarify the unique conceptual space occupied by the idea of harm. Orthodox approaches to measuring risk are based upon determining the likelihood of an event occurring in conjunction with its relative impact. Risks become threats when they are less prospective and more immediate. Vulnerability is concerned with the likelihood and capacity to be harmed. These ideas can be combined in order to identify the ‘risk of harm’ or ‘vulnerability to harm’. However, it can be seen that harm is unique in focusing upon actual negative impacts. The defining quality of a harm based framework is then that it attends to the impacts or effects of problems or issues. So whereas more orthodox measures of crime and disorder tend to be weighted towards prevalence, that is the amount of that issue that is occurring, focusing upon harm shifts attention to impact and consequences. The significance of this is that it recognises that in terms of understanding and mitigating the harms of crime and disorder, there might be a small number of incidents that impact quite heavily upon the public. Likewise, just because there is a highly prevalent issue in an area, it cannot be assumed that it is the ‘market mover’ in terms of shaping public attitudes and opinions. There are of course different kinds of harm that can be generated and experienced. Crime and disorder receives attention (at least in part) because of the harm that is done to victims. Whilst this form of individual harm is important, herein, the focus is explicitly upon the ‘social’ harm of crime. Adopting this approach reflects findings from an accumulating body of research evidence, that crime and disorder can be extremely consequential at the collective level in terms of negatively shaping the security, well‐being and resilience of communities and/or neighbourhoods. Details: Cardiff, Wales: Universities Police Science Institute, 2011. 33p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 7, 2013 at: http://wales.gov.uk/docs/caecd/research/130121-mapping-measuring-social-harms-crime-anti-social-behaviour-en.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://wales.gov.uk/docs/caecd/research/130121-mapping-measuring-social-harms-crime-anti-social-behaviour-en.pdf Shelf Number: 127530 Keywords: Antisocial Behavior (Wales, U.K.)Disorderly ConductDrug Abuse and CrimeEnvironmental DisorderNeighborhoods and CrimeSocial Disorder and Crime |
Author: Australian Crime Commission Title: Organised Crime and Drugs in Sport: New Generation Performance and Image Enhancing Drugs and Organised Criminal Involvement in their Use in Professional Sport Summary: In 2011, the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) highlighted threats to the integrity of professional sport and concluded that there was potential for organised crime to infiltrate sport in Australia, as has occurred overseas. Data from the ACC’s 2010–11 Illicit Drug Data Report indicated that the market for Performance and Image Enhancing Drugs (PIEDs) has expanded, with record numbers of seizures, detections and arrests and increasing reports by users that they were injecting them. The ACC also received information from the Australian Sports Anti- Doping Authority (ASADA), as part of the ACC’s routine monitoring of all illicit drug markets, which suggested a potential threat to a number of sports from the use of new generation PIEDs. In early 2012, the ACC, with the assistance of ASADA1, began a project to consider the extent of use of PIEDs by professional athletes, the size of this market and the extent of organised criminal involvement. This project focused particularly on a new form of PIEDs, known collectively as peptides and hormones. These substances may provide effects similar to anabolic steroids and are considered by users to be next generation PIEDs. Some of these substances are perceived by athletes to be undetectable, making them attractive to those seeking to gain an unfair advantage. This report provides a summary of findings from this project. In particular, the ACC has now identified use of these substances, which are prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), by professional athletes in a number of sports in Australia. Widespread use has been identified or is suspected in a number of professional sporting codes. In detailing the nature and extent of this threat to the professional sporting industry and the Australian Community, this report provides an important opportunity for Government, regulatory bodies and the sporting industry to address these issues head on. Details: Canberra: Australian Crime Commission, 2013. 47p. Source: Internet Resource: http://resources.news.com.au/files/2013/02/07/1226572/544748-acc-reoport.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Australia URL: http://resources.news.com.au/files/2013/02/07/1226572/544748-acc-reoport.pdf Shelf Number: 127556 Keywords: AthletesDrug Abuse and CrimeOrganized Crime (Australia)Sports |
Author: Guerrero-Gutiérrez, Eduardo Title: Security, Drugs, and Violence In Mexico: A Survey. 7th North American Forum, Washington, DC, 2011 Summary: The survey is composed by five sections. The first one is a diagnosis with two components. The first one is a brief description of Mexico’s security institutions. The survey includes a brief update of the most significant changes on these institutions during the last year, especially a report on the current situation of the police forces. The second component has to do with the present dynamics of Mexican organized crime. Here, the survey provides an account of Mexico’s drug trafficking organizations, including the different criminal activities these organizations perform, their geographic distribution, and the relationships among them. Also, the fragmentation of some of these organizations is described, and a new typology of cartels is included. The second section is about organized crime violence. Considering that violence trends are changing quickly this survey includes a general update of the phenomenon. In addition to the factors that explain increases of violence, the survey also points out the main factors that explain the geographic dispersion of violence as well as its regional specifics. The third section reviews the government’s strategy and actions against organized crime. This section includes an analysis of the outcomes of the Federal Government’s deployment of the force against organized crime through “joint operations” (operativos conjuntos), and an assessment of the government’s security policy impact on violence levels. The fourth section describes the general traits of the Mexican and North American drug markets. Finally, the fifth section addresses Mexican public opinion; it brings together the results of recent polls regarding security and government actions against organized crime, and provides an account of the government’s communication strategy on security issues. This Survey’s Data Sources The survey exhibits extensive public data from Mexican government agencies, and from American and international agencies such as the U.S. Department of Justice and United Nations. Some tables and figures derive from two databases constructed by the author, through the systematic recollection of information in newspapers, weekly magazines, and press releases from official agencies. The first database shows the number of organized crime executions. For its construction more than 30,000 news articles related to organized crime homicides were collected. These articles were taken from the following 19 national and regional newspapers: Crónica, El Economista, El Financiero, El Gráfico, El Norte, El Sol de México, El Universal, Excélsior, Imagen, Impacto, La Jornada, La Prensa, La Razón, La Segunda de Ovaciones, Metro, Milenio, Ovaciones, Reforma, and UnoMásUno. This database is complementary to the official one, which has not been updated since December 2010. The second database contains information on 1,029 messages placed by criminal organizations next to corpses of executed individuals. Details: Mexico: Lantia Consultores, S.C., 2011. 146p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 14, 2013 at: http://iis-db.stanford.edu/evnts/6716/NAF_2011_EG_(Final).pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico URL: http://iis-db.stanford.edu/evnts/6716/NAF_2011_EG_(Final).pdf Shelf Number: 127617 Keywords: Criminal CartelsDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug TraffickingOrganized Crime (Mexico)ViolenceViolent Crime |
Author: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Global SMART Programme Title: Indonesia: Situation Assessment on Amphetamine-Type Stimulants Summary: The manufacture, trafficking and use of crystalline methamphetamine is now the greatest drug threat to Indonesia. Crystal methamphetamine seizures rose 79 per cent in 2011 to 1,161 kg from the 649 kg seized in 2010, the report says, noting that while cannabis remains the most widely used illicit drug in Indonesia, crystalline methamphetamine use has expanded continually during the past several years, particularly among laborers, students and commercial sex workers. Ecstasy, popular with Indonesian young adults, continues to be the third most widely used illicit drug in Indonesia. The report, Indonesia Situation Assessment on Amphetamine-Type Stimulants (2013), highlights the latest trends and emerging concerns related to ATS in Indonesia, with the aim of gaining a more comprehensive understanding of the crystalline methamphetamine and ecstasy situation in Indonesia. Details: Vienna: UNODC, 2013. 52p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 4, 2013 at: http://www.unodc.org/documents/indonesia//publication/2013/Indonesia_ATS_2013_low.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Indonesia URL: http://www.unodc.org/documents/indonesia//publication/2013/Indonesia_ATS_2013_low.pdf Shelf Number: 127822 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeIllicit Drugs (Indonesia)Methamphetamines |
Author: Lovenheim, Michael F. Title: Does Federal Financial Aid Affect College Enrollment? Evidence from Drug Offenders and the Higher Education Act of 1998 Summary: In 2001, amendments to the Higher Education Act made people convicted of drug offenses ineligible for federal financial aid for up to two years after their conviction. Using rich data on educational outcomes and drug charges in the NLSY 1997, we show that this law change had a large negative impact on the college attendance of students with drug convictions. On average, the temporary ban on federal financial aid increased the amount of time between high school graduation and college enrollment by about two years, and we also present suggestive evidence that affected students were less likely to ever enroll in college. Students living in urban areas and those whose mothers did not attend college appear to be the most affected by these amendments. Importantly, we do not find that the law deterred young people from committing drug felonies nor did it substantively change the probability that high school students with drug convictions graduated from high school. We find no evidence of a change in college enrollment of students convicted of non-drug crimes, or of those charged by not convicted of drug offenses. In contrast to much of the existing research, we conclude that, for this high-risk group of students, eligibility for federal financial aid strongly impacts college investment decisions. Details: Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2013. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: NBER Working Paper No. 18749: Accessed March 5, 2013 at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w18749 Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w18749 Shelf Number: 127830 Keywords: Colleges and Universities (U.S.)Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersFinancial Assistance |
Author: Drake, Elizabeth Title: Chemical Dependency Treatment for Offenders: A Review of the Evidence and Benefit-Cost Findings Summary: The Washington State Institute for Public Policy was directed by the 2012 Legislature to review whether chemical dependency treatment in the adult and juvenile justice systems reduces crime and substance abuse. The Institute was also asked to estimate the monetary benefits and costs of these programs. We conducted a systematic review of research studies to determine if, on average, these programs have been shown to reduce crime. To narrow our review of this vast literature, we focused on the type of chemical dependency programs funded by Washington taxpayers. We located 55 unique studies with sufficient research rigor to include in our review. Programs for adult offenders have been evaluated more frequently than for juveniles. Of the 55 studies, 45 evaluated treatments delivered to adults while only 10 were for juveniles. Our findings indicate a variety of chemical dependency treatments are effective at reducing crime. Recidivism is reduced by 4-9%. Some programs also have benefits that substantially exceed costs. We found that community case management for adult substance abusers has a larger effect when coupled with “swift and certain.” This finding is consistent with an emerging trend in the criminal justice literature—that swiftness and certainty of punishment has a larger deterrent effect than the severity of punishment. Details: Olympia, WA: Washignton State Institute for Public Policy, 2012. 56p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 5, 2013 at: http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/rptfiles/12-12-1201.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/rptfiles/12-12-1201.pdf Shelf Number: 127838 Keywords: Cost-Benefit AnalysisDrub Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug Offenders (U.S.) |
Author: Payne, Jason Title: Prevalence and Issues Relating to Cannabis Use Among Prison Inmates: Key findings from Australian research since 2001 Summary: The nexus between drug use and crime has long been the subject of international and Australian criminological research. In particular, research has focused on the link between drug use and high volume recidivist offending, the results of which have, over the years, inspired a range of policy responses which aim to tackle the problem of drug misuse at all levels of the criminal justice system. Early intervention with young people, it is hoped, will reduce the prevalence and severity of drug use among future generations while limiting any negative consequences of their contact with the criminal justice system. For those more heavily dependent drug users, drug courts and other more intensive interventions are developed with the hopes of reducing drug dependency and thereby minimising the associated criminal consequences. In Australia, prison populations have been a key source of data for examining the nexus between drugs and crime, although in many cases the research has focused primarily on the so-called ‘harder’ drug types such as heroin, amphetamine, cocaine and ecstasy. Information about cannabis use is often collected and reported, but usually only within the broader context of other illicit drug use. For this reason, this paper provides a consolidation of research findings about cannabis from research and other data collection projects conducted within Australian prisons since 2000. Overview of key findings the vast majority of prison inmates have used cannabis at least once in their life. Self-report estimates of lifetime use are relatively consistent across studies, ranging from 81 per cent to 88 per cent the prevalence of lifetime cannabis among prisoners use varies by gender; however the differences are inconsistent. In some studies males have a higher rate than females, while in others the opposite is found although only one national study has examined the juvenile detainee population, the results suggest higher rates of lifetime cannabis use when compared with adult prisoners around one-in-three prison inmates report having used cannabis in the past 6-12 months, typically before entering prison. Estimates of recent use vary between 60 and 70 per cent the majority of prisoners who had used cannabis in the months leading up to their imprisonment did so at least once a day – often more conservative estimates suggest that approximately one-in-three prisoners reported using cannabis while in custody. Estimates vary between 30 and 50 per cent. Drug users in prison more often than not report cannabis as the first drug they used while in custody two in every five prisoners released from custody expect to use cannabis upon their release and the expectation of post-release drug use was a significant predictor of re-incarceration. Female prisoners were less likely than males to have intentions of using cannabis upon their release around half of all male prisoners released from custody report using cannabis after being released. Females were less likely than males to have used cannabis post-release. Details: Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2013. 6p. Source: Internet Resource: AIC Research into Practice Brief 7: Accessed March 8, 2013 at: http://ncpic.org.au/ncpic/publications/aic-bulletins/article/aic-research-into-practice-brief-7-prevalence-and-issues-relating-to-cannabis-use-among-prison-inmates-key-findings-from-australian-research-since-2001 Year: 2013 Country: Australia URL: http://ncpic.org.au/ncpic/publications/aic-bulletins/article/aic-research-into-practice-brief-7-prevalence-and-issues-relating-to-cannabis-use-among-prison-inmates-key-findings-from-australian-research-since-2001 Shelf Number: 127905 Keywords: Cannabis (Australia)Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and Crime |
Author: Irvine, Steve Title: Arizona Youth Survey 2012 Data Brief Summary: The Arizona Criminal Justice Commission (ACJC) conducts a statewide, biennial survey with technical assistance from Bach Harrison, LLC to estimate the prevalence of drug use and other risky behaviors among Arizona 8th, 10th, and 12th grade youth and inquire about the circumstances in which they live. The Arizona Youth Survey (AYS) is a school-based survey that was successfully implemented in 2012 across 349 schools in all 15 Arizona counties resulting in a final sample size of 62,817 youth. This ACJC data brief summarizes the primary findings from the 2012 AYS. Alcohol continues to be the most used substance among youth in Arizona across all grades, with 37.3% of 8th graders, 59.1% of 10th graders, and 69.2% of 12th graders report-ing having consumed alcohol at least once in their lifetime. For substance use in the 30-days prior to taking the survey, alcohol was again the most widely used, with 17.1% of 8th graders, 32.1% of 10th graders, and 43.5% of 12th graders reporting use. As is evident with alcohol, rates of substance use among youth tend to be higher among older youth com-pared to younger youth (Tables 1 and 2). An exception to this pattern can be seen in rates of inhalant use where 8th grade youth have higher rates of lifetime and past 30 day use than 10th and 12th grade youth. Note that the synthetic drug and other club drug categories contained in Chart 1 and Tables 1 and 2 were added in the 2012 survey. The five substances that have the highest percentages of lifetime and 30-day use among Arizona youth are alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, prescription pain relievers, and synthetics (e.g., bath salts, spice, etc). To illustrate the relationship between substance use and gen-der, Chart 1 shows the lifetime and 30 day usage rates of the five highest used drugs by gender. The rates of substance use for males and females are generally similar to one an-other. Nevertheless, among the five substances that are used by the highest percentage of Arizona youth, females report slightly higher rates of use than males for alcohol and pre-scription pain relievers. Details: Phoenix: Arizona Criminal Justice Commission, 2013. 2p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 26, 2013 at: http://acjc.state.az.us/ACJC.Web/Pubs/Home/AYS%20general%20data%20brief%202012%20final%20march%2012%202013.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://acjc.state.az.us/ACJC.Web/Pubs/Home/AYS%20general%20data%20brief%202012%20final%20march%2012%202013.pdf Shelf Number: 128137 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Use and Abuse, JuvenilesSubstance Abuse, Juvenile (Arizona, U.S.) |
Author: Jovchelovitch, Sandra Title: Underground Sociabilities: Identity, Culture and Resistance in Rio de Janeiro's Favelas. Final Report Summary: Underground Sociabilities investigated pathways of exclusion and social development in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. It examined the lived world of favela communities and the work of two local organisations AfroReggae and CUFA, to systematise and disseminate effective experiences of social development. The project comprised three studies: an investigation of the lifeworld of favela communities, a systematic study of favela organisations AfroReggae and CUFA and an investigation of elite external observers in the wider city. Our approach was psychosocial, ethnographic and multimethod: questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with 204 favela residents analysis of documents pertaining to 130 projects of social development narrative interviews with 10 AfroReggae and CUFA leaders interviews with 16 external observers and partners, with special emphasis on the police Fieldwork was conducted between October 2009 and February 2011 in Rio de Janeiro. Four communities were studied: Cantagalo, City of God, Madureira and Vigário Geral. They were selected considering location in the city and link with AfroReggae and CUFA. Cantagalo and Vigário Geral fit the accepted definition of favelas, whereas City of God was built as a planned area for relocating favela-dwellers displaced from the city centre during the 1960s. Madureira is a formal neighbourhood surrounded by favelas. Theoretical inspiration was drawn from the concepts of sociability, social representations, imagination and psychosocial cartographies. Findings enabled the development of the concept of psychosocial scaffoldings. THE CONTEXT AND RESEARCH PROBLEM Rio is an unequal city; more than 20% of its population live in favelas. Residence in a favela impacts negatively on income, education, teenage pregnancy, literacy and mortality at young age. The rooting of drug trading in the favelas during the 1970s and 80s created parallel norms and regulations in favela communities and triggered a territorial war between drug trade factions and the police. Favela-dwellers were caught in-between. Violence, lack of services and socioeconomic deprivation in the favelas created social exclusion and separation between the favelas and the asphalted areas of Rio, known in the city as the division morro/asfalto (hill/asphalt). Favelas were pushed underground and became invisible, their diverse community life shut off by geographical, economic, symbolic, behavioural and cultural barriers. Since the 1990s new actors – young, mainly black, favela dwellers – entered the public sphere to organise responses to poverty, violence and segregation challenging the traditional model of the NGO and repositioning favela populations in the Brazilian public sphere. Details: London: London School of Economics and Political Science, Institute of Social Psychology, 2012. 158p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 26, 2013 at: http://www.psych.lse.ac.uk/undergroundsociabilities/pdf/Underground_Sociabilities_Final_Report.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Brazil URL: http://www.psych.lse.ac.uk/undergroundsociabilities/pdf/Underground_Sociabilities_Final_Report.pdf Shelf Number: 128141 Keywords: Cultural ActivitiesDrug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug TraffickingFavelas (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)Socioeconomic Conditions and CrimeUrban Communities |
Author: U.S. Department of Justice, National Drug Intelligence Center, National Gang Intelligence Center Title: Eastern Pennsylvania Drug and Gang Threat Assessment 2011 Summary: The influence of New York area (New York City and northern New Jersey) drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and gangs reaches nearly every sizable drug market in eastern Pennsylvania. a Dominican DTOs and gangs are the most active of these groups, and their influence within the region is increasing except in select drug markets where Mexican DTOs are dominant and growing. In Philadelphia and Reading, for instance, the influence of Dominican DTOs has diminished since 2008, when Mexican DTOs emerged as the principal wholesale drug distributors, supplying hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and heroin each year to eastern Pennsylvania drug markets. Drug-related violence, committed primarily by criminal groups against other criminals, is increasing in several eastern Pennsylvania communities even as overall violent crime rates are decreasing throughout the region. Emerging trends in the region include the following: • New York area gangs—previously significant but ad hoc suppliers of drugs to eastern Pennsylvania—are becoming increasingly organized, entrenched, and dominant in many eastern Pennsylvania drug markets. • Cocaine and heroin trafficking have represented the greatest drug-related law enforcement and healthcare challenges to communities in eastern Pennsylvania for many years. However, heroin trafficking has increased sharply in recent years, emerging as the single greatest drug threat to the region. • Heroin abuse among adolescents is increasing in eastern Pennsylvania, in part because some adolescent prescription opioid abusers are transitioning to heroin. • Dominican DTOs and gangs—the most prolific drug distributors in eastern Pennsylvania— are strengthening their operations in Hazleton, a strategic location where they are dominating and expanding drug distribution. • Mexican DTOs are the dominant wholesale cocaine distributors in Philadelphia and Reading drug markets. They are increasingly transporting wholesale shipments of cocaine from the Southwest Border to Philadelphia and Reading, contributing to strong and stable cocaine availability in those drug markets. • Rival gangs and organized thieves are more frequently engaging in home invasions, ransom kidnappings, and organized thefts from drug dealers in many eastern Pennsylvania drug markets. • Coatesville, Harrisburg, Lancaster, and Lebanon have experienced an increase in organized and deliberate drug-related violence perpetrated by street gangs and independent robbery crews that target other criminals, particularly drug dealers in possession of cash. Details: Johnstown, PA: National Drug Intelligence Center, 2011. 38p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 26, 2013 at: http://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs44/44229/44229p.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs44/44229/44229p.pdf Shelf Number: 128143 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug MarketsDrug Trafficking (U.S.)Gangs and Drug ViolenceOrganized Crime |
Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Home Affairs Committee Title: Drugs: Breaking the Cycle. Ninth Report of Session 2012–13 Summary: Key facts • England and Wales has almost the lowest recorded level of drug use in the adult population since measurement began in 1996. Individuals reporting use of any drug in the last year fell significantly from 11.1% in 1996 to 8.9% in 2011–12. There was also a substantial fall in the use of cannabis from 9.5% in 1996 to 6.9% in 2011–12. • The prevalence of drug use among 11 to 15 year olds has also declined since 2001. In 2010, 18% of pupils reported that they had ever taken drugs and 12% said they had taken drugs in the last year, compared with 29% and 20% in 2001. • Around four in five adults (78%) who had taken any illicit drug in the last year thought it was very or fairly easy for them to personally get illegal drugs when they wanted them: around a third (34%) thought it was very easy and 44% thought it fairly easy. Adults who had not taken any illicit drug in the last year perceived a slightly lower level of ease of obtaining illegal drugs if they wanted them (75% perceived it to be very or fairly easy to obtain drugs compared with 78% of those that had taken drugs in the last year). • Around 50% of all organised crime groups are involved in drugs and 80% of the most harmful groups are involved in drugs predominantly in importation/supply of class A drugs. • Drugs account for some 20% of all crime proceeds, about half of transnational organized crime proceeds and between 0.6% and 0.9% of global GDP. Drug-related profits available for money-laundering through the financial system would be equivalent to between 0.4% and 0.6% of global GDP. Details: London: The Stationery Office Limited, 2012. 149p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 4, 2013 at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmhaff/184/184.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmhaff/184/184.pdf Shelf Number: 128257 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug AddictionDrug OffendersDrug Use and Abuse (U.K.)Organized Crime |
Author: National Advisory Council on Prescription Drug Misuse (Canada) Title: First Do No Harm: Responding to Canada’s Prescription Drug Crisis Summary: Certain prescription drugs, like opioids, sedative-hypnotics and stimulants, are associated with serious harms like addiction, overdose and death. These drugs can have a devastating impact on individuals and their families, as well as place a significant burden on our health, social services and public safety systems. In countries like Canada, where these prescription drugs are readily available, the associated harms have become a leading public health and safety concern. Canada is the world’s second largest per capita consumer of one type of these drugs, opioids (International Narcotics Control Board, 2013). Some First Nations in Canada have declared a community crisis owing to the prevalence of the harms associated with prescription drugs (Dell et al., 2012). While Canadian cost data is lacking, recent research from the United States estimates the annual cost of the non-medical use of prescription opioids to be more than $50 billion, with lost productivity and crime accounting for 94% of this amount (Hansen, Oster, Edelsberg, Woody, & Sullivan, 2011). The National Advisory Council on Prescription Drug Misuse was formed in response to the growing problem in Canada. Led by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA), the Coalition on Prescription Drug Misuse (Alberta) and the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness, in partnership with Health Canada’s First Nations and Inuit Health Branch’s Prescription Drug Abuse Coordinating Committee (PDACC), the Council developed First Do No Harm: Responding to Canada’s Prescription Drug Crisis (the Strategy). The Strategy represents a broad collective effort by contributors who are active participants in this work and stewards of its realization. Council members were invited to participate because of their expertise, involvement and commitment to the issue, and their ability to take on responsibility in addressing it or in implementing solutions. Members represent governments, healthcare professionals (physicians, pharmacists, coroners, dentists and nurses), patients and families, First Nations, enforcement officials, regulators, industry leaders and researchers. This membership reflects a commitment to coordinated action across multiple sectors and jurisdictions. The Council developed a strategy that addresses the harms associated with prescription drugs, while giving important consideration to their therapeutic uses. Council members were actively involved in developing the recommendations, sought input from their networks of organizations and across sectors, and focused on communication and coordination within and across jurisdictions, disciplines and communities. First Do No Harm: Responding to Canada’s Prescription Drug Crisis addresses prescription drugs that are legal and have therapeutic uses, but also have a high potential for harm. This Strategy defines the scope of the prescription drug crisis Canada faces and provides a roadmap for reducing the harms associated with these drugs. It presents 58 achievable short- and longer-term recommendations that Council members believe will address these harms and have a collective impact. The members share in the issue and will now share in addressing it through implementing the recommendations. Details: Ottawa: Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, 2013. 88p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 5, 2013 at: http://www.ccsa.ca/2013%20CCSA%20Documents/Canada-Strategy-Prescription-Drug-Misuse-Report-en.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Canada URL: http://www.ccsa.ca/2013%20CCSA%20Documents/Canada-Strategy-Prescription-Drug-Misuse-Report-en.pdf Shelf Number: 128276 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimePrescription Drug Abuse (Canada) |
Author: Trautmann, Franz Title: Further Insights into Aspects of the EU Illicit Drugs Market: Summaries and Key Findings Summary: • Our estimates for the EU cannabis market suggest a range of approximately €7 billion to €10 billion for 2010. These estimates are likely low as they do not account for the “consumption gap” (see below) that is created when data from general population surveys are used to measure substance use. Prior estimates of the EU cannabis market ranged from €15-35 billion. • This difference arises from two key findings of this study: o Cannabis users who use more frequently also smoke more each time they use. This is true across the seven countries studied. o Occasional users are more likely to share than are frequent users; that still further reduces the amount they consume at each session. o This picture also seems to apply to amphetamine, ecstasy and cocaine use. • Prior estimates multiplied the number of users by the average number of sessions per user and the average amount per session; this will lead to overestimates of the quantity consumed because, for example infrequent users are the vast majority of all users and they use much less per session as the result of sharing. • Our study also shows that intensive users are a small to modest fraction of cannabis users (between 5% and 25%), but are responsible for the bulk (between 55% and 77%) of the total amount of cannabis annually consumed in all countries. Infrequent users of cannabis, using less than once per month, form the largest group of past year cannabis users but account for 2 percent or less of the quantity consumed. • Another important finding is that users stating that they used in the past month and specifying the quantity used in the past month do not consume (the same amounts) each month. Multiplying their consumption by twelve to obtain an annual estimate may result in an overestimation. There are also other factors which might have led to earlier overestimations of cannabis consumption. One might be overstating the share of ‘high consumption users’ among past year. Finally, earlier studies have used higher estimates of amounts of cannabis used per unit compared to those we found in our study. • Substantial prior research finds that opioid substitution treatment (OST) such as methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) contributes substantially to a reduction of drug use related harm and to better health. Research shows that OST reduces the frequency and intensity of illicit heroin use among treatment clients. Drawing from a wider lower and upper bound range, the study calculates that the amount of pure illicit heroin consumption averted per Problem Heroin User retained in MMT each month ranges from a conservative estimate of 1.26 grams to a high estimate of 3.09 grams. This compares with estimates for the amount of pure heroin consumed when not engaged in MMT, which ranged from 1.79 to 4.5 grams. At an individual level, changes on this scale are equivalent to a 70 per cent reduction in the amount of pure heroin consumed while retained in MMT. • Extrapolating these estimates across the four case study Member States considered, we conclude that retention in MMT may reduce total pure heroin consumption by around 30 per cent. Assuming 221,452 Problem Heroin Users from a wider population of 505,173 were in receipt of MMT across these four Member States, total monthly consumption of pure heroin is estimated to have reduced by between 0.28 and 0.69 metric tons, from an estimated total of between 0.9 and 2.3 metric tons consumed. • Enforcing laws against the production and distribution of cannabis dramatically inflate their costs. The increase is largely driven by producers and traffickers requiring compensation for their risk of arrest, incarceration, seizure, and violent injury as well as by the inefficiencies associated with having to operate covertly. • Drug markets to some extent follow the same laws of economics of licit markets, as attested by our Delphi survey of European drug experts about key trends of the illicit drugs market and policy responses in the EU. The majority of experts stress the analogy of the illicit drugs market with other (licit) markets. For example, it is important to maintain working relations with suppliers and employees. A study of 33 failed transactions in the Dutch cocaine smuggling trade found that the smuggler mostly tried to understand what went wrong and work out a reasonable way of arranging compensation. However about 40% did involve either violence or its threat; how that affects behaviour within the market remains to be worked out. Details: Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2013. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 5, 2013 at: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/anti-drugs/files/eu_market_summary_en.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Europe URL: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/anti-drugs/files/eu_market_summary_en.pdf Shelf Number: 128295 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug PoliciesIllicit Drug Markets (Europe) |
Author: Stevens, Alex Title: Applying Harm Reduction Principles to the Policing of Retail Drug Markets Summary: The policing of drug markets is usually conceptualised primarily as a matter of law enforcement – drug dealers and people who use drugs (PWUDs) are breaking the law, and the role of the police is to reduce such law breaking. However, the wider purpose of policing is to ensure the safety of the community by reducing harms to its members. This report examines the interaction between law enforcement and harm reduction in the policing of retail level drug markets. Key Points: • The level of harm is more important than the size of the market. • Visible, open air drug markets tend to be more harmful per unit of use than hidden, closed drug markets • Policing tactics that are not experienced by the community as being fair, lawful and effective will harm police legitimacy and community relations. • Some enforcement-led approaches, including short-term crackdowns and large scale stop and search, are unlikely to produce sustainable reductions in drug sales. They may increase levels of violence and health harms and reduce police legitimacy. • It is rarely possible to eliminate retail drug markets, but well designed and implemented policing tactics can force the drug market to take less harmful forms. • Applying harm reduction principles to drug policing may boost police legitimacy as well as community safety. • Focused deterrence and ‘pulling levers’ may reduce both harm and crime, but this depends on the context and on careful implementation and evaluation. Details: London: International Drug Policy Consortium, 2013. 15p. Source: Internet Resource: Modernising Drug Law Enforcement Report 3: Accessed April 6, 2013 at: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/64663568/library/MDLE-report_3_applying-harm-reduction-to-policing-of-retail-markets.pdf Year: 2013 Country: International URL: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/64663568/library/MDLE-report_3_applying-harm-reduction-to-policing-of-retail-markets.pdf Shelf Number: 128303 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug EnforcementDrug MarketsDrug OffendersDrug Policy |
Author: Lynch, Shannon M. Title: Women’s Pathways to Jail: Examining Mental Health, Trauma, and Substance Use Summary: The rate of incarceration of women has increased substantially in recent decades, with a 31 percent increase between 2000 and 2011 (Minton, 2012). Female offenders appear to have different risk factors for offending than do male offenders. In particular, female offenders report greater incidence of mental health problems and serious mental illness (SMI) than do male offenders (James and Glaze, 2006; Steadman et al., 2009). Female offenders also report higher rates of substance dependence as well as greater incidence of past physical and sexual abuse (James and Glaze, 2006). Other researchers also have noted elevated rates of experiences of interpersonal trauma, substance dependence, and associated symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in female offenders (Green et al., 2005; Lynch et al., 2012). This multisite study addresses critical gaps in the literature by assessing the prevalence of SMI, PTSD, and substance use disorders (SUD) in women in jail, and the pathways to jail for women with and without SMI. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance, 2013. 4p. Source: Internet Resource: BJA Policiy Brief: Accessed April 18, 2013 at: https://www.bja.gov/Publications/WomensPathwaysToJail.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://www.bja.gov/Publications/WomensPathwaysToJail.pdf Shelf Number: 128414 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeFemale InmatesFemale Offenders (U.S.)Jail InmatesMental Health ServicesMentally Ill Offenders |
Author: Shearer, James Title: The prison opiate dependence treatment trial Summary: The Prison Opiate Dependence Treatment Trial (the trial) examined the treatment history and treatment outcomes for 204 heroin users in NSW prisons between January 2002 and January 2004. The trial was commissioned by the New South Wales Corrections Health Service to evaluate the introduction of naltrexone, a long-acting opioid antagonist, through a controlled comparison with the two existing treatments for heroin users: methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) and drug-free counselling (AOD). The randomisation of subjects to each of the three treatment groups was not successful due to a number of factors outside the control of the researchers. Principal among these was the very poor uptake of naltrexone. Only 9 out 66 (14%) subjects assigned to naltrexone actually started naltrexone treatment and ultimately only 14 subjects out of 204 (7%) started naltrexone over the entire two year study period. An intention-to-treat analysis would be inappropriate when so few designated subjects received their experimental treatment. Secondly, the improved availability of MMT and the introduction of the mixed opioid agonist/antagonist buprenorphine meant that experimental control for methadone/buprenorphine was largely lost. Finally, the availability of heroin within NSW prisons declined in line with reduced supply in the general community (Day, Topp et al. 2003). Heroin use was a principal outcome for the study. Low levels of heroin use at baseline considerably reduced the likelihood of detecting any treatment effects. For these reasons the trial ceased recruitment in July 2003 but continued follow up until January 2004. The trial was successful in recruiting and following up subjects with a 91% follow up achieved. Subjects were assessed for suitability, randomised and interviewed regarding their drug use history, prison history and other health and psychosocial outcomes. Subjects provided hair samples to be tested for opiate use and finger prick blood samples to be tested for HIV and hepatitis C antibodies. The subjects were re-interviewed at six months and provided further hair and blood samples. At twelve months, record checks were undertaken to examine treatment retention, compliance, concomitant medications and side-effects. For analytical purposes, subjects were divided into five mutually exclusive treatment exposure groups. Subjects who received naltrexone prior to their follow up interview were categorised as the naltrexone study group (n=9). Subjects who received buprenorphine were categorised as the buprenorphine group (n=39). Subjects who received MMT only were categorised as the MMT group (n=89). Subjects who received AOD counselling only were categorised as the AOD group (n=23) and finally subjects who did not receive any of these treatment were categorised as a No Treatment group (n=26). The study found very poor induction and retention rates for oral naltrexone. Only seven percent of all subjects started naltrexone over the two year study period. Among those subjects, only seven percent were retained in treatment at six-months. Six-month retention was significantly lower in the 14 subjects who started naltrexone (7%) compared to the 12 subjects who started methadone (58%) (p=0.0007). Mean days in treatment were 59 (95% CI, 32-86) for naltrexone, 100 (95% CI, 70-130) for buprenorphine and 149 (95% CI, 117-181) for methadone. While compliance to daily doses was good when subjects were receiving naltrexone (98%), most ceased naltrexone once they were released from prison even when specific arrangements were made for community dosing at no cost to the patient. This was of particular concern as overdose risk is highest post-prison release and this may be further increased if subjects have recently ceased naltrexone. No deaths or serious adverse events were noted during the study. Few side effects were noted in those subjects who received naltrexone. Most side effects were minor, including dizziness, nausea, headache, sleep disturbance and loss of appetite which resolved or were manageable. There were no other statistically significant differences in outcomes between the study groups although results were limited by the small sample sizes of the multiple comparison groups. The experience of this study was consistent with other studies of oral naltrexone in Australia and overseas. The study did not replicate the success observed among prison parolees in the US or work release programs in Singapore. The most likely reason for this was that inmates were not subject to coercion or incentives to enter and stay on naltrexone maintenance. In the absence of such incentives, opioid dependent inmates showed a preference for agonist treatment including methadone maintenance and buprenorphine maintenance. Many inmates who achieved abstinence preferred no treatment or drug free counselling over naltrexone. The overall conclusion of the study was that poor patient acceptability and retention did not support oral naltrexone in this treatment group. The study also found relatively poor retention in subjects who started buprenorphine (n=21) due to the high proportion (20%) who were discontinued due to diversion. Diverted buprenorphine was the second most injected illicit drug (11%) after heroin (14%) at follow up. Investigation of alternate dose formulations may be warranted. Half the trial subjects did not receive any AOD counselling, mostly because they declined to attend for AOD counselling (42%) or claimed that counselling was not offered (38%). Given that subjects who received AOD counselling had improved outcomes, the underlying reasons for failure to attend or be offered AOD counselling warrant further investigation. Subjects who received no treatment of any kind had the poorest outcomes on most measures. This group was characterised by shorter sentences. New forms of depot preparations and implantable devices for both naltrexone and buprenorphine may overcome the poor treatment retention experienced in this study: however such devices remain experimental. At the conclusion of recruitment for this study, CHS withdrew funding support for oral naltrexone. We conclude from this study that treatment of heroin dependence in correctional settings using oral naltrexone is relatively ineffective because of limited attraction and poor compliance and that compliance is superior for oral methadone which is also more attractive and more effective. Details: Sydney: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, 2004. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: Technical Report No. 199: Accessed May 1, 2013 at: http://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/resource/prison-opiate-dependence-treatment-trial Year: 2004 Country: Australia URL: http://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/resource/prison-opiate-dependence-treatment-trial Shelf Number: 106730 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Offender TreatmentDrug Offenders (Australia) |
Author: Organization of American States. Scenario Team Title: Scenarios for the Drug Problem in the Americas 2013 – 2025 Summary: These scenarios are stories about what could happen in the future – not what will happen (forecasts) or what should happen (policy recommendations) but what could happen over the coming years in and around the hemispheric drug ‘system’, based on current trends and including relevant political, economic, social, cultural, and international dynamics. For the construction of these “Scenarios for the Drug Problem in the Americas, 2013 – 2025,” a team of outstanding individuals from security, business, health, education, indigenous cultures, international organizations, the justice system, civil society, and politics, including former and current government officials from across the Americas, gathered together for two meetings of intense conversation. They created four scenarios based on their own diverse experiences and understandings; on an Analytical Report prepared by a team of leading experts; and on a set of interviews of 75 leaders from across the Hemisphere, including current and former Heads of Government. These very different stories of the possible evolution of the current situation are intended to be relevant, challenging, credible, and clear in order to be useful in strategic conversations of leaders about the best ways to address the problems of drugs in the Americas. The purpose of the stories is to provide a common framework and language to support dialogue, debate, and decision-making among Heads of Government and other actors, within and across countries. They are intended to support an open and constructive search for answers to core questions of drug policy and strategy: What opportunities and challenges are we and could we be facing? What are our options? What shall we do to better respond to the drug problem in the Americas? Scenarios play a very particular role in strategic planning. Because they are stories – that is, fictions – and because they come in sets of two or more different, plausible stories, they offer the political advantage of supporting informed debate without committing anyone to any particular policy position. Scenarios enable us to deal with the reality that although we cannot predict or control the future, we can work with and influence it. More specifically, scenarios are used to support the formation of policy and strategy through the use of scenario-based dialogues. The purpose of such dialogues is not to redo the construction of the scenarios, but rather to use the scenarios as they are written to discover what can and must be done. The most fruitful dialogues of this kind involve a representative group of interested and influential actors from all across the whole system in question. (This system can be a government, city, sector, community, nation, or region, for example.) Diversity is important – not just friends and colleagues but also strangers and opponents. There are four key steps for this kind of scenario-based dialogue. First, the scenarios are presented through text, slide presentation, storytelling, or video. Second, for each scenario the group addresses the question, “If this scenario occurred, what would it mean for us?” and works out the opportunities and challenges the scenario poses. Third, the group deals with the question, “If this scenario occurred, what could we do? What options do we have?” Finally, the group steps back to the present and considers the question, “Given these possible futures, what shall we do next?” Details: Washington, DC: OAS, 2013. 80p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 21, 2013 at: http://www.oas.org/documents/eng/press/Scenarios_Report.PDF Year: 2013 Country: South America URL: http://www.oas.org/documents/eng/press/Scenarios_Report.PDF Shelf Number: 128768 Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addictions (Americas)Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug ControlDrug Trafficking |
Author: Organization of American States Title: The Drug Problem in the Americas: Studies. Drugs and Security Summary: The relationship between the drug problem and security can be explained principally by the state’s weakness in performing its law and order functions, property protection and crime prevention. The varying capabilities of different states in the region to guarantee protection for their citizens and effective law enforcement constitute a key variable in understanding why in some countries the drug problem is viewed as a major security threat, while in others its effect is less intense. While drug use tends to be high among people who have committed crimes, this does not mean that the majority of drug users commit crimes. The relationship between drug use and the occurrence of crime tends to be highest in specific urban spaces, and is generally associated with drug use by socially marginalized groups. Drug trafficking is an important factor behind the high mortality rates of some countries in the hemisphere. Nevertheless, there is not enough evidence to conclude that recent changes in drug trafficking routes have resulted in a decline in violent deaths, suggesting that other underlying factors may be driving this violence. The relationship between the drug problem and organized crime works both ways: Illegal drugs provide resources that fuel crime, while organized crime serves as the engine to sustain much of the drug market. From a security perspective, the problem is more about organized crime than drugs. Illegal firearms trafficking is a major problem throughout the hemisphere, exacerbated by the relationship between illegal drugs and organized crime. Illegal drugs drive crime, violence, corruption, and impunity. These four factors are key to understanding the interaction among prohibition, criminal organizations, and state institutions. The drug problem accentuates corruption within countries, taking advantage of institutional weaknesses, lack of controls and regulations, and lack of judicial independence. Institutional responses to address the drug problem may trigger reactions that further aggravate levels of violence and crime. Often times, State attempts to combat criminal factions simultaneously and head-on lead to fragmentation and power vacuums that exacerbate violence. Details: Washington, DC: OAS, 2013. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 25, 2013 at: http://www.cicad.oas.org/main/policy/informeDrogas2013/drogasSeguridad_ENG.pdf Year: 2013 Country: International URL: http://www.cicad.oas.org/main/policy/informeDrogas2013/drogasSeguridad_ENG.pdf Shelf Number: 128798 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug EnforcementDrug TraffickingDrug ViolenceOrganized CrimePolitical Corruption |
Author: DrugScope Title: Making the Connection: Developing integrated approaches to domestic violence and substance misuse Summary: LDAN/DrugScope’s Domestic Violence project, funded by London Councils, took place over a four-year period, and focused on the development of a cross-sectoral network bringing together domestic violence and drug and alcohol services. As statistics set out in this briefing indicate, there are clear – though complex – links between domestic violence and substance misuse. However, services have not always worked effectively to address these links. The project aimed to tackle this gap, and to improve the quality of service provision for those affected by domestic violence and substance misuse, by bringing the two sectors together to discuss issues of common interest, provide practical information and support, and facilitate collaboration and partnership. At the heart of the project was an overall objective of supporting organisations to achieve a reduction in the impact and occurrence of domestic violence, abuse and repeat victimisation. Details: London: DrugScope, 2013. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 1, 2013 at: http://www.drugscope.org.uk/Resources/Drugscope/Documents/PDF/Policy/DVReport.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.drugscope.org.uk/Resources/Drugscope/Documents/PDF/Policy/DVReport.pdf Shelf Number: 128895 Keywords: Domestic Violence (U.K.)Drug Abuse and CrimeSubstance Abuse TreatmentViolence Against Women |
Author: Latessa, Edward J. Title: Final Report: Outcome and Process Evaluation of Juvenile Drug Courts Summary: This study adds to the existing juvenile drug court literature by providing a national multi-site outcome and process evaluation of nine juvenile drug courts from across the U.S. This study assesses the relative effect of each court, as well as their combined effectiveness in reaching the overall goal of reducing recidivism and improving youths' social functioning. It also identifies, where possible, the characteristics of youth and programs associated with successful outcomes. The goals of this research are consistent with those stated in the OJJDP-approved grant proposal. There were six original goals. One additional goal was added at the request of OJJDP. The goals of this research are: 1) To determine if there is a reduction in recidivism and substance abuse associated with participation in a juvenile drug court program, relative to comparison groups. 2) To determine if there are increases in social functioning related to participating in juvenile drug court programs relative to comparison groups. 3) To identify the characteristics of successful juvenile drug court participants. 4) To determine if juvenile drug courts are operating in a manner consistent with evidence-based approaches. 5) To identify the programmatic characteristics of effective juvenile drug courts. 6) To provide policymakers with information about the effectiveness of juvenile drug courts. 7) To determine if the 16 strategies for juvenile drug courts recommended by the National Drug Court Institute (NDCI) are effective practices (Bureau of Justice Assistance, 2003). The nine juvenile drug courts participating in this research study are located in: Ada County, Idaho; Clackamas County, Oregon; Jefferson County, Ohio; Lane County, Oregon; Lucas County, Ohio; Medina County, Ohio; Rhode Island (the state); San Diego County, California; and Santa Clara County, California. As discussed above, the study included both process and outcome evaluation components. Details: Cincinnati, OH: Center for Criminal Justice Research, University of Cincinnati, School of Criminal Justice, 2013. 421p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 4, 2013 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/grants/241643.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/grants/241643.pdf Shelf Number: 128931 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersJuvenile Drug CourtsJuvenile OffendersProblem-Solving CourtsRecidivism |
Author: Edmonds-Poli, Emily Title: The Effects of Drug-War Related Violence on Mexico’s Press and Democracy Summary: This working paper is the product of a joint project on civic engagement and public security in Mexico coordinated by the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego. The paper offers an assessment of the impact of criminal violence on journalists and media workers in Mexico, which is now the most dangerous country in the Western Hemisphere for journalists. Dr. Edmonds-Poli concludes with a set of policy recommendations for the Mexican government, Mexican society, and the international community to address the problem of violence against the Mexican media. The wide-ranging recommendations offer concrete steps that individuals and institutions involved may undertake to alleviate the violence, thereby ensuring freedom of expression and public access to information in Mexico, and, ultimately, strengthening Mexico’s democracy. Details: Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; San Diego, CA: Trans-Border Institute, University of San Diego, 2013. 43p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 7, 2013 at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/edmonds_violence_press_0.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico URL: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/edmonds_violence_press_0.pdf Shelf Number: 129002 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug TraffickingDrug-Related Violence (Mexico)HomicidesJournalistsMediaViolent Crime |
Author: Peetz, Peter Title: Discourses on Violence in Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua: Laws and the Construction of Drug- and Gender-Related Violence Summary: In Central America, legislation aiming to reduce violence and crime has become an important topic in the security debate. Focusing on Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, this paper analyzes laws and other legal texts regarding the trade in and consumption of drugs on the one hand, and gender-related violence on the other. It shows how the content and the wording of legal texts contribute to the social construction of stereotyped offenders, such as youth gang members, drug users, or foreign nationals. The legal texts in Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua reflect both the hegemonic and the counter-discursive influences on each country's legal discourse. Details: Hamburg, Germany: GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, 2008. 29p. Source: Internet Resource: GIGA Working Paper No 72 ; Accessed June 21, 2013 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1122406 Year: 2008 Country: Central America URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1122406 Shelf Number: 129042 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeGender-Related ViolenceViolenceViolent Crime (Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicara |
Author: Bryan, Mark Title: Drug-related Crime Summary: We provide a critical discussion of the concept drug-related crime and review methods for estimating its volume, emphasising the importance of an appropriately defined counterfactual. We then construct new estimates for England and Wales in 2003-6, combining data from the Arrestee Survey and Offending Crime and Justice Survey to ensure adequate coverage of prolific offenders/drug users and non-household residents, who are under-represented in household surveys. We find, first, that the volume of drug-induced acquisitive crime linked to heroin use is high, but there is no significant evidence of violent crime linked directly to heroin use. Second, we find no evidence at all of any drug-induced crime committed by people who use cannabis (but not heroin or cocaine). Third, we find evidence that supplying cannabis leads to a small volume of crime. The mechanisms linking cannabis supply to criminal activity merit further investigation. Details: Colchester, UK: Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, 2013. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: ISER Working Paper Series, No. 2013-08: Accessed July 11, 2013 at: https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/publications/working-papers/iser/2013-08.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/publications/working-papers/iser/2013-08.pdf Shelf Number: 129367 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersIllicit Drugs |
Author: Independent Drugs Commission for Brighton & Hove Title: Independent Drugs Commission for Brighton & Hove Report Summary: There are an estimated 60,255 people in Brighton & Hove who have used illegal drugs. This represents 36% of all adults. The figures are extrapolated from the nationwide British Crime Survey – last conducted in 2011/12 - that reports on the percentage of adults (aged 16-59). Around a quarter of these ‘lifetime users’ report using in the last year, and one eighth report using in the last month. The most popular illegal drug, as in all areas of the country, is cannabis. There is also widespread use of heroin, cocaine and amphetamines, with recent increases in the use of a wide range of new psychoactive substances, some illegal and some not controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act. It is important to remember that alcohol remains the most widely used psychoactive substance. A study conducted in 2010 identified just over 2,000 heroin and cocaine users in the city who could be identified as problem drug users – i.e. that they were dependent on one or more drugs, or were experiencing health or social problems, or were committing crimes, related to their drug use. This figure does not include those experiencing problems with drugs other than heroin or cocaine. A total of 1,442 individuals attended treatment services in the city in the financial year 2011-12. The main problem drugs reported by this group were heroin, crack cocaine, powder cocaine, and cannabis. The age profile is spread from teenagers to people in their 50s, but in general opiate and cocaine users were an older cohort than users of other drugs. The majority of treatment clients were male (71%) and white (89%). Drug related deaths have been high in Brighton & Hove, but with signs of a recent reducing trend. 50 residents of the city died in this way in 2009, but this figure had reduced to 35 in 2010, and early indications are that this reducing trend is being continued through 2011 and 2012. There are indications that this welcome decline is arising from positive action by local services in response to recommendations in coroners’ reports. Sussex police made 760 arrests for drug offences in Brighton & Hove in the financial year 2011/12. Just over half of these were for possession offences, around 40% were for supply or importation, and 5% were for production. Details: Brighton, UK: The Commission, 2013. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 24, 2013 at: http://www.safeinthecity.info/sites/safeinthecity.info/files/sitc/IDC%20draft%20recommendations.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.safeinthecity.info/sites/safeinthecity.info/files/sitc/IDC%20draft%20recommendations.pdf Shelf Number: 129500 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Offenders (U.K.) |
Author: Russell, Nina Title: A Review of the Associations between Drugs (including Alcohol) and Sexual Violence. Literature Review Report Summary: Most New Zealand adults drink occasionally, and whilst many drink in moderation, New Zealand is recognized as having a drinking culture which supports and condones the excessive consumption of alcohol. After alcohol and tobacco, marijuana is the most commonly used recreational drug in New Zealand. Most illicit drugs (with the exception of marijuana) are only used regularly by a very small percentage of the New Zealand. Young males are more likely to take drugs, drink more often and in greater amounts than other groups in New Zealand. The overall aim of the literature review is to report the associations between alcohol and drugs and sexual violence, including how incidents of sexual violence that involve alcohol and/or drugs are treated within the justice system and by the media. Details: Wellington, NZ: Department of Justice, 2008. 71p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 5, 2013 at: http://www.justice.govt.nz/policy/supporting-victims/taskforce-for-action-on-sexual-violence/documents/A%20Review%20of%20the%20Associations%20between%20Drugs%20-including%20Alcohol-%20and%20Sexual%20Violence.pdf Year: 2008 Country: New Zealand URL: http://www.justice.govt.nz/policy/supporting-victims/taskforce-for-action-on-sexual-violence/documents/A%20Review%20of%20the%20Associations%20between%20Drugs%20-including%20Alcohol-%20and%20Sexual%20Violence.pdf Shelf Number: 129524 Keywords: Alcohol Related Crime, DisorderDrug Abuse and CrimeSexual Violence |
Author: Stafford, Jennifer Title: Injecting Risk Behaviours, Self-reported mental health and crime; a comparison of recent heroin and non-heroin use from the 2012 IDRS Summary: The Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) monitors emerging trends in the use, price, purity and availability of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and cannabis. In addition to a survey of people who inject drugs (PWID), the annual data collection also includes a survey of key experts (KE) who are professionals in the field of illicit drugs and the analysis of existing indicator data on drug-related issues. For the purpose of this bulletin PWID participants were divided into two groups: recent heroin use versus non-heroin use. The bulletin explores differences between these groups in relation to drug use, injecting risk behaviours, self-reported mental health, driving and crime. The participants recruited are a sentinel group able to provide information on a range of illicit drug trends and related issues. Therefore the information from the survey is not representative of illicit drug use in the general population, and is not representative of other illicit drug users (e.g. in other geographical areas, occasional users, etc), but it is indicative of emerging trends that may warrant further monitoring and/or investigation. Details: Sydney: Sydney: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, 2013. 5p. Source: Internet Resource: Drug Trends Bulletin: Accessed August 12, 2013 at: http://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/ndarc/resources/IDRSjuly2013_0.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Australia URL: http://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/ndarc/resources/IDRSjuly2013_0.pdf Shelf Number: 129623 Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addiction (Australia)Drug Abuse and CrimeHeroinMental Health |
Author: Oregon. Audits Division Title: Department of Corrections: Treatment of the Highest-risk Offenders Can Avoid Costs Summary: The effects of substance abuse on Oregon’s economy and communities are substantial. According to a report by the consulting firm ECONorthwest, the direct economic costs from substance abuse in Oregon totaled approximately $5.9 billion in 2006. Alcohol and drug enforcement costs alone were about $656 million. As of December 2012, 70% of incarcerated offenders had some level of substance abuse problem. Research indicates that addressing the treatment needs of offenders is critical to reducing overall crime and other societal issues related to substance abuse. Studies also show the importance of treating those offenders with the highest-risk of committing new crimes. Previous evaluations have determined that Department of Corrections (DOC) and county community corrections agencies’ practices are effective and align with best practices. Offenders are systematically assessed for factors known to influence future criminal behavior and these assessments are used in determining offender programming and treatment. Our analysis of offenders released during 2008-2011, found that most were assessed in the community and in prison, and most treatment resources were directed at the highest risk offenders. However, about half of all the highest-risk offenders did not receive treatment. Highest-risk offenders are those who have been assessed by DOC and community corrections agencies as having a medium-to-high risk to reoffend and a moderate-to-high substance abuse challenge. While these offenders are costly to supervise and treat in the community, about $16 a day, the cost is substantially less than the approximate $84 a day cost in prison. We found 4,525 of the offenders assessed as highest-risk who were released from 2008-2011 did not receive treatment. We estimate Oregon taxpayers and victims could have avoided about $21.6 million in costs if substance abuse treatment had been provided to all of the highest-risk offenders. We found variations in funding and treatment efforts among counties. These variations are often due to funding shortfalls and differences in available community corrections services. The expansion of Medicaid eligibility under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which becomes effective in January 2014, offers an opportunity for the State and local community corrections agencies to provide substance abuse treatment to untreated highest-risk offenders, despite current funding limitations. Once the expansion becomes effective, additional released offenders may qualify for coverage. Under the ACA, the federal government will cover almost the entire cost of the expansion population, starting at 100 % funding from 2014-2016 and gradually decreasing to a minimum of 90 % in 2020. This expansion of health care coverage has the potential to relieve financially-stressed counties of nearly all costs of providing substance abuse treatment to offenders in the community and to make treatment seamless following their release. We recommend that DOC management work with county community corrections agencies and the Legislature to coordinate funding and track resources to provide substance abuse treatment for the highest-risk offenders wherever possible. We also recommend that DOC management explore utilizing expanded Medicaid funding for substance abuse treatment for released offenders and consider integrating Medicaid eligibility review into release planning. Details: Salem, OR: Audits Division, 2013. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Report Number 2013-20: Accessed August 19, 2013 at: http://www.sos.state.or.us/audits/pages/state_audits/full/2013/2013-20.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.sos.state.or.us/audits/pages/state_audits/full/2013/2013-20.pdf Shelf Number: 129644 Keywords: Cost-Benefit AnalysisCosts of CrimeCosts of Criminal JusticeDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentRisk AssessmentSubstance Abuse (Oregon, U.S.) |
Author: Macgregor, Sarah Title: Synthetic Cannabis: Prevalence of use among offenders, perception of risk and negative side effects experienced Summary: Key Points -- • Of 871 police detainees surveyed through the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program, 4 per cent reported recent use of synthetic cannabis. This compares to almost half (46%) who reported recent use of natural cannabis • The most common source for obtaining synthetic cannabis (aside from ‘a friend’) was from some type of shop (42%) such as a tobacconist or sex shop • At the time of interview, several synthetic compounds had been added to Schedule nine of the 2011 Commonwealth Poisons Standard by the TGA and statewide bans on the possession and distribution of synthetic cannabis products had occurred in every jurisdiction. However over half (60%) of users still believed synthetic cannabis was legal to buy at the time • The majority of detainees did not agree that synthetic cannabis is safer to use than natural cannabis, and 33 detainees reported experiencing some type of negative side effect • Most common side effects included dizziness/nausea/vomiting (26%), paranoia/panic (18%) and headaches (15%). Other symptoms included delusional behaviour/anger outbursts, hallucinations and heart palpitations/chest pains requiring emergency care • The range of negative side effects experienced by detainees from using synthetic cannabis products raises concerns for treatment providers and correctional officers who deal with drug-using offenders, given that consumers of synthetic cannabinoids could be placing themselves at risk of harm and displaying unpredictable behaviour • Evidence from overseas suggests that banning a range of specific synthetic cannabinoid compounds has led to the increased availability of more harmful compounds with more severe side effects, on the market. Details: Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2013. 10p. Source: Internet Resource: Criminal Justice Bulletin Series 11: Accessed August 19, 2013 at: http://ncpic.org.au/ncpic/publications/aic-bulletins/pdf/synthetic-cannabis-prevalence-of-use-among-offenders-perception-of-risk-and-negative-side-effects-experienced Year: 2013 Country: Australia URL: http://ncpic.org.au/ncpic/publications/aic-bulletins/pdf/synthetic-cannabis-prevalence-of-use-among-offenders-perception-of-risk-and-negative-side-effects-experienced Shelf Number: 129660 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeMarijuanaSynthetic Cannabis (Australia) |
Author: Belfield, Clive R. Title: The Economic Burden of Crime and Substance Abuse for Massachusetts and the City of Boston Summary: The negative social and economic burden from youth violence, adult crime, and substance addiction is substantial. Juvenile crime is a large proportion of total crime. Juveniles are arrested for one-in-six violent crimes and over one-quarter of all property crimes (NCJJ [2008]). They also commit crimes in school: 25% of students and 8% of teachers report some form of victimization over a school year (Dinkes et al. [2007]). Also, juvenile offenses are often the precursor to more frequent adult criminal activity: the peak offending ages are 18-22, with many criminals' first offenses during their teenage years. Such crime and violence imposes heavy burdens on victims, as well as on citizens who pay for government prevention programs and the criminal justice system. In similar fashion, substance abuse and addiction is highly prevalent, imposing significant costs on both the health care system and the justice system, as well as adversely affecting families (ONDCP [2004]). The chronic nature of substance abuse and addiction magnifies these burdens as well (Califano [2009]. In this paper we calculate the economic burden of juvenile and adult crime and substance abuse and addiction in Boston, Massachusetts. Placing economic values on these activities is the first step in assessing what public policies are appropriate and what amounts might be justifiably spent on prevention. We begin by describing the extent of juvenile and adult crime and substance abuse. No single statistic fully captures the scale of deviant behavior because it takes many inter-related forms: substance abuse often leads to crime and vice versa (NCASA [2004]). However, we emphasize deviant behavior by youth because of the strong association between youth and adult behaviors. Next, we calculate the total fiscal burden imposed on taxpayers as an annual amount. We also document the economic burden imposed on society (victims). Finally, we calculate the per youth fiscal burden. Estimates are reported as annual figures and as present values over the lifetime for youth with varying characteristics. These present value figures may be interpreted as the expected burden that a deviant youth would impose over their lifetime and so the amount that would be saved should that behavior be prevented. In conclusion, we place these calculations in the context of current public investments. Details: Unpublished paper, 2010. 27p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 17, 2014 at: http://www.sel4mass.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Economist-Belfieds-Economic-Burden-Report-March-2010.doc.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.sel4mass.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Economist-Belfieds-Economic-Burden-Report-March-2010.doc.pdf Shelf Number: 131944 Keywords: Costs of CrimeDelinquency PreventionDrug Abuse and CrimeEconomics of CrimeJuvenile OffendersSocioeconomic Status and Crime |
Author: Applied Research Services, Inc. Title: Georgia Drug Arrest Trends: The Supply-Side Model of Drug Interdiction in Georgia Summary: The present report serves as the preamble to a larger study of Georgia's Multi-jurisdictional Drug Task Forces (MJTF). In this quasi-experimental analysis of MJTF and non-MJTF jurisdictions, we examine arrest and conviction data from the state Computerized Criminal History (CCH) database as well as a number of other sources. One reason for pursuing this longitudinal study first is to ensure this particular period does not present any temporal issues that could confound the analysis. Specifically, Georgia has, along with the rest of the nation, seen significant decreases in crime over the past few years. As this study will report, Georgia's overall arrest rates have plummeted since the 2008 recession. While declining arrest rates are predictable given the drop in reported crime rates, the recession may have had a particular period effect that needs to be taken into consideration during the propensity matching phase of the MJTF study. In essence, this report accomplishes the following as a means of providing a context for the larger study and report: - Introduce the Supply-Side theory of drug interdiction; - Introduce our use of "Criminal Career" methods to study crime trends in Georgia; - Discuss and distinguish between Participation and Frequency as components of crime rates; - Discuss use of CCH data within the context of criminal career methods as a means of testing the effectiveness of Supply-Side approaches; - Discuss falling crime rates as a counterfactual; - Demonstrate the effectiveness of the supply-side approach and the differential effectiveness of the MJTFs by demonstrating: o Increased number of high-level drug arrests (larger quantities, trafficking offenses) in MJTF counties, as compared to non-MJTF counties o Larger decreases in smaller-level offenses (users), especially first-time offenses in MJTF counties, as compared to non-MJTF counties; - Discuss how drug prices have fluctuated in Georgia and the relationship of this fluctuation to drug interdiction methods. Details: Atlanta: Georgia Governor's Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, 2013. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 21, 2014 at: http://cjcc.georgia.gov/sites/cjcc.georgia.gov/files/related_files/site_page/Georgia%20Drug%20Arrest%20Trends_9.30.13.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://cjcc.georgia.gov/sites/cjcc.georgia.gov/files/related_files/site_page/Georgia%20Drug%20Arrest%20Trends_9.30.13.pdf Shelf Number: 132094 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug EnforcementDrug MarketsDrug Offenders |
Author: Webster, Julianne Title: Innovative Police Responses to Drug Problems: Exploring a Third-Party Policing Partnership Between Police and Community Pharmacy Summary: Third-party policing partnerships are a policing innovation increasingly discussed in the crime prevention literature, but what we actually know about third-party policing partnerships is extremely limited. In the main, studies examine voluntary community-oriented partnerships, 'hot-spots' approaches and strategies utilising legal-levers to mobilise third-parties to perform a crime prevention or crime control response. Typically, the results of such studies are observed through changes to crime and disorder concerning the particular intervention at the designated place. However rarely do studies seek to understand the processes underpinning the development and implementation of third-party policing partnerships which are mandated by regulation; the role of third-parties; the role of regulation in the mobilisation of the partnership; the impact of the intervention for the third-party; or the effectiveness of the strategy from the perspective of the regulated third-parties. This dissertation seeks to further understand how such third-party policing partnerships are developed; how they are implemented; the nature of their impact; and how they perform against their crime control objectives. This study of third-party policing partnerships draws upon a case study of a policing partnership implemented to control access to pseudoephedrine products from community pharmacies. Products containing pseudoephedrine are utilised as a key precursor chemical in the domestic manufacture of illicit synthetic drugs such as methylamphetamine in clandestine laboratories. Hence the diversion of these products for non-therapeutic purposes represents a serious crime problem. Details: Mt. Gravatt, QLD: Griffith University, Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance, 2012. 350p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed April 22, 2014 at: https://www120.secure.griffith.edu.au/rch/file/de2de64f-4945-5f94-96ea-b1615c5f831c/1/Webster_2012_02Thesis.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Australia URL: https://www120.secure.griffith.edu.au/rch/file/de2de64f-4945-5f94-96ea-b1615c5f831c/1/Webster_2012_02Thesis.pdf Shelf Number: 132110 Keywords: CollaborationDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug EnforcementPartnershipsThird-Party Policing |
Author: Pew Research Center Title: America's New Drug Policy Landscape: Two-Thirds Favor Treatment, Not Jail, for Use of Heroin, Cocaine Summary: The public appears ready for a truce in the long-running war on drugs. A national survey by the Pew Research Center finds that 67% of Americans say that the government should focus more on providing treatment for those who use illegal drugs such as heroin and cocaine. Just 26% think the government's focus should be on prosecuting users of such hard drugs. Support for a treatment-based approach to illegal drug use spans nearly all demographic groups. And while Republicans are less supportive of the treatment option than are Democrats or independents, about half of Republicans (51%) say the government should focus more on treatment than prosecution in dealing with illegal drug users. As a growing number of states ease penalties for drug possession, the public expresses increasingly positive views of the move away from mandatory sentences for non-violent drug crimes. By nearly two-to-one (63% to 32%), more say it is a good thing than a bad thing that some states have moved away from mandatory sentences for non-violent drug offenders. In 2001, Americans were evenly divided over the move by some states to abandon mandatory drug terms. The survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted Feb. 14-23 among 1,821 adults, finds that support for the legalization of marijuana use continues to increase. And fully 75% of the public - including majorities of those who favor and oppose the legal use of marijuana - think that the sale and use of marijuana will eventually be legal nationwide. Details: Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, 2014. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 23, 2014 at: http://www.people-press.org/files/legacy-pdf/04-02-14%20Drug%20Policy%20Release.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.people-press.org/files/legacy-pdf/04-02-14%20Drug%20Policy%20Release.pdf Shelf Number: 132147 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse PolicyDrug EnforcementDrug OffendersDrug Policy (U.S.)Drug TreatmentIllegal DrugsPublic Opinion |
Author: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Title: Global Study on Homicide 2013: Trends, Contexts, Data Summary: The Global Study on Homicide 2013 seeks to shed light on the worst of crimes - the intentional killing of one human being by another. Beyond resulting in the deaths of nearly half a million people in 2012, this form of violent crime has a broad impact on security - and the perception of security - across all societies. This study, which builds on the ground-breaking work of UNODC's first Global Study on Homicide in 2011, is particularly timely as the international community is engaged in defining the post-2015 development agenda. As United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has made clear, development progress cannot be achieved or sustained amid violence, insecurity and injustice. By improving understanding of the underlying patterns and trends related to different forms, settings and risk factors of homicide at the global, regional, national and sub-national levels, this study can be a strategic tool in supporting governments' efforts to address root causes and enhance criminal justice responses. Alongside intentional homicide related to other criminal activities and socio-political agendas, the study examines homicide related to interpersonal conflict, which includes homicides perpetrated by intimate partners or family members. Unlike other forms of homicide, which vary significantly across regions and from year to year, intimate partner and family-related homicide remains persistent and prevalent. While the vast majority of global homicide victims are men, it is overwhelmingly women who die at the hands of their intimate partners or family members. Normative standards for improving criminal justice responses to eliminate violence against women have been agreed by all United Nations Member States; clearly more must be done to improve States' capacities to effectively prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish all forms of violence against women. With regard to different settings in which lethal violence occurs, the study indicates that homicide and violence in countries emerging from conflict can become concurrent contributors to instability and insecurity. If we want to build peace, interventions must address not only the conflict itself but also surges in homicide resulting from organized crime and interpersonal violence, which can flourish in settings with weak rule of law. Specific risk factors such as alcohol and drug use and the availability of weapons are also examined in the study in order to improve understanding of how they shape patterns and prevalence of lethal violence. Deeper understanding of these enablers can inform and enhance policies aimed at preventing intentional homicides from happening in the first place. Ultimately, efforts to prevent unlawful homicide will not be effective unless governments and the international community address those who are most at risk, of both offending or becoming a victim of homicide. More than half of all global homicide victims are under 30 years of age. Much of this violence takes place in urban areas. Effective policies and strategies must not only target at-risk young people but involve them and local communities to work together to break the cycle of violence. Details: Vienna: UNODC, 2014. 155p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 6, 2014 at: http://www.unodc.org/documents/gsh/pdfs/2014_GLOBAL_HOMICIDE_BOOK_web.pdf Year: 2014 Country: International URL: http://www.unodc.org/documents/gsh/pdfs/2014_GLOBAL_HOMICIDE_BOOK_web.pdf Shelf Number: 132257 Keywords: Alcohol Related Crime, DisorderCrime StatisticsDrug Abuse and CrimeHomicidesInterpersonal ViolenceMurdersOrganized CrimeViolent Crime |
Author: Lundholm, Lena Title: Substance Use and Violence: Influence of Alcohol, Illicit Drugs and Anabolic Steroids on Violent Crime and Self-directed Summary: Interpersonal violence and suicide are major health concerns, leading to premature death, extensive human suffering and staggering monetary costs. Although violent behaviour has multiple causes, it is well known that acute substance intake and abuse increase the risks of both interpersonal and self-directed violence. This association is quite well established for alcohol, while a more ambiguous literature exists for other common drugs of abuse. For example, anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS), synthetic analogues to the "male" sex hormone testosterone are suggested to elicit violent and aggressive behaviour. Two studies (I and III) in the present thesis addressed the association between AAS use and being suspected or convicted of a violent crime among remand prisoners and in a general population sample, respectively. Further, using the case-crossover design to control for confounders stable within individuals, I also investigated the triggering (short-term risk) effect of alcohol and drugs such as benzodiazepines and AAS, on violent crime (Study II). Finally, a fourth study (IV) based on a large national forensic sample of suicide completers (n=18,894) examined the risk of using a violent, more lethal, suicide method, when under acute influence of alcohol, central stimulants or cannabis. The results of this thesis suggested that AAS use in itself is not a proximal risk factor for violent crime; the observed risk is probably due to the co-occurrence of abuse of other substances. Alcohol is a strong triggering risk factor for violent crime, constant across males and females as well as individuals with or without behavioral and psychiatric vulnerability. Intake of high doses of benzodiazepines is associated with an increased risk for violent crime. Cannabis use is associated with an increased risk of using the lethal suicide method of jumping from a height. I conclude that mapping substance abuse patterns may inform violence risk assessment and treatment planning. Details: Uppsala: Uppsala University, 2013. 80p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 8, 2014 at: http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:601819/FULLTEXT01.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Sweden URL: http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:601819/FULLTEXT01.pdf Shelf Number: 132287 Keywords: Alcohol Related Crime, DisorderDrug Abuse and CrimeSubstance AbuseSuicideViolenceViolent Crime |
Author: Youngers, Coletta A. Title: The Drug Policy Reform Agenda in the Americas. Version 2. Summary: Latin America has emerged at the vanguard of efforts to promote debate on drug policy reform. For decades, Latin American governments largely followed the drug control policies and programs of Washington's so-called war on drugs. Yet two parallel trends have resulted in a dramatic change in course: the emergence of left-wing governments that have challenged Washington's historic patterns of unilateralism and interventionism and growing frustration with the failure of the prohibitionist drug control model put forward by the US government. In recent years, the regional debate on drug policy issues -- long dormant -- has surged as evident in media coverage, renewed interest on the part of academia, the emergence of grassroots initiatives such as the cannabis reform movement, and perhaps most importantly, calls for reconsideration of prevailing drug policies by a range of local and national officials. For the first time, sitting presidents are questioning the underlining premises of the international drug control paradigm and calling for debate on alternative approaches. Their actions have had repercussions internationally, as those presidents have successfully pushed for debate within the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United Nations (UN). At the national level, numerous countries have implemented or are debating drug policy reforms. Most significantly, two countries have boldly challenged the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. Bolivia is the first country to denounce and return to the convention with a reservation, in this case with regards to coca leaf use within its own territory. And the Uruguayan government has proposed creating legal, state-controlled markets for cannabis. Uruguayan officials are carefully watching the regulatory frameworks being put in place in the U.S. states of Colorado and Washington where in November 2012 voters approved cannabis legalization referendums. At the local level, officials such as Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro are forging ahead with innovative harm reduction-oriented programs designed to provide access to health services and treatment to drug users and to reduce crime and violence. However, the obstacles to reform - at the national, regional and international levels - loom large. Efforts to rewrite drug laws in Argentina and Ecuador, for example, are floundering in the face of opposition from powerful conservative political forces and some religious sectors. More often than not, public opinion continues to support mano dura, or hardline, approaches as a result of popular perceptions and fears that more flexible drug policies will lead to increased drug use and violence. Such fears are fanned by sensationalist or biased media coverage, as well as very real problems of citizen insecurity and violence in the poor neighborhoods where illicit drug use tends to be most prevalent. Regionally, while key Latin American leaders have spoken out in favor of reform, many others have remained silent or wedded to present policy. And internationally, a key group of countries, including the United States and Canada, are vociferously opposed to taking any action outside of the confines of the existing international drug control conventions. Yet while drug policy reforms will no doubt advance slowly, major fissures are evident in the international drug control architecture so carefully crafted by the United States and other countries. Perhaps nowhere is that more evident than in Latin America. After analyzing the regional debate, national level reforms and impediments to those reforms, this report concludes with concrete policy recommendations that should be undertaken to maintain the momentum and advance drug policy debates and reforms in the region Details: London: International Drug Policy Consortium, 2013. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: IDPC Briefing Paper: Accessed May 12, 2014 at: http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/64663568/library/IDPC-briefing-paper_Drug-policy-reform-in-Latin-America_V2_ENGLISH.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Latin America URL: http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/64663568/library/IDPC-briefing-paper_Drug-policy-reform-in-Latin-America_V2_ENGLISH.pdf Shelf Number: 132333 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Control PolicyDrug Reform (Latin America) |
Author: Baradaran, Shima Title: Drugs and Violence Summary: The war on drugs has increased the United States prison population by tenfold. The foundation for the war on drugs and unparalleled increase in prisoners rely on the premise that drugs and violence are linked. Politicians, media, and scholars continue to advocate this view either explicitly or implicitly. This Article identifies the pervasiveness of this premise, and debunks the link between drugs and violence. It demonstrates that a connection between drugs and violence is not supported by historical arrest data, current research, or independent empirical evidence. That there is little evidence to support the assumption that drugs cause violence is an important insight, because the assumed causal link between drugs and violence forms the foundation of a significant amount of case law, statutes, and commentary. In particular, the presumed connection between drugs and violence has reduced constitutional protections, misled government resources, and resulted in the unnecessary incarceration of a large proportion of non-violent Americans. In short, if drugs do not cause violence - and the empirical evidence discussed in this Article suggests they do not - then America needs to rethink its entire approach to drug policy. Details: Salt Lake City, UT: S.J. Quinney College of Law, 2014. 72p. Source: Internet Resource: University of Utah College of Law Research Paper No. 75: Accessed May 12, 2014 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2414202 Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2414202 Shelf Number: 132339 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug PolicyDrug-Related ViolenceViolent Crime |
Author: Iowa Department of Corrections Title: Substance Abuse, Report to the Board of Corrections, 2006 Summary: Twenty years ago, about 2% of Iowa's prison population was serving time for a drug-related offense. As documented in these pages, drug offenders now make up about 27% of the prison population. Sentencing changes in the 1980's resulted in an increased likelihood of sentences to prison for drug offenses, as well as an increase in average length of stay. Increased resources for law enforcement, such as formation of the Division of Narcotics Enforcement and funding for multi-jurisdictional drug law enforcement task forces, has also contributed to the increase in drug offenders within the corrections system. In the 1980's, cocaine and crack cocaine was a prominent problem; today it is methamphetamines.4 Drug crimes are the most common commitment offense among newly admitted prisoners, increasing from 316 admissions in FY1995, to 1,057 in FY2005. This report begins with current information on the prevalence of offenders convicted of alcohol- and drug-related crimes within Iowa's community-based corrections and prison populations. Substance abuse, however, is a common issue among the entire corrections population, no matter the convicting offense. National offender surveys conducted in the past have found nearly 70% of probationers and over 80% of state prisoners reported past drug use. Drug and alcohol abuse among offenders is more common than for the general population. For example, about 16% of Iowans age 18 to 25, and 4% of Iowans age 26 or older, reported using illicit drugs in the past month. This report documents a much more widespread problem for Iowa's adult offender population. This report, however, goes beyond documentation of the problem. It describes how the Iowa Department of Corrections is addressing substance abuse among the offender population through the provision of treatment, and monitoring for current drug and alcohol usage. All information was obtained from the Iowa Corrections Offender Network (ICON) with many of the reports obtained via the Iowa Justice Data Warehouse. Details: Des Moines, IA: Iowa Department of Corrections, 2006. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 14, 2014 at: http://publications.iowa.gov/13047/1/BOCSubstanceAbuseReport.pdf Year: 2006 Country: United States URL: http://publications.iowa.gov/13047/1/BOCSubstanceAbuseReport.pdf Shelf Number: 102599 Keywords: Alcohol Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Law EnforcementDrug Offenders (Iowa)PrisonersSubstance Abuse Treatment |
Author: Bond, Brenda J. Title: Lowell, Massachusetts, Smart Policing Initiative: Reducing Property Crime in Targeted Hot Spots Summary: From 2007 through 2008, the city of Lowell, Massachusetts, experienced a 15 percent increase in property crime, driven by surges in car theft (12 percent), burglary (14 percent), and larceny (21 percent). Much of the increase was tied to drug offenders who committed crimes to support their addictions. The Lowell Smart Policing Initiative (SPI), funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), sought to address drug-related property crime through problem-oriented policing and the SARA model: Scanning, Analysis, Response, and Assessment. A Steering Committee composed of department staff and researchers who were well versed in advanced problem solving led the Lowell SPI. In order to avoid some of the traditional problems with SARA implementation, the Lowell SPI team employed a more sophisticated problem-solving process that assessed the congruence or "fit" among the targeted crime problems and the different elements of the SPI strategy. As part of the analysis phase, the Lowell SPI team collaborated with the city Health Department to examine the background and history of all individuals who died as a result of a drug overdose in Lowell from 2005 through 2008. Results confirmed the strong link between drug use and property crime. The SPI team then identified 12 property crime hot spots across three sectors, most of which were near known drug markets. Lowell crime analysts identified comparison hot spots that were matched to targeted hot spots using a matched-pair design. Captains in each of the three sectors generated response plans which were discussed, modified, and monitored at the bi-weekly SPI Steering Committee meetings. Sector Captains also completed bi-weekly surveys which systematically captured the strategies and tactics that were employed in the targeted hot spots. The survey results documented a high degree of congruence between the targeted crime problems and the selected crime reduction strategies. Results from the assessment phase indicate that each sector experienced significant declines in property crime from the pre-intervention period (9/2009-10/2010) to the intervention period (9/2011-12/2012). These crime declines ranged from 16 to 19 percent, though specific hot spots experienced much larger drops in certain crime types (e.g., from 40-50 percent in some hot spots). In the East and West Sectors, the crime declines were notably different from crime patterns in the matched comparison hot spots. In the North Sector, crime declined significantly in both the targeted hot spots and the comparison hot spots. Taken together, these findings provide compelling evidence that the Lowell SPI led to substantial reductions in drug-related property crime. The Lowell SPI highlights the importance of accessing non-traditional data to extend the problem analysis process. The Lowell experience also demonstrates the importance of near-real time monitoring of the problem-solving model, with a focus on achieving alignment or fit between identified crime problems and response strategies. The emphasis on congruence between problems and responses can allow law enforcement agencies to avoid "shallow" problem solving, which has often emerged in problem-oriented policing projects and can limit the potential for successful crime reduction. Details: Arlington, VA: CNA Analysis & Solutions, 2014. 18p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 11, 2014 at http://www.cna.org/sites/default/files/research/SPILowellSpotlight.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.cna.org/sites/default/files/research/SPILowellSpotlight.pdf Shelf Number: 132441 Keywords: Crime Hot-SpotsDrug Abuse and CrimeGeospatial AnalysisProblem-Oriented Policing (Massachusetts)Property Crime |
Author: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) Title: European Drug Report: Trends and Developments Summary: How many new drugs were detected in Europe over the last year? Is cannabis getting stronger? How many Europeans have ever used an illicit drug? What are the latest drug policy developments in the region? These are just some of the questions explored in the European Drug Report: Trends and developments. This report provides a top-level overview of the long-term drug-related trends and developments at European level, while homing in on emerging problems in specific countries. Such a perspective is valuable, as it allows differing national experiences to be understood within the broader European context. Details: Lisbon: EMCDDA, 2014. 88p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 14, 2014 at: http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/edr/trends-developments/2014 Year: 2014 Country: Europe URL: http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/edr/trends-developments/2014 Shelf Number: 132451 Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addiction (Europe) Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse Policy Drug Control Drug Offenders Illicit Drugs |
Author: Morgan, Nick Title: The heroin epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s and its effect on crime trends - then and now. Research Report 79 Summary: - A variety of factors have been cited to explain the rise and fall in crime that has occurred in many nations since 1980. But as yet, no definitive explanation has been produced. In the UK context, a rise and fall in illicit drug use has not been especially prominent in this debate, perhaps due to a lack of robust data for the whole period. - This paper gathers available evidence and conducts new analysis to try to assess the effect that heroin and crack-cocaine use may have had on acquisitive crime (i.e. theft-type offences) in England and Wales since 1980. It also suggests implications for future crime trends. - Numerous sources of evidence agree that the number of heroin users increased markedly through the 1980s and early 1990s and that many also used crack as their drug-using career developed. This 'epidemic' spread from area to area but the national peak probably occurred between 1993 and 2000. Crime peaked between 1993 and 1995. - Current data, particularly from treatment providers, show that heroin/crack use has declined for at least a decade and that - as with offending - the decline has been most marked amongst younger people. This means those who began using these drugs during the epidemic still dominate the heroin/crack-using population today. - Studies agree that, in aggregate, heroin/crack users commit a large number of offences; large enough, this paper shows, to be an important driver of overall crime trends. - Studies disagree about whether it is illicit drug use that causes the criminality. This is because a sizable proportion of heroin/crack users do not resort to theft. And many were offending before taking these drugs. However, evidence suggests that, for at least some users, heroin/crack was the catalyst for offending, and for others it probably accelerated and extended their criminal career. Thus aggregate-level change in numbers of heroin/crack users is likely to affect crime trends. - An examination of the considerable regional and international variation in crime trends, particularly geographical areas where the crime drop was not marked or the peak occurred at a different time, also points to a possible causal relationship, rather than simple correlation. - Within England and Wales, the starkest example of regional variation was Merseyside, which had a recorded acquisitive crime peak five years before other police force areas. Evidence also suggests that Merseyside was one of the first areas to be hit by the heroin epidemic and the first to mount a concerted treatment response. Acquisitive (and total) recorded crime in Scotland peaked in 1991, which studies suggest is in line with the national peak in heroin/crack use. But in Edinburgh and its surrounding region (Lothian and Borders) recorded acquisitive crime peaked seven years earlier, in 1984. Data show that Lothian and Borders had a severe heroin epidemic at this time, which was not prolonged into the 1990s as in other parts of Scotland. - Like Merseyside and Edinburgh, the Republic of Ireland suffered a short, sharp heroin epidemic in the early 1980s and crime surged at this time. Northern Ireland did not have a heroin epidemic and its crime trend was much flatter over the period. - In the US all types of crime fell from 1991 but the US crime survey shows that property crime peaked over a decade earlier, in line with the US heroin epidemic. Likewise, many east European nations had a heroin epidemic about a decade after those in western Europe. Eastern Europe also had a recorded acquisitive crime peak around a decade after western Europe. - Two approaches were used in this paper to estimate the effect of heroin/crack use on crime. Both suggest that the epidemic may have had a significant impact on acquisitive crime in England and Wales. - The first approach was a police force area-level comparison of the Addicts Index and police recorded crime data from 1981 to 1996, through the crime turning point. This showed that different types of theft generally peaked together within an area. But the timing and size of these peaks varied across areas and was highly correlated with heroin use. Fixed effects regression analysis suggested that about 40 per cent of the national rise in the highest volume crime types (burglary and vehicle crime), from 1981 to the peak, can be attributed to rises in the number of heroin users. - The second approach was to model the number of heroin/crack users over time and their offending. Exploratory model results found that heroin/crack use could account for at least one-half of the rise in acquisitive crime in England and Wales to 1995 and between one-quarter and one-third of the fall to 2012, as the epidemic cohort aged, received treatment, quit illicit drug use or died. - Model results also suggested that the epidemic still affects acquisitive crime today. In the recent recession, crime in England and Wales continued to fall, which correlates with a slowly shrinking heroin/crack user population but not with economic factors. Projecting forwards, a further downward pressure on crime, of a lessening degree, might be expected as the heroin/crack cohort continues to age and get treatment. - The evidence presented shows that detecting and preventing future drug epidemics is paramount, and this requires local as well as national monitoring. Evidence also suggests that, for volume-crime reduction, it is crucial to maintain a focus on heroin/crack, despite the higher prevalence of other illicit drugs like cannabis, powder cocaine and ecstasy, and the emergence of new psychoactive substances. Specifically, it remains important to identify the minority of heroin/crack users who commit large volumes of crime during addiction periods. If that can be done, and those periods of addiction and offending can be shortened or prevented, the potential for further reductions in crime remains significant. However, many of these individuals will have been using heroin/crack intermittently for a decade or more and will have tried most current forms of treatment, so innovative approaches may be needed. Details: London: Home Office, 2014. 78 p.; Technical Report, 222p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Report 79: Accessed July 22, 2014 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/332952/horr79.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/332952/horr79.pdf Shelf Number: 132733 Keywords: CocaineCrime RatesCrime TrendsDrug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeHeroin (U.K.) |
Author: Bauld, Linda Title: Problem Drug Users' Experiences of Employment and the Benefit System Summary: This study was commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to examine the issues surrounding benefit uptake in England by individuals who use illicit drugs, in particular heroin and crack cocaine. Individuals who take these drugs are termed 'problem drug users' (PDUs). In addressing these issues, the study also explores the wider context of education, training and employment for drug users as well as the role of treatment. This report has two key elements: a review of the literature on drug use and benefit uptake and a qualitative component that included face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 75 drug users and ten professionals who work with drug users to explore specific issues in detail. The research was carried out by a team from the Centre for Drug Misuse Research at the University of Glasgow and the Centre for the Analysis of Social Policy in the Department of Social and Policy Sciences at the University of Bath. Details: Norwich, UK: Department for Work and Pensions, 2010. 132p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Report No. 640: Accessed July 30, 2014 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/214409/rrep640.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/214409/rrep640.pdf Shelf Number: 132849 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug Offenders (U.K.)Employment |
Author: Simpson, Melanie Title: Caught red-eyed and red-handed: an exploration of cannabis use and criminal offending Summary: Cannabis is the most frequently used illicit drug by adolescents and adults across the world. Individuals involved in crime have been found to initiate and progress to regular use at an earlier age and use larger amounts, more frequently than the general community. Early, heavy use of cannabis and frequent involvement in crime during adolescence is commonly associated with a range of negative health and social outcomes later in life. The nature of the relationship between cannabis use and crime, however, remains contested. This thesis aimed to explore the initial and on-going association between cannabis use and criminal offending, focusing on the contributions of age and a range of social and environmental factors. This thesis reports on the findings of three studies using differing methodologies and data sources. Study 1 examined data collected from the Drug Use Monitoring Australia program to compare drug use, offending and the predictors of recent criminal charges among police detainees by age and drug-user group. Younger participants were more likely to have recently used cannabis, initiated at a younger age and to have recently received more criminal charges. A mental health diagnosis was a significant predictor of recent charges among detainees whose past year illicit drug use was limited to cannabis-only. The second study examined whether the temporal order of onset of cannabis use and criminal offending could differentiate between the social, motivation and environmental contributors to initiation and on-going cannabis use and crime among young offenders. Although temporal order was not distinguished by factors contributing to drug use or crime initiation, using cannabis prior to involvement in crime was found to influence the speed of progression from first to regular offending. The final study used a qualitative approach to gather in-depth explanations and experiences of young people regarding contributors to initiation, on-going involvement and cessation of cannabis use and criminal offending. The immediate social environment was found to play a strong role in the initiation, acceptance and normalisation of cannabis use and offending. Findings of these studies will prove useful in the development of targeted intervention programs, particularly among individuals whose immediate social environment place them at increased risk for early involvement in cannabis use and crime. Details: Sydney: University of New South Wales, 2013. 388p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed September 17, 2014 at: http://www.unsworks.unsw.edu.au/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=UNSWORKS&docId=unsworks_11493 Year: 2013 Country: Australia URL: http://www.unsworks.unsw.edu.au/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=UNSWORKS&docId=unsworks_11493 Shelf Number: 1333369 Keywords: Cannabis Drug Abuse and Addiction (Australia) Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Offenders Juvenile Offenders Marijuana |
Author: Hawken, Angela Title: Managing Drug-Involved Offenders Summary: Effectively managing drug-involved offenders is an essential step to reduce crime and drug abuse. Many of the most active criminals and heaviest-using drug abusers are supervised by the criminal justice system; conversely, drug-using parolees and probationers are disproportionately responsible for both crime and drug abuse in America. Finally, since crime and drugs are at least somewhat synergistic - criminal behavior can lead to drug abuse, and visa versa - resolving the drug habits of the most chronic criminal offenders and the criminal habits of the most habitual drug abusers may be an integral element of a successful approach to either problem. Fortunately, many of these individuals are already supervised by probation or parole programs, subjecting them to additional monitoring and discipline. Yet for decades, probation and parole programs have largely failed to wean participants off of either crime or drugs. In a nutshell, current programs have attempted to stretch insufficient resources across overwhelming numbers of parolees and probationers. Since identifying and punishing violations is a heavy drain on program resources, most supervision programs have eventually mutated into relatively lax and ineffective systems of control. Petersilia and Turner's (1991) classic experiment of Intensive Supervision Probation (ISP) revealed that in Los Angeles County, for example, probationers in the ISP condition were tested on average only once every two months (not necessarily randomly), with sanctions for positive tests being administered inconsistently. The result catalyzes a vicious cycle. Programs are unable to discipline minor violations. Offenders perceive that they can commit minor violations without consequence, and in turn stop trying to avoid them. The resulting uptick in minor violations further inundates the resources of the supervisory program, compounding the original problem. This general pattern can consume entire supervisory systems, such that only the most egregious violations or chronic offenders merit increasingly precious enforcement resources. Moreover, court and prison resources are so over-committed that the little punishment that these programs manage to dole out comes only after such a long delay that they have lost their maximum corrective effect on the violator. However, innovations based on the Swift and Certain testing-and-discipline paradigm (SAC) as successfully implemented in Hawaii's HOPE project can break this pattern (Hawken and Kleiman, 2009). A phenomenon called "behavioral triage" allows program resources to be allocated to the offenders whose poor behavior most requires them (Hawken 2010). The quick and efficient identification of egregious offenders - rather than the slow and conventional process of waiting until they compile an extensive list of violations - is combined with swift and consistent punishments. When punishments follow within days of the violation, they have much greater correctional effect on the offender. There is some evidence that these programs introduce predictable consequences into the lives of offenders and increase their capacities for self-control (Hawken and Kleiman, 2009). The promise of these programs creates optimism that drug use and incarceration, among even heavily-drug involved offenders, can be reduced. Mainland replications of the SAC model will show the local conditions that are required to successfully implement the model. These studies will also help to identify the characteristics of offenders who respond to the threat of credible sanctions alone, and those who do not. The latter night need more-intensive resources (such as the ancillary services offered by drug courts or long-term residential treatment), or may not be amenable to supervision in the community. The implementation challenges of SAC are non-trivial, but the promise is enormous. If enough departments are able to reconfigure their operations to deliver sanctions swiftly and with certainty, the effort could yield dramatic reductions in drug use and criminal activity. Details: Final Report to the U.S. Department of Justice, 2014. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 17, 2014 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/247315.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/247315.pdf Shelf Number: 133370 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Offenders (U.S.)Drug Treatment Programs |
Author: Lattimore, Pamela Title: Arrestee Substance Use: Comparison of Estimates from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program Summary: The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) and the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) Program provide information on alcohol and drug use by individuals who have recently been arrested. The studies differ in their target populations (civilian, non-institutionalized individuals vs. arrestees in 39 sites recently booked into jails) and data collection methods. This study uses 2003 ADAM and 2002-2008 NSDUH data for adult males living in the 39 ADAM sites who reported a past year arrest and 2002-2008 Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) data to examine how well NSDUH covers the arrestee population and to compare estimates of drug and alcohol use and substance abuse or dependence. In general, ADAM estimates of rates of self-reported drug use were higher. The magnitude of these differences cannot be accounted for by under-coverage in NSDUH. Other possible reasons for these differences and their implications for interpreting NSDUH and ADAM data are discussed. Details: Rockville, MD: Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, SAMHSA, 2014. 15p. Source: Internet Resource: CBHSQ Data Review: Accessed October 2, 2014 at: http://www.samhsa.gov/data/2K14/NSDUHDRADAM/NSDUH-DR-ADAM-2014.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.samhsa.gov/data/2K14/NSDUHDRADAM/NSDUH-DR-ADAM-2014.pdf Shelf Number: 133555 Keywords: AlcoholismDrug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Offenders (U.S.)Substance Abuse |
Author: Wen, Hefei Title: The Effect of Substance Use Disorder Treatment Use on Crime: Evidence from Public Insurance Expansions and Health Insurance Parity Mandates Summary: We examine the effect of increasing the substance use disorder (SUD) treatment rate on reducing violent and property crime rates, based on county-level panels of SUD treatment and crime data between 2001 and 2008 across the United States. To address the potential endogeneity of the SUD treatment rate with respect to crime rate, we exploit the exogenous variation in the SUD treatment rate induced by two state-level policies, namely insurance expansions under the Health Insurance Flexibility and Accountability (HIFA) waivers and parity mandates for SUD treatment. Once we address the endogeneity issue, we are able to demonstrate an economically meaningful reduction in the rates of robbery, aggravated assault and larceny theft attributable to an increased SUD treatment rate. A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that a 10 percent relative increase in the SUD treatment rate at an average cost of $1.6 billion yields a crime reduction benefit of $2.5 billion to $4.8 billion. Our findings suggest that expanding insurance coverage and benefits for SUD treatment is an effective policy lever to improve treatment use, and the improved SUD treatment use can effectively and cost-effectively promote public safety through crime reduction. Details: Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2014. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: NBER Working Paper Series: Working Paper 20537: Accessed October 6, 2014 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2505843 Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2505843 Shelf Number: 134228 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AdditionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug Offenders (U.S.)Property CrimesRecidivismSubstance Abuse TreatmentViolent Crimes |
Author: Centre for Social Justice Title: Ambitious for Recovery: Tackling drug and alcohol addiction in the UK Summary: Addiction to drugs and alcohol takes a heavy toll on society. In 17 years running BAC O'Connor I have seen the impact, from crime, worklessness and strains on the NHS, to the price paid by individuals and their families. I have witnessed, however, people overcome their addiction and progress to lead full lives as contributing members of society. Provided with a little support to become drug and alcohol free, I have watched people transform their lives and become productive members of society. Recent falls in drug and alcohol use in the wider population conceal a rising cost of addiction: more alcohol-related admissions and readmissions, more prescription drugs issued, and, a surge in use of 'legal highs'. This is a social justice issue. Addiction can strike anyone but the harm of this situation is felt most keenly in poorer communities. Our interim report, No Quick Fix, laid bare the costs, extent and changing nature of drug and alcohol addiction in the UK. We outlined how the Government's 2010 Drug Strategy marked a welcome shift from a policy of maintaining addicts on substitute drugs to an ambition to help people lead drug-free lives. We have seen a rise in the use of mutual aid and the rhetoric of recovery now pervades strategy. Yet while some of the rhetoric has been good, action has been poor. Abstinence from drugs and alcohol, which is key to achieving lasting recovery but is still not the marker by which we measure our success. Equally, rehabs are the most effective route to abstinence for many yet are still the preserve of the wealthy or the lucky few. Making the situation worse, we now have 'legal highs', often more dangerous and addictive than the drugs they seek to imitate, available to buy on high streets across the UK. Our report lays out a programme for whoever next enters government, to tackle addiction and reduce its costs to society. We argue that priorities for the next Parliament should include: a small treatment tax of a penny on a unit is introduced by the end of the next Parliament to provide proper rehabilitation; reform to the welfare, criminal justice and health services to address the addiction problems which drain resources; and, a proper response to 'legal highs'. Details: London: Centre for Social Justice, 2014. 102p. Source: Internet Resource: Breakthrough Britain II: Accessed October 9, 2014 at: http://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/UserStorage/pdf/Pdf%20reports/CSJJ2073_Addiction_15.08.14_2.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/UserStorage/pdf/Pdf%20reports/CSJJ2073_Addiction_15.08.14_2.pdf Shelf Number: 133925 Keywords: AlcoholismDrug Abuse and Addiction (U.K.)Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug OffendersRehabilitationSubstance Abuse Treatment |
Author: Doherty, Sherri Title: An Examination of the Effectiveness of the National Substance Abuse Program Moderate Intensity (NSAP-M) on Institutional Adjustment and Post-Release Outcomes Summary: What it means The findings suggest that the National Substance Abuse Program - Moderate Intensity (NSAP-M) reduced the risks associated with substance use and criminality. The offenders with partial exposure to the program showed the poorest outcomes with respect to return to custody. The results also demonstrate the value of participating in community maintenance even with limited exposure to NSAP-M. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of offenders participated in community aftercare. What we found The occurrence of institutional misconduct was not significantly reduced by NSAP-M participation. Offenders who fully completed NSAP-M were as likely to engage in serious institutional misconduct as offenders who failed to complete all sessions of the program or offenders who had been assigned to NSAP-M but who had not enrolled in the program. Offenders who completed NSAP-M were less likely to be readmitted to prison during the 24-month follow-up period. In fact, offenders who partially completed were 25% more likely to return to prison compared to those who completed NSAP-M. The Not Enrolled group did not differ from program completers in likelihood of returning to custody. At the end of the 2 year follow-up period, 52% of both the Complete and Not Enrolled groups remained in the community, compared to 39% of the Incomplete group. When participation in the National Maintenance Substance Abuse Program delivered in the community and release type were considered, the association between NSAP-M and return to custody was no longer significant, suggesting that release type and community aftercare may be key variables in the pathway between program exposure and returning to custody. Overall, offenders who did not participate in community aftercare were 41% more likely to return to custody than those who had some exposure to the program; offenders who were released on a non-discretionary basis were 53% more likely to return to custody. Why we did this study Ensuring the safety and security of staff and offenders within the institution environment and the safe reintegration offenders into the community are key priorities of Correctional Service Canada (CSC). Correctional interventions can help address offender behavior associated with criminal activity. Given that 80% of the federal offender population has a substance use problem, it is imperative that effective substance abuse interventions are available to these offenders. The current study examined the effectiveness of NSAP-M in addressing the needs of federally incarcerated male offenders who have an identified substance abuse problem. What we did The study examined the effect of NSAP-M on institutional misconduct and return to custody. The study sample consisted of 8,121 male offenders who had accessed NSAP-M between June 2004 and December 2009. Details: Ottawa: Correctional Service of Canada, 2014. 59p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Report No. R-290: Accessed October 9, 2014 at: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/research/005008-0291-eng.shtml Year: 2014 Country: Canada URL: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/research/005008-0291-eng.shtml Shelf Number: 133639 Keywords: Correctional ProgramsDrug Abuse and Addiction (Canada)Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse Treatment (Canada)Drug OffendersPrisoner AftercarePrisoner MisconductPrisoner ReentryPrisonsRecidivismRehabilitation |
Author: Great Britain. Home Office Title: Drugs: international comparators Summary: Covers approaches to drugs misuse and drug addiction in other countries: - detailing drug consumption rooms; - heroin-assisted treatment; - dissuasion commissions; - drug courts; - prison-based treatment; - prison-based harm-reduction; - new psychoactive substances; - supply-side regulation of cannabis; - decriminalising the possession of drugs for personal use Details: London: Home Office, 2014. 59p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 3, 2014 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/368489/DrugsInternationalComparators.pdf Year: 2014 Country: International URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/368489/DrugsInternationalComparators.pdf Shelf Number: 133934 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug CourtsDrug OffendersProblem-Solving Courts |
Author: Hollist, Dusten Title: An Examination of Economic Analyses Approaches for Montan's Severn Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Task Forces Summary: - Drug abuse and associated crime continue to be one of the largest social problems in the U.S. Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Task Forces (MJDTFs) emerged in the 1970's, in order to emphasize and provide greater levels of drug law enforcement. - The Anti-Drug Abuse Act (1998) provided funding for the Bureau Justice Statistics to administer the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program (JAG). - JAG is used to fund state-level programs that address problems resulting from crime, addiction, and drug trafficking. MJDTFs across the country are funded through the JAG mechanism. - This report outlines the development of a research design to conduct an economic analysis of Montana's seven MJDTFs. - It includes a review of the existing literature that has been published on economic assessments of MJDTFs, the feasibility and factors that will be needed to complete an economic assessment, and a review of the importance of existing data needed to conduct the analysis. Details: Missoula, MT: Criminology Research Group, Social Science Research Laboratory, University of Montana, Missoula, 2014. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 15, 2015 at: http://mbcc.mt.gov/Data/SAC/DTF/2014DTFEconAssessDevlReport.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://mbcc.mt.gov/Data/SAC/DTF/2014DTFEconAssessDevlReport.pdf Shelf Number: 134411 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug ControlDrug EnforcementDrug TraffickingEconomic AssessmentEconomics of Crime (Montana) |
Author: English, Ebony M. Title: I Always Wanted To Be a Ho When I Grew Up. Summary: This dissertation employs a qualitative research design by exploring the narratives of female drug offenders involved in a drug-crime lifestyle. In-depth interviews were conducted to examine the subjective experiences of 26 women and their overall perception of the drug-crime lifestyle. The sample was drawn from a population of recovering addicts who frequented a rehabilitative agency in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The findings provide a subjective view of female drug addicts and through an assessment of the Walters' Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS), the narratives of the respondents were analyzed to evaluate specifically the applicability of Walters' eight thinking styles of cognition. Based on the emerging themes of the data, the study highlighted the complexities of Walters' theoretical thinking styles of drug users and offenders' thinking styles. This study found that the narratives of the women addicts did, in fact, corroborate Walters' theoretical perspective on drug use and crime. The study recommends that more research is needed on the lines of female drug users and their intimate relationships, as well as methadone maintenance programs, victimization, child maltreatment, and the issue of drug recovery and desistance from crime. Details: Indiana, PA: Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 2011. 213p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed January 22, 2015 at: https://dspace.iup.edu/bitstream/handle/2069/349/Ebony%20English%20Corrected.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: https://dspace.iup.edu/bitstream/handle/2069/349/Ebony%20English%20Corrected.pdf?sequence=1 Shelf Number: 134434 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeFemale Drug Offenders |
Author: Connolly, Johnny. Title: Illicit Drug Markets in Ireland Summary: Understanding the organisation, scale, nature and dynamics of illicit drug markets is a critical requirement for effective policy-making and for interventions designed to disrupt their operation and to minimise the associated harms. Through in-depth research with people involved in the illicit drug market in Ireland, as drug users or sellers, as professionals responding to it or as residents affected by it, this research fills a significant knowledge gap in this important area of Irish drug policy. The study objectives were to: - Examine the various factors that can influence the development of local drug markets. - Examine the nature, organisation and structure of Irish drug markets. - Examine the impact of drug-dealing and drug markets on local communities. - Describe and assess interventions in drug markets with a view to identifying what further interventions are needed. Details: Dublin: National Advisory Committee on Drugs and Alcohol (NACDA), 2014. 328p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 7, 2015 at: http://health.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/NACDA-report-on-Illicit-drugs-markets-in-Ireland-Oct-14.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Ireland URL: http://health.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/NACDA-report-on-Illicit-drugs-markets-in-Ireland-Oct-14.pdf Shelf Number: 134566 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Markets (Ireland)Drug PolicyOrganized Crime |
Author: Connolly, Johnny. Title: Crack cocaine in the Dublin Region: An evidence base for a crack cocaine strategy Summary: Crack cocaine is produced from powder cocaine using readily available chemical agents such as ammonia or baking soda. Smoking crack is a highly efficient way of getting cocaine into the brain, making its use compulsive and difficult to control in some cases. In early 2005, a number of seizures of crack cocaine were made by An Garda Siochana in Dublin's north-inner city. In addition, there were anecdotal reports of individuals using crack cocaine in Dublin. As a result, the Intersectoral Crack Cocaine Strategy Group (ISCCSG) was established in the north-inner city in March 2006. The group decided to document the nature and extent of crack use; the availability of crack; the impact of crack on the user, the family and the wider community; and current treatment and policing responses to crack use. The Alcohol and Drug Research Unit (ADRU) of the Health Research Board (HRB) was commissioned to complete the study using a rapid situation assessment method. The study involved a review of findings from relevant research, the collection and analysis of up-to-date drug-treatment and criminal justice data, and interviews and focus groups with crack users, service providers and the Garda National Drugs Unit. The study received ethical approval in August 2007. Details: Dublin: Health Research Board, 2008. 142p. Source: Internet Resource: HRB Research Series 6: Accessed February 9, 2015 at: http://www.hrb.ie/uploads/tx_hrbpublications/HRB_Research_Series_6.pdf Year: 2008 Country: Ireland URL: http://www.hrb.ie/uploads/tx_hrbpublications/HRB_Research_Series_6.pdf Shelf Number: 113022 Keywords: Crack Cocaine (Ireland)Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug Markets |
Author: U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy Title: Caribbean Border Counter-Narcotics Strategy Summary: 2014 Caribbean Border Counter-Narcotics Strategy to reduce the threats posed to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands by drug trafficking, transnational organized crime, and associated violence. The documented cocaine flow through the Caribbean to the United States has more than doubled in the past three years to its highest level since 2008. The 2014 Caribbean Border Counternarcotics Strategy will help reduce the flow of drugs into the United States and its territories while protecting communities in the region from drug-related crime and violence, said Michael Botticelli, Acting Director of National Drug Control Policy. This is a critical part of our national drug control strategy which promotes a balanced approach to public safety and public health. The Strategy comprises the following objectives: 1.Enhance intelligence and information-sharing capabilities and processes associated with the Caribbean border. 2.Interdict illicit drugs and drug proceeds at and between U.S. ports of entry in the Caribbean. 3.Interdict illicit drugs and illicit drug proceeds in the air and maritime domains in and around the Caribbean border; maximize evidence and intelligence collection to support criminal investigations leading to associated and higher echelon networks. 4.Disrupt and dismantle transnational criminal organizations operating in and around the Caribbean border. 5.Substantially reduce the level of drug -related violent crime in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. 6.Strengthen communities and reduce the demand for drugs. In response to elevated drug trafficking and related crime, federal law enforcement agencies have increased their efforts in the region. The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security have devoted resources to address drug-related violent crime on the islands, and coordinated with federal and local partners to confront this ongoing threat to public safety. By building upon existing architecture, identifying needed resources, and enlisting state and local law enforcement in a genuine partnership, this Caribbean Strategy will enable the Nation to address the threat in a comprehensive manner. Details: Washington, DC: ONDP, 2015. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 9, 2015 at: http://www.whitehouse.gov///sites/default/files/ondcp/policy-and-research/caribbeanstrategy5.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Caribbean URL: http://www.whitehouse.gov///sites/default/files/ondcp/policy-and-research/caribbeanstrategy5.pdf Shelf Number: 134579 Keywords: Cocaine Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Control Policy (Caribbean) Drug Enforcement Drug Trafficking Organized Crime |
Author: Davis Y. Ja Associates Title: Peers Reaching Out Supporting Peers to Embrace Recovery (PROPSPER): A Final Evaluation Report Summary: The Peers Reaching Out Supporting Peers to Embrace Recovery (PROSPER) program, a 4-year federal demonstration project funded through the Recovery Community Services Program (RCSP) initiative of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT)/Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), was a unique strength-based peer-to-peer recovery community for people who face the dual challenge of recovery and reentry into society from prison, and their family/significant others, in Los Angeles County. Governed and operated by peers, the program offered stage-appropriate holistic social support through a strategic mix of services comprised of a resource facility, support groups, peer-coaching, workshop/seminars, social and recreational activities, and community events. Featuring Recovery Support, Health & Wellness, and Skills to Prosper components, PROSPER enrolled and served at least 125 new Peers annually, for a total of over 500 Peers served during its four year duration. The project aimed to: - Provide a compelling alternative community to counteract negative forces in peers' lives - Build positive self concept and achievement motivation - Reinforce family/significant others' relationships and support - Amplify the treatment/recovery continuum for the target population. The goals of PROSPER's local evaluation were to: 1) assess the program's effectiveness, 2) identify best practices within the program, and 3) indicate possibilities for expanding and replicating PROSPER elsewhere in California. In addition, PROSPER's strength-based, peer-driven recovery community and the array of social supports (emotional, informational, instrumental, and associational) were designed to test the evidence that social support in the form of a peer support recovery community is a critical construct in providing the transitional resources necessary to reduce relapse and recidivism with this population. Details: San Francisco: Davis Y. Ja and Associates, 2009. 100p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 24, 2015 at: http://www.dyja.com/sites/default/files/u24/PROSPER%20Final%20Evaluation%20Report.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.dyja.com/sites/default/files/u24/PROSPER%20Final%20Evaluation%20Report.pdf Shelf Number: 135384 Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addiction (U.S.)Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug OffendersPeersPrisoner ReentrySubstance Abuse |
Author: Applied Research Services, Inc. Title: Georgia Multi-Jurisdictional Task Force Process and Outcome Evaluation 2014 Summary: Applied Research Services, Inc. (ARS) was retained by the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the Multijurisdictional Drug Task Forces (MJTFs) in the state of Georgia. In addition to a review of relevant literature and extant studies of MJTFs, considerable process and outcome data were collected and analyzed. We examined both qualitative data (from surveys, interviews and reports) and quantitative data (from state computerized criminal history data and official crime and arrest reports). The research literature can unfortunately be characterized by inconsistent findings as to the degree to which MJTFs, when compared to non-MJTFs, meet their key objectives. These reports describe trends but lack scientific rigor necessary to be considered empirical evaluations of the effectiveness of MJTFs. The fundamental questions often remain unanswered. Do jurisdictions participating in drug task forces outperform jurisdictions that do not participate? Even if task forces appear to outperform non-task force sites in law enforcement collaboration and productivity, do their efforts have any measurable impact on the local, illicit drug market? Are MJTFs cost effective when compared to other strategies? Previous research has also been characterized as employing weak study designs, often failing to compare "similarly situated jurisdictions" with and without task forces. Thus differences in drug arrest activity across jurisdictions can be due to a whole host of reasons, of which having a task force is only one. The present study sought to address such study design issues through the application of advanced statistical procedures (propensity score matching) in an effort to approximate the scientific benefits of random assignment to treatment and control groups (MJTF and non-MJTF jurisdictions). Key evaluation findings include the following: - Crime and arrest data indicate that as the total number of Georgia arrests have fallen, the percentage of arrests involving drugs (whether as the most serious charge or not) has declined as well. - Interview and survey findings indicate that stakeholders participating in MJTFs report experiencing high levels of communication, coordination, and collaboration regarding drug interdiction efforts. The majority of survey respondents also indicated that MJTFs are effective at reducing the availability of drugs in the community and agreed that the task force is an effective way to address the problems of illegal drug activity. Most also agreed that their task force has allowed law enforcement partners to move beyond low-level deals to focus on more highly organized drug activity, a key goal of MJTFs. - Both the survey findings and personal interviews reveal Georgias drug task forces in a very positive light. Respondents report that the task forces meet their goals, build strong cases, reduce the amount of drugs in the community, communicate well between partners, provide positive feedback about task force Commanders and receive high levels of task force agent training. The Wilder Collaboration Factors Inventory indicates strong collaborative efforts and effectiveness. The main area of concern expressed throughout the surveys and interviews was funding. - A comprehensive analysis of quantitative data revealed few differences between MJTF and non-MJTF counties on key outcome variables of interest, such as arrest rates and overall characteristics of arrestees. Our analysis of statewide computerized arrest data did however reveal a significant finding regarding the age and chronicity of arrestees across MJTF and non-MJTF sites. In particular, MJTF sites were more likely to arrest serious young drug distribution offenders. Findings strongly suggest that the efforts of MJTF jurisdictions were more focused on, and successful in, apprehending young drug offenders who had already accumulated a large number of distribution charges. - It does not appear that the specific efforts undertaken in MJTF jurisdictions are sufficient enough to impact aggregate crime and drug arrest trends. Despite a lack of demonstrated differences in outcomes, it is possible that the drug task forces are actually meeting their stated goals but that current measures remain insensitive to this activity. It is also possible that counties included in the comparison sample may in fact participate in drug task force activities, just not the federally-funded MJTFs included in the present study. Given the existence of county or otherwise funded drug task forces in Georgia, it is not unreasonable to assume that at least some of the comparison counties were in fact part of non-federally funded task forces. As such, they would ostensibly benefit from the collaborative and coordinated efforts noted in the surveys and interviews of MJTF members, thus potentially confounding the matching process. Finally, it is recommended that future evaluations of MJTFs take the maturity level and sophistication level of each unique task force into account, as these factors likely impact directly the level of drug trafficking each MJTF can effectively target. Longitudinal or case study designs are recommended as a means of addressing this critical factor. Details: Atlanta: George Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, 2014. 57p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 16, 2015 at: http://cjcc.georgia.gov/sites/cjcc.georgia.gov/files/GA%20MJTF%20Process%20Outcome%20Evaluation%202014_FINAL1.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://cjcc.georgia.gov/sites/cjcc.georgia.gov/files/GA%20MJTF%20Process%20Outcome%20Evaluation%202014_FINAL1.pdf Shelf Number: 135684 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug EnforcementDrug OffendersDrug Trafficking |
Author: Jules-Macquet, Regan Title: Exploring Substance Use Among South African Adult And Young Offenders (2015) Summary: Substance use and abuse is associated with crime and offending behaviour, as well as with generally at risk behaviour. Substance use is also associated with fatal injuries resulting from violence, road accidents, victimisation and poor societal outcomes in general. This paper reviews data extracted from the 2012 - 2013 service statistics from the National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders (NICRO). The dataset is comprised of adults and children in conflict with the law who were referred for offender social reintegrating services. The dataset contains entries for 19 509 offenders, of which 7 190 (36.85%) indicated substance use either through self-reporting or a drug test. This paper explores the various dynamics that are presented in this group regarding, nature and frequency of substance use, types of offences committed, as well as general demographic information such as age, race and sex. The paper concludes with several recommendations regarding the implications of the data for offender social reintegration and crime prevention practice in South Africa. Details: Cape Town: National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders (NICRO), 2015. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 20, 2015 at: http://www.nicro.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Exploring-substance-use-among-adult-and-young-offenders-Revised-Nov-2014.pdf Year: 2015 Country: South Africa URL: http://www.nicro.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Exploring-substance-use-among-adult-and-young-offenders-Revised-Nov-2014.pdf Shelf Number: 135727 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug AddictionDrug OffendersSubstance Abuse |
Author: Australian Crime Commission Title: 2013-14 Illicit Drug Data Report Summary: The Australian Crime Commission's Illicit Drug Data Report, now in its 12th edition, informs Australia's understanding of the illicit drug threat and focuses our collective efforts by bringing together data from a wide range of sources into the one unique report. Serious and organised criminals are at the centre of the Australian illicit drug market. Motivated by greed and power, many of these groups and individuals use the illicit drug market as their primary income stream, profiting from the misery illicit drugs inflict on the nation. Targeting illicit drug importation, production and distribution is a focus of the Australian Crime Commission and its partners. In 2013-14, law enforcement agencies recorded more than 93 000 illicit drug seizures, with a combined weight of 27 tonnes and more than 110 000 arrests. These figures are all the highest on record. While this is testament to the vigilance and achievements of law enforcement in combating the illicit drug trade, it also demonstrates the continued prevalence of drugs in our society and the need for a collective approach. All illicit drug activity is a concern for law enforcement and the wider community. But in my 38 years in law enforcement, I have never seen a substance as destructive as methylamphetamine, particularly crystal methylamphetamine (ice). Methylamphetamine is wreaking havoc in every state and territory. It is ruining lives, families and communities. We are now seeing demand for methylamphetamine in areas where the drug has not previously been a significant issue. This includes urban and rural areas and disadvantaged communities where it is having a destructive impact. Seizures in 2013-14 include a record 10 tonne seizure of benzaldehyde - a chemical used to make methylamphetamine. If not seized, this chemical could have been used to produce up to 4.5 tonnes of methylamphetamine - this equates to an estimated 45 million individual street deals, with an estimated value of $3.6 billion. More than 740 clandestine laboratories were detected this reporting period. Add that to the previous two reporting periods and that's more than 2 300 labs detected. These are dangerous, with many of the chemicals used hazardous and corrosive in nature, posing significant risk to the community and the environment. While the methylamphetamine market is the primary concern, there was also a number of records reported across other drug markets. These include a record number of national amphetamine-type stimulant seizures and arrests, a record number of national cannabis arrests, a record number of national cocaine seizures and arrests, a record number of national steroid seizures and arrests, a record number of national hallucinogen arrests and a record number of national other opioid seizures. The Illicit Drug Data Report 2013-14 provides governments, law enforcement agencies, policy makers, academia, interested stakeholders and the community with a robust statistical picture of the Australian illicit drug market. Details: Canberra: Australian Crime Commission, 2015. 228p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 29, 2015 at: https://crimecommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/IDDR-201314-Complete_0.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Australia URL: https://crimecommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/IDDR-201314-Complete_0.pdf Shelf Number: 136228 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug EnforcementDrug MarketsIllicit DrugsOrganized Crime |
Author: UK Drug Policy Commission Title: Charting New Waters: Delivering drug policy at a time of radical reform and financial austerity Summary: The funding, commissioning, management and delivery structures for addressing the problems associated with illicit drugs in England are experiencing an unprecedented level of change. The government's 2010 Drug Strategy places considerable focus on improving the recovery outcomes for people with drug problems, alongside efforts to reduce the supply of drugs. It identifies the need for support from a range of different services such as employment, education and housing, and family networks to enable people to reintegrate into their communities. In contrast to the strong central oversight of previous drug strategies, it calls for far greater local control over service delivery by local areas and people accessing services. At the same time, substantial reductions in public spending are being implemented alongside wide-ranging public service reform, including structural changes to the NHS, policing and criminal justice reform and a drive to deliver the Big Society. These changes raise key questions, which our study set out to explore, about the ability of areas to achieve the ambitions of the Drug Strategy and around the future security of investment in drug interventions. With considerable additional resources for drug interventions over the last decade much has been achieved but there is a real risk that the current level of change will lead to the dilution of these gains, with negative consequences for drug users, their families, for wider communities, and indeed for the wider economy. Our study reveals a broad picture of upheaval and uncertainty and this summary sets out our study's main findings. The results will be relevant for national policy makers; commissioners and providers of drug treatment and recovery services; Directors of Public Health; those engaged in drug-related enforcement; and locally elected officials. Details: London: UKDPC, 2012. 119p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 19, 2015 at: http://www.ukdpc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/charting-new-waters-delivering-drug-policy-at-a-time-of-radical-reform-and-financial-austerity.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.ukdpc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/charting-new-waters-delivering-drug-policy-at-a-time-of-radical-reform-and-financial-austerity.pdf Shelf Number: 136484 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug PolicyDrug TreatmentIllegal Drugs |
Author: Youngers, Coletta A. Title: Building on progress: Bolivia consolidates achievements in reducing coca and looks to reform decades-old drug law Summary: Bolivia's program relies on close monitoring to ensure individual cultivators do not exceed their cato, or measured plot of land for permitted coca cultivation. Farmers participate in a biometric registry to facilitate identification and monitoring of production, transport, and sales, effectively ensuring crops are only used for licit products - not cocaine or its derivatives. At 20,400 hectares of coca under cultivation, Bolivia has nearly reached its goal of 20,000 hectares, the amount considered to be sufficient to supply the traditional and expanding legal markets. Yet while Bolivia's coca policy is worthy of recognition, this report by WOLA/AIN concludes that the country's outdated drug law remains unjust and continues to rely on disproportionate punishment for low-level, non-violent drug offenses. Details: Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America, 2015. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 28, 2015 at: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/64663568/library/WOLA-bolivia-consolidates-achievements-in-reducing-coca-2015.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Bolivia URL: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/64663568/library/WOLA-bolivia-consolidates-achievements-in-reducing-coca-2015.pdf Shelf Number: 136610 Keywords: CocaineDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersDrug PolicyDrug Reform |
Author: Coghlan, Sarah Title: Drug use monitoring in Australia: 2013-14 report on drug use among police detainees Summary: Delivered by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC), the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program supports the National Drug Strategy through its timely provision of data on changes in alcohol and other drug consumption habits among Australian police detainees and through its monitoring and reporting of fluctuations in the illicit drug market. Since 1999, 51,748 detainees have been interviewed, of whom 37,398 also provided a urine sample that was analysed to identify licit and illicit drug use. The data gathered through DUMA has informed government policy and research, and contributed to the National Drug Strategy aims of improving health, social and economic outcomes by reducing supply, demand and harm. Details: Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2015. 132p. Source: Internet Resource: AIC Monitoring Reports 27: Accessed September 5, 2015 at: http://aic.gov.au/media_library/publications/mr/mr27/mr27.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Australia URL: http://aic.gov.au/media_library/publications/mr/mr27/mr27.pdf Shelf Number: 136692 Keywords: Alcohol AbuseDrug Abuse and Addiction Drug Abuse and Crime Drug Offenders Illicit DrugsSubstance Abuse |
Author: Coghlan, Sarah Title: Findings from the DUMA program: Methamphetamine drug market trends Summary: Methamphetamine is a drug of national concern, with the Australian Crime Commission (ACC; 2015a) assessing it to be the illicit drug posing the greatest risk to the Australian community. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's (AIHW) 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS) reported that approximately 400,000 Australians had used meth/amphetamines in the previous 12 months (AIHW 2014). The NDSHS reported a stable rate of meth/amphetamine use in the general community from 2010 to 2013 of 2.1 percent. However, there was a shift in the type of meth/amphetamine used, from powder to purer forms like ice or crystal methamphetamine (AIHW 2014). Specifically, powder meth/ amphetamine use among recent users decreased from 51 percent to 29 percent, while ice use more than doubled from 22 percent to 50 percent (AIHW 2014). In line with this, the frequency of methamphetamine use among injecting drug users in Melbourne remained consistent from 2008 to 2014, but users reported transitioning from powder to crystal forms of methamphetamine (Scott et al. 2015). Frequency of use of methamphetamine has also changed across the 2010 to 2013 period. In 2013, 15.5 percent of recent meth/amphetamine users reported daily or weekly use, compared with 9.3 percent in the 2010 survey (AIHW 2014). When examining use by form, approximately a quarter of users who mainly used ice reported using it at least weekly, compared with 2.2 percent of powder users who reported weekly use (AIHW 2014). Scott et al.'s (2015) study of injecting drug users in Melbourne found that those already using methamphetamine were starting to purchase the drug more frequently in 2013 compared with 2011. Details: Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2015. 8p. Source: Internet Resource: Research in Practice: Accessed September 21, 2015 at: http://aic.gov.au/media_library/publications/rip/rip43/rip43.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Australia URL: http://aic.gov.au/media_library/publications/rip/rip43/rip43.pdf Shelf Number: 136834 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug MarketsMethamphetamine |
Author: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Title: Trends in methylamphetamine availability, use and treatment, 2003-04 to 2013-14 Summary: There have been several corresponding trends in the availability, use and treatment of methylamphetamines since 2003-04. Following a decline between 2006-07 and 2009-10, there have been increases across many factors relating to methylamphetamines to 2013-14. Arrests, seizures and detections have all increased. Users are now favouring the crystal form of methylamphetamine. They are using it more frequently, and, there appear to be more new users of crystal. There are more people in treatment reporting smoking as their usual method of use for amphetamines than previously. Details: Canberra: AIHW, 2015. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Drug treatment series no. 26: Accessed October 8, 2015 at: http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129552826 Year: 2015 Country: Australia URL: http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129552826 Shelf Number: 136970 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Offender TreatmentDrug TreatmentMethamphetamine |
Author: Uprimny, Rodrigo Title: Curbing Addiction to Punishment: Alternatives to Incarceration for Drug Offenses Summary: This document summarizes the progress made on discussions regarding alternatives to incarceration for minor drug offenses in the Americas, presents some of the reasons why such measures must be implemented urgently in the region, and analyzes the relevance of some alternatives that have been applied to date. Finally, it concludes with several recommendations to governments for moving towards the adoption of alternatives to incarceration that are respectful of human rights and effective in terms of reducing prison overcrowding and protecting public health and safety. Details: Washington, DC: Research Consortium on Drugs and the Law (CEDD), 2015. 17p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 6, 2015 at: http://www.drogasyderecho.org/publicaciones/pub-priv/sergio_i.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Latin America URL: http://www.drogasyderecho.org/publicaciones/pub-priv/sergio_i.pdf Shelf Number: 137215 Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addiction Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Offenders Drug Policy |
Author: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Country Office Pakistan Title: Female Drug Use in Pakistan: Mapping Estimates, Ethnographic Results and Behavioural Assessment Summary: This study is a part of the overall operational research which includes mapping and size estimation of female drug users, which forms the first key step in developing targeted interventions for this highly vulnerable key population. The results of this mapping study will assist in understanding the drug using scenario among female populations, which will ultimately form a baseline for service provision based on which service providing organizations will develop targeted interventions within a specific geographical setting. In addition to identification of geographical areas where these populations congregate, this study also provides valuable information on overall drug use situation in the targeted communities, economics of drug use, treatment history, criminal justice history, availability of treatment services and various religious and cultural barriers to accessing information and services among the target group. The entire approach focused around involvement of the target community individuals, peer groups and key stakeholders of the project. Although data was collected by an independent research team, the project staff including peer group was involved in the data collection process. The basic approach was largely based on a geographic mapping approach which identified key locations where key population members were found and quantified. In addition to identifying the key locations, individual drug users were contacted through peer group members and supplemented by tracing contact chains from identified drug users to reaching other drug using females in a given location. This study was conducted in all cities where subsequently a service delivery programme through the project "HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care for FDUs and injecting drug users", was to be placed. After distributing each target site into zone, information on drug using populations was collected through Tertiary and Secondary Key Informants in each Zone to generate a list of Spots where FDUs could be found in this phase. Various drug treatment centers and rehabilitation programs in each city were also visited to obtain contacts of FDUs in that community. Pharmacies were also visited and information was gathered about various females, who have been buying non prescription drugs regularly. In addition locations where drug users could be found including graveyards, open spaces, shrines, darbars etc., were also visited. The basic objective in Phase one was to develop an exhaustive list of all FDUs in all zones within each city, which was later validated in Phase 02, by visiting each spot and interviewing female drug users and asking for contacts of their peers involved with drug use. Once contact information for other FDUs was provided by a subject, the social mobilizers along with the field team members traced that subject, and an interview with that subject was subsequently conducted. The mapping study was followed by behavioral assessment, and the main data collection strategy involved face to face in-depth interviews of randomly selected FDUs in each site. A total number of 1,391 interviews were conducted in all 13 cities under study, and information obtained through these interviews was recorded in a pre-designed, pretested questionnaire. Data management was done by the data management team, and questionnaires after field editing were double entered in a data base designed in MS Access. Data set was thoroughly edited and cleaned, and data analysis was conducted using statistical software SPSS version 12.00. A total number of 3,538 interviews were conducted with both Secondary and Primary Key Informants. Based on the data collected during Phase I and validated in Phase II, an estimated number of 4,632 FDUs spread over 2,479 locations were estimated in the 13 cities where mapping was conducted. As expected, the highest number of FDUs was estimated to be 1,213 in Karachi, followed by Lahore and Faisalabad, where the numbers were 593 and 511 respectively. On an average 1.8 - 1.7 FDUs were reported from a single location, and 65.2% of the locations reported having a single FDU present. Unlike male drug users who congregate and use drugs with other drug users, drug use is a discreet, hidden and more of an individual activity for female drug users. Charas was the most common drug used by FDUs all over the country and 28% of the interviewed drug users reported that they used it in the last one month. Bhang was the next drug of choice reported, which was used by 14.2% of the FDUs interviewed. A fairly high proportion of females (13.6%) also reported to be using Heroin, while use of Pharmaceutical drugs was reported by 12.6% of drug users. Our study confirmed the available anecdotal information, that injecting is not a common route of drug intake among drug using females. A total of 71 female injecting drug users (FIDUs) were identified among the total estimated number of 4,632 FDUs, which calculated a prevalence of 1.5% of IDU among female drug users. Further to this, injecting drugs was reported from only 05 cities out of the 13 cities surveyed. For behavioral assessments, a total number of 1,391 interviews were conducted. The mean age of the FDUs who participated in this study was reported to be 32.8 - 9.6 yrs (median 32 yrs), while the maximum proportion (nearly 72%) of the drug users were between 21 to 40 yrs of age. Majority of the FDUs were illiterate; 66% of the FDUs interviewed did not receive any formal schooling. Nearly 60% of the interviewed females were currently married, while 15.6% reported to be never married. The remaining 24% were either widowed, or divorced/ separated from their husbands and were living separately. Ninety one % of the subjects interviewed belonged to the same city where they were interviewed and the majority was Punjabi speaking (45.3%). Charas (Hash) was the most common drug used by FDUs all over the country and 58% of the interviewed drug users reported using it ever and also in the last six months. 42% reported that they had used it in the last month as well. Pharmaceutical drugs were the next drugs of choice followed by Heroin and Bhang. The behavioral data is in agreement with the results of the mapping study conducted in phase one, which also showed similar results on drug use and injecting drug use, which was reported from only 05 cities, with very few numbers of females reported to be injecting drugs. 41.5% of the injectors reported that they had been injected daily, while another 32% informed that they have injected at least once a week in the last 6 months. Although 30% of the injectors have been injecting alone, the remaining had been injecting in groups with other IDUs. Nearly half of the subjects informed that they had been sharing syringes with other IDUs. The mean age of 1 sexual intercourse was reported to be 18.5 - 3.7 yrs. A fairly high proportion were reported to be sexually active, with high numbers of sexual partners in the last 6 months (4.9 - 16.2), suggesting they were sexually involved with a fairly large number of men. 13.5% of the FDUs reported to have sex with another male IDUs, and 25% reported selling sex for drugs or money. Only 3.7% reported that they always used a condom during the last 6 months. Approximately 44% of the FDUs interviewed had ever heard of the disease called HIV/AIDS. Knowledge of sexual intercourse as a mode of transmission of the disease was prevalent among 40% of FSWs, but only 22% knew that HIV can be transmitted by sharp instrument/needles and syringes. 19.5% knew that HIV can spread through blood transfusion, while knowledge of mother to child transmission was still lower (9.8%). While the correct knowledge of HIV transmission was fairly low, a few misconceptions about transmission of HIV were also reported. While 17% of the respondents interviewed were aware of where they could be tested for HIV, nearly half of those had been tested for HIV. Thirty one % of the FDUs interviewed knew that there are diseases which spread because of sexual intercourse. A very low proportion (13.2%) of the respondents reported that they have been treated at least once for drug use. The maximum proportion of drug users informed that they utilized private clinical facilities for treatment. This was followed by treatment services provided by NGOs and government hospitals which were 32% and 31% respectively. Nearly 11% of the FDUs interviewed that they have tried home based treatment for drug use as well. 73% of the respondent suggested that they need to be treated and showed a willingness to participate in a treatment program if offered. Only 4.3% of the respondents reported that they were arrested for reasons such as drug use (60%), drug pushing (30%), sex work (5%) and other minor petty crimes (5%) e.g., theft etc., This study addressed some of the critical issues related to women drug use, which have not been dealt adequately in previous research conducted in Pakistan. Apparently, the problem drug use in women might appear insignificant and trivial when comparing the numbers of female drug users to the enormous number of male drug using populations in the country. However, drug use occurrence among women has an impact that goes beyond the individual and affects the entire social network of families with greater negative impacts on children. Based on the conclusions of this research, an effective targeted response is necessary in order to promote safer behavior, improve access to effective health and social services, and to address the underlying structural and occupational dimensions of vulnerability. More research is warranted to gain more in depth understating of the populations, conduct more reliable size estimations and recognize the personal, environmental and social factors which lead to drug use among women. Efforts to minimize the stigma should be given high priority. Activities which involve and facilitate collective actions, such as developing associations/unions and networks, and involving the media in a positive way should be encouraged. Families of FDUs should be focused to provide support for treatment and rehabilitation. Legal assistance should be provided to FDUs to manage drug offences, petty crime and issues of violence and harassment. There is a need to broaden the focus of existing service delivery programs to address a broad and long-term perspective, and should incorporate "community based" and "women-centered" approach. The provision of Drug abuse treatment services, comprehensive harm reduction services through developing drop in centers, and providing outreach services through use of female outreach workers should be the broad focus of these services. Special emphasis should be laid on meeting the mental health needs of the target population. Depression, isolation and a feeling of being useless is a fairly commonly characteristic shared by most women. While efforts are needed to improve the mental state of the individual, family members especially spouses need to be focused to provide a supporting mechanism for the recovering FDUs. There is a need to building the right capacity within implementing organizations which equips the staff and resource personnel to deal with the issues of drug use among female using a professional and technical approach. Finally, a monitoring and evaluation framework is desired, followed by development of tools which are more user friendly and less punitive. The entire monitoring system should be managed by a management information system to provide timely and cost effective information for decision making, and effective management of the a.m., project in a systematic and timely manner. Details: Islamabad: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Country Office Pakistan, 2010. 81p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 17, 2015 at: https://www.unodc.org/documents/pakistan//female_drugs_use.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Pakistan URL: https://www.unodc.org/documents/pakistan//female_drugs_use.pdf Shelf Number: 137308 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeFemale Drug OffendersFemale OffendersGeographic AnalysisHIV |
Author: Millsteed, Melanie Title: Recorded drug use and possession offences and offenders, 2005 - 2014 Summary: The number of recorded drug use and possession offences in Victoria has continued to increase over the past five years, while other evidence suggests that the number of people using drugs has remained stable. This exploratory study analysed trends in both the number and rate of drug use and possession offences and offenders over the past ten years, as well as the characteristics of these offenders. The research found that the rate of offences has continued to rise since 2010. The rate of offenders has also risen, but to a lesser extent. Over the past two years, the increase in both the offence and offender rates has slowed. Seventy two percent of recorded drug use and possession offenders were only recorded for one use and possession offence incident between 2005 and 2014. The majority of recorded offenders were male (81.4%) and aged under 30 at the time of their first recorded offence in the dataset (62.7%). Further research will be conducted to examine whether the observed increases over past five years were driven by offending in particular geographic regions or by offences relating to particular drug types. Details: Melbourne: Victoria Crime Statistics Agency, 2015. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: In Brief, no. 1: Accessed March 2, 2016 at: https://assets.justice.vic.gov.au//csa/resources/6d5fad02-6c3b-42c1-8a2f-0ed202896d24/20150921_copy_in+brief_paper_1.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Australia URL: https://assets.justice.vic.gov.au//csa/resources/6d5fad02-6c3b-42c1-8a2f-0ed202896d24/20150921_copy_in+brief_paper_1.pdf Shelf Number: 138025 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Offenders |
Author: Sutherland, Paul Title: Recorded drug use and possession crime in metropolitan, regional and rural Victoria, 2006-2015 Summary: This paper examines the rise in drug use and possession incidents recorded by police across Victoria over the past ten years. By exploring two separate geographical breakdowns, it is possible to see which parts of the state are making the largest contributions to the increase. The paper finds the largest increases occurred across regional urban areas, although there were also increases in metropolitan Melbourne and rural areas over the past five years. There was also a shift in the proportion of incidents that occurred in public locations, although this trend varied across Victoria. While the majority of offenders across the state were male, in metropolitan, rural and many regional areas there has been an increasing proportion of female offenders. While there has been much attention placed on the rise in drug use and possession offending in recent years, it is important to consider the findings in this report may be as much a reflection of police activity as increased prevalence of drug offending across a growing proportion of Victoria's population. Details: Melbourne: Victoria Crime Statistics Agency, 2015. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: In Brief, no. 2: Accessed March 2, 2016 at: https://assets.justice.vic.gov.au//csa/resources/518f532d-2070-417c-9a1d-7efdce501206/20151127final_in_brief2+%281%29.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Australia URL: https://assets.justice.vic.gov.au//csa/resources/518f532d-2070-417c-9a1d-7efdce501206/20151127final_in_brief2+%281%29.pdf Shelf Number: 138026 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersRural Areas |
Author: Saunders, Jessica Title: A Community-Based, Focused-Deterrence Approach to Closing Overt Drug Markets: A Process and Fidelity Evaluation of Seven Sites Summary: Overt drug markets are often associated with violence and property crime, as well as lower quality of life for nearby residents. Despite the considerable strain these markets can place on communities, efforts to close them can disrupt the delicate relationship between those who live in these communities and the criminal justice agencies charged with protecting them. In 2010, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) funded Michigan State University (MSU) to train a cohort of seven jurisdictions to implement a community-based strategy that uses focused deterrence, community engagement, and incapacitation to reduce the crime and disorder associated with overt drug markets. The strategy was inspired by the High Point Drug Market Intervention and RAND was selected by the National Institute of Justice to evaluate these efforts. This process evaluation describes how well the seven sites adhered to the BJA model they were exposed to during the trainings, the barriers they encountered, and lessons learned from their experiences. Key Findings Successful Implementation Requires Strong Support from Law Enforcement and Prosecutors - Three sites did not make it to the call-in phase, with the common theme a lack of support at the highest levels of police departments or prosecutor's offices or the loss of initial support from leaders at these key agencies over time. - An initial commitment that is not sustained, or lack of strong commitment from one of these entities, may impede full implementation of the strategy. Team Members Should Have a Good Understanding of the Strategy Before Beginning the Process - A full understanding of the strategy from the outset will prevent avoidable missteps and will likely improve fidelity to the model. Team Turnover Should Be Expected and Addressed in Advance - Most of the teams experienced some turnover in the core membership, and in some cases, this put an end to the intervention. - Several team members mentioned that it was important to have multiple people from each sector familiar with the project in case someone changes positions. If Sites Plan to Track Dealers, an Action Plan Should Be Developed Prior to the Call-In - Some sites did not develop specific systems for tracking A-listers and B-listers, either from the outset or at all. This information is important for understanding the causal mechanisms underlying observed changes, keeping track of program costs, and successfully delivering on the deterrence message. - Some sites were not able to keep careful track of whether B-listers were complying with the terms of program, and some lacked specific requirements for B-lister participation. Details: Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2016. 113p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed march 8, 2016 at: http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1000/RR1001/RAND_RR1001.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1000/RR1001/RAND_RR1001.pdf Shelf Number: 138129 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug ControlDrug EnforcementDrug Markets |
Author: Stevens, Sally Title: National Cross-Site Evaluation: Juvenile Drug Courts and Reclaiming Futures: Final Report: 7/1/2011-6/30/2015 Summary: As jurisdictions throughout the country continue to seek solutions to juvenile justice issues, several jurisdictions have merged two existing models to create an innovative approach: Juvenile Drug Courts: Strategies in Practice (JDC:SIP; National Drug Court Institute [NDCI] & National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges [NCJFCJ], 2003) and Reclaiming Futures (RF; http://reclaimingfutures.org/). The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), funded an initiative to improve the effectiveness and efficacy of juvenile drug courts (JDCs) by integrating these two models. Five JDC sites that received funding under this initiative were included in the National Cross-Site Evaluation of Juvenile Drug Courts and Reclaiming Futures (i.e., the JDC/RF National Cross-Site Evaluation). The JDC/RF National Cross-Site Evaluation was led by The University of Arizona's Southwest Institute for Research on Women (SIROW) in partnership with Chestnut Health Systems and Carnevale Associates, LLC. Its purpose was to conduct an independent evaluation of the combined effects of the JDC:SIP and the RF models to identify the factors, elements, and services that perform best with respect to system and client outcomes and cost-effectiveness. The JDC/RF National Cross-Site Evaluation had multiple foci addressing five research objectives and eleven research questions. Generally, the JDC/RF National Cross-Site Evaluation was charged with: (a) assessing the influence of the implementation of the integrated JDC/RF model on system and client outcomes; (b) assessing the influence of program characteristics on client receipt of services and on client outcomes; (c) evaluating the economic impact of JDC/RF programs; (d) expanding on previous evaluations to further describe the process of the integration and implementation of JDC:SIP and RF; (e) evaluating the services provided by the JDC/RF programs; and (e) assessing the potential for replication of the integrated model. Key findings include: - JDC/RF programs appropriately identify, enroll and provide services to youth in need. - JDC/RF program clients consistently and frequently receive evidence-based substance abuse treatment and other services and are retained in treatment as needed. - JDC/RF programs are more effective at reducing criminal behavior than non-RF JDCs and intensive outpatient treatment programs (IOPs) among youth with relatively more criminal activity at program intake. - Compared to IOPs, JDCs overall are more effective at reducing substance use among youth with relatively more substance use at program intake. - Integrated systems of care and treatment tailored to the target population are particularly critical to effectively serving the substance abuse treatment needs of JDC/RF program clients. - Substance abuse treatment program characteristics including having a defined target population and eligibility criteria, utilization of gender-appropriate treatment, utilization of policies and procedures responsive to cultural differences, utilization of a non-adversarial approach, coordination with the school system, utilization of sanctions to modify non-compliance, and utilization of random and observed drug testing are associated with improved client outcomes. - JDC/RF programs produce net benefit to society at a savings of $84,569 per youth making it a cost saving intervention for juvenile offenders with substance use disorders. - JDC/RF programs can increase cost savings by taking advantage of available in-kind resources (e.g., volunteers), targeting clients who self-report more clinical problems or have committed more violent crimes, and by maintaining clients in treatment. - JDC/RF team members work to increase community collaboration and utilize a wide range of community resources to meet the needs of program clients. - JDC/RF programs are viewed as actively working towards and as achieving collaboration among local youth-serving agencies. - Family Engagement is a challenge for JDC/RF programs. - Representatives from JDC/RF sites perceive Reclaiming Futures as an opportunity to refine internal processes rather than as an entirely new approach. Details: Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona, Southwest Institute for Research on women, 2015. 177p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 26, 2016 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/grants/249744.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/grants/249744.pdf Shelf Number: 138423 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Courts, JuvenilesJuvenile OffenderProblem-Solving Courts |
Author: Reed, Jack K. Title: Marijuana Legalization in Colorado: Early Findings. A Report Pursuant to Senate Bill 13-283 Summary: In 2013, following the passage of Amendment 64 which allows for the retail sale and possession of marijuana, the Colorado General Assembly enacted Senate Bill 13-283. This bill mandated the Division of Criminal Justice in the Department of Public Safety to conduct a study of the impacts of Amendment 64, particularly as these relate to law enforcement activities. This report seeks to establish and present the baseline measures for the metrics specified in S.B. 13-283, codified as C.R.S. 24-33.4-516. The majority of the information presented here should be considered pre-commercialization, baseline data because much of the information is available only through 2014, and data sources vary considerably in terms of what exists historically. Consequently, it is too early to draw any conclusions about the potential effects of marijuana legalization or commercialization on public safety, public health, or youth outcomes, and this may always be difficult due to the lack of historical data. Furthermore, the information presented here should be interpreted with caution. The decreasing social stigma regarding marijuana use could lead individuals to be more likely to report use on surveys and to health workers in emergency departments and poison control centers, making marijuana use appear to increase when perhaps it has not. Finally, law enforcement officials and prosecuting attorneys continue to struggle with enforcement of the complex and sometimes conflicting marijuana laws that remain. Thus, the lack of pre-commercialization data, the decreasing social stigma, and challenges to law enforcement combine to make it difficult to translate these early findings into definitive statements of outcomes. Details: Denver, CO: Colorado Division of Criminal Justice, Department of Public Safety, 2016. 147p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 23, 2016 at: http://cdpsdocs.state.co.us/ors/docs/reports/2016-SB13-283-Rpt.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://cdpsdocs.state.co.us/ors/docs/reports/2016-SB13-283-Rpt.pdf Shelf Number: 138798 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Law EnforcementDrug LegalizationDrug PolicyMarijuanaOrganized Crime |
Author: Molloy, Jennifer K. Title: Utah Cost of Crime. Therapeutic Communities in Security Settings for Substance-using Adult Offenders: Technical Report Summary: It has been estimated that between 70% and 85% of the U.S. prison population is in need of some level of substance abuse treatment (Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2009). The link between drug use and crime has been substantiated in an extensive body of research, leading many to the conclusion that treatment is a necessary component of preventing offenders from reoffending after release from custody (Harrison & Gfroerer, 1992; Lipton, 1998; Wexler, 1995). Therapeutic communities (TCs) are a treatment option commonly used in prisons or jails to address the substance abuse treatment needs of offenders while they are incarcerated. TCs are residential settings that use a hierarchical model of care combined with treatment stages that reflect increased levels of personal and social responsibility. Unlike other treatment models, TCs utilize a "community as method" approach that sees treatment staff and those in recovery as agents of change. TC members interact in structured and unstructured ways to influence attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors associated with drug use and antisocial activities. Another fundamental component of a TC is "self-help," where the individuals themselves are main contributors to the change process. Of all incarceration-based drug treatment programs, TCs are the most intensive and typically the longest in duration (6 to 12 months). Therapeutic Communities (TCs) were first implemented in U.S. psychiatric hospitals in the 1950s, extending to community-based substance abuse programs in the 1960s, and eventually to prisons in the late 1960s (Canode, 2007). The development of the prison TC model can be attributed to a rapidly increasing prison population and a growing awareness of the link between drugs and crime (Wexler & Prendergast, 2010). TCs were developed as an offshoot of the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) model in order to treat "hard core" heroin-dependent criminals. Subsequently, the model has evolved to include a broader perspective and population, serving individuals from a diverse demographic who are severely dependent on drugs (Gerstein, 1992; Wexler, 1995). The success of the TC model has led to its application with specific populations including women (Sacks et al., 2008), inmates with co-occurring disorders (Sacks, Banks, McKendrick, & Sacks, 2008), and youth (Gordon, 2002). Details: Salt Lake City: Utah Criminal Justice Center, University of Utah, 2012. 11p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 23, 2016 at: http://ucjc.utah.edu/wp-content/uploads/TC-Technical-Report_v03192013.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://ucjc.utah.edu/wp-content/uploads/TC-Technical-Report_v03192013.pdf Shelf Number: 139123 Keywords: Drug Abuse and crimeDrug OffendersDrug TreatmentSubstance Abuse Treatment |
Author: Stathopoulos, Mary Title: Establishing the Connection: Interventions linking service responses for sexual assault with drug or alcohol use/abuse: Final report Summary: Establishing the Connection was a Victorian-based study that aimed to examine the intersections between alcohol and other drug (AOD) use and sexual victimisation and trauma, how both support sectors currently work together, and how they can respond more effectively to the needs of those affected. The study found that: - Participants from both the AOD and the sexual assault sectors demonstrated a practical understanding of the interrelationship between drug and alcohol use and sexual victimisation. The overlap between sexual victimisation and alcohol and other drug use was very relevant for AOD and sexual assault counsellors and managers who were aware of the very large numbers of potentially "shared" clients. - Current practice in the assessment and intake processes in the AOD and sexual assault sectors varies considerably and reflects both the organisational frameworks that guide practice, as well as the initiative and confidence of individuals in the sectors in referring clients to other services. - Factors that hinder collaboration included insufficient resources; uncertainty about how the other sector works; lack of communication; and role creep, which describes the expansion of demands and activities of a job or role over time that are not balanced by additional resources to support them. - Practitioners and managers expressed great interest in expanding their understanding of the other sector through a variety of avenues, some of which included: shared focus on client-centred care; openness to discussion and sharing information; previous interagency collaboration; and policy and governance support. Findings from the report informed the development of practice guidelines to assist service providers with the identification, assessment, response and referral of individuals and families affected by co-occurring sexual abuse victimisation and substance use issues. Details: Alexandria, NSW: National Research Organisation for Women's Safety Limited (ANROWS), 2016. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: ANROWS Horizons, Issue 02/2016: Accessed May 31, 2016 at: http://media.aomx.com/anrows.org.au/Establishing%20the%20Connection%20Horizons.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Australia URL: http://media.aomx.com/anrows.org.au/Establishing%20the%20Connection%20Horizons.pdf Shelf Number: 139249 Keywords: Alcohol and CrimeDrug Abuse and CrimeRapeSexual AssaultSexual ViolenceVictims of Crime |
Author: MacRae, Andrea Title: Review of illicit drug use among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people Summary: Illicit drug use can harm individuals, communities and society. Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are affected by significantly higher levels of substance use than non-Indigenous people, contributing to higher levels of associated health and social harms. Most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people do not use illicit drugs, but the proportion of drug use is higher among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people than among non-Indigenous people. Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; in 2012-2013, 19% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over reported having recently1 used cannabis. Research suggests high levels of heavy cannabis use in some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, which may be associated with dependence and harms to social and emotional wellbeing. Illicit drug use is associated with a number of health impacts and social harms that disproportionately affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. These harms include increased risk of contracting hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from injecting drug use; higher levels of psychological distress; and an increased risk of suicide. Illicit drug use is also linked with social issues, such as harm to children and family, violence, crime and incarceration. Details: Joondalup WA: Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet, Edith Cowan University, 2016. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 9, 2016 at: http://apo.org.au/files/Resource/illicit-drugs-review-2015-web.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Australia URL: http://apo.org.au/files/Resource/illicit-drugs-review-2015-web.pdf Shelf Number: 139339 Keywords: Aboriginals Cannibis Drug Abuse Drug Abuse and CrimeIllicit Drugs Indigenous Peoples Substance Abuse |
Author: Markov, Dimitar Title: Policies on drugs in Bulgarian prisons: Background report Summary: This report provides a snapshot of the situation of drug users in Bulgaria. As it is aimed to serve as a basis for comparative study on policies and practice towards drug users, particularly in prisons, in Bulgaria and Norway, it presents the country's context - general information on the country and its criminal justice system, policy and legislation on drugs explaining what are the perimeters of drug restriction and what are the national policies towards drug use. This information is illustrated with statistics on crime rates and drug crime in particular. The report also investigates how court looks upon the fact that the accused are using or addicted to narcotic substances within the criminal proceedings and specifically on the type and the term of the sentence. Finally, it looks upon the sanctions available for drug users and their situation once sentenced to imprisonment - what treatment, rehabilitation and harm reduction programmes are available in different prisons. Details: Sofia, Bulgaria: Center for the Study of Democracy, 2016. 29p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 13, 2016 at: http://www.csd.bg/artShow.php?id=17594 Year: 2016 Country: Bulgaria URL: http://www.csd.bg/artShow.php?id=17594 Shelf Number: 139417 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersDrug Treatment Programs |
Author: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Title: World Drug Report 2016 Summary: The World Drug Report 2016 comes at a decisive moment, just months after Member States, at a special session of the General Assembly, adopted a comprehensive set of operational recommendations on the world drug problem. The session was only the third in the history of the General Assembly to focus on drugs, and the resulting outcome document, entitled "Our joint commitment to effectively addressing and countering the world drug problem", provides a concrete way forward to take action on shared challenges. In the outcome document, Member States reaffirmed their commitment to addressing persistent, new and evolving challenges in line with the three international drug control conventions, which were recognized as allowing States parties sufficient flexibility to design and implement national drug policies consistent with the principle of common and shared responsibility. The operational recommendations contained in the outcome document encompass measures to address demand and supply reduction, as well as to improve access to controlled medicines while preventing their diversion; they cover human rights, youth, children, women and communities and highlight emerging challenges and the need to promote long-term, comprehensive, sustainable, development-oriented and balanced drug control policies and programmes that include alternative development. The text highlights the importance of drug abuse prevention and treatment; encourages the development, adoption and implementation of alternative or additional measures with regard to conviction or punishment; and promotes proportionate national sentencing policies, practices and guidelines for drug-related offences. Now the international community must come together to make good on its commitments. The World Drug Report 2016, which provides a comprehensive overview of major developments in drug markets, trafficking routes and the health impact of drug use, supports comprehensive, balanced and integrated rights-based approaches. This year's report offers insight into the wide-ranging impact of drugs not only on the health and well-being of individuals, but also on the people around them - families and communities. This can include such harms as HIV, as well as the threat of violence, faced in particular by women and children. Details: New York: UNODC, 2016. 174p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 28, 2016 at: https://www.unodc.org/doc/wdr2016/WORLD_DRUG_REPORT_2016_web.pdf Year: 2016 Country: International URL: https://www.unodc.org/doc/wdr2016/WORLD_DRUG_REPORT_2016_web.pdf Shelf Number: 139529 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse PreventionDrug ReformDrug TraffickingDrug-Related ViolenceDrugs and Crime |
Author: Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission Title: Technical Report on Alternatives to Incarceration for Drug-Related Offenses Summary: Convinced that responses to the drug problem should be comprehensive, centering on public health and human rights perspectives, the Government of Colombia, with the support of the Inter‐American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), is committed to encouraging the debate on alternatives which allow for a focus on the individual, moving beyond approaches solely based on repression. The Report on the Drug Problem in the Americas, undertaken by the Organization of American States (OAS), confirms that the use of a punitive approach in response to consumption has meant that the populations most vulnerable to problematic use have been discouraged from access to timely information, public health services, and treatment and prevention programs in general. Furthermore, academic studies and reports from civil society organizations have indicated that indiscriminate repression, including applying severe sanctions for consumption and possession of small quantities, has especially affected the lowest levels of the drug trafficking chain. This situation has aggravated the problem of prison overcrowding that a number of countries in the region are facing. In this context, drug policy has come into conflict with the respect for human rights. The situation of women and their increasing participation in drug-related crimes is especially worrying. Given this reality, it is necessary to understand crime as a social phenomenon and not a fact of nature. For this reason, the State's reaction to crime must start with the analysis of its origins within the community, since only by determining the reasons which bring some members to engage in criminal activity, can it be addressed adequately. The reflexive use of criminal law - frequently manifested in the proliferation of new crimes, increases in sentences, and the indiscriminate incarceration of a large number of offenders - can create fleeting sensations of relief in a society. However, the use of criminal law as the State's only reaction not only leaves the origin of the problem intact, but also places large burdens on the resources of the justice system, and more importantly, in the eyes of a community that could see its actions as inefficient, increases the perception that its repeated intervention no does help to address the problems it seeks to solve. With regard to the fight against drugs, the last four decades show that policies have been developed on the assumption that activities related to all illicit substances should be controlled in the same way, with the understanding that all of the links in the drug trafficking chain merit the same treatment. This perception is mistaken and requires reconsideration in order to allow for differential approaches and responses by the State, not only for different types of drugs, but also for the different types of people who are part of the problem. Details: Washington, DC: Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission, 2016. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: (OAS. Official Records Series ; OEA/Ser.L) Accessed September 3, 2016 at: http://www.cicad.oas.org/apps/Document.aspx?Id=3203 Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://www.cicad.oas.org/apps/Document.aspx?Id=3203 Shelf Number: 140137 Keywords: Alternatives to ImprisonmentDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug Offenders |
Author: Kane-Willis, Kathleen Title: New Directions for Illinois Drug Policy: An Update on Incarceration for Drug Offenses In Illinois Summary: Drug Use among Arrestees in Cook County Jail Of the ten Arrestee Drug Use Monitoring II sites, Chicago (Cook County) had the greatest number of arrestees testing positive for drugs at 87 percent of the sample. - Cook County also had the highest percentage of poly-substance use confirmed through the urine screen at 40 percent, an increase over the number of arrestees testing positive for poly-substance use in 2007. Cocaine - Cook County had the largest percentage of arrestees testing positive for cocaine at 43.8 percent. - There was very little racial difference among arrestees testing positive for cocaine. Blacks and whites tested positive for cocaine in nearly similar percentages (46.2% and 45.7% respectively), though fewer Latinos tested positive for cocaine (33.4%) than whites or blacks. Heroin - Of the ten sites, Chicago had the highest percentage of arrestees testing positive for heroin at 29 percent. In comparison, Washington DC, which ranked second after Chicago, only had 12 percent of arrestees testing positive for heroin. Chicago's test results also represent a statistically significant increase over the percentage of arrestees testing positive for heroin in 2007. - Racial differences were particularly pronounced for heroin use. The percentage of whites testing positive for heroin (41%) was nearly twice that of black and Latino arrestees (25% and 24% respectively). - Individuals that tested positive for heroin were much more likely to have been arrested for a property crime. Forty-six percent of the arrestees charged with a property crime tested positive for heroin, followed by 27.4 percent of arrestees with a drug possession charge testing positive for heroin. Drug Offenders Entering Prison in Illinois In Illinois, the number of individuals entering Illinois' prisons for drug offenses increased 12 percent from 10,436 individuals in 2000 to 11,680 in 2008. The peak year for drug offenders entering prison was 2005, when the number of drug offenders entering prison reached nearly 15,000 individuals. Individuals entering prison for drug offenses have steadily declined from 2006 to 2008. - One reason for the large number of individuals entering Illinois prisons in 2005 is the large increase in technical violators admitted to prison. The number of these offenders increased more than 290 percent over fiscal year 2000 numbers, from 955 individuals to 3,727 individuals in 2005 - Court commitments also increased, from about 7,800 in 2000 to about 9,600 in 2005, a 23 percent increase. - The combination of increases in court commitments along with the very large increases in technical violations from parolees may partially explain the peak year numbers. Sales and Possession Offenders Individuals who entered prison for drug sales offenses declined during this period from 5,074 individuals in 2000 to 4,202 in 2008. The number of individuals entering Illinois' prisons for drug possession of a controlled substance - that is possession of any drug besides marijuana - increased by more than 42 percent from 4,675 individuals in 2000, to 6,618 offenders in 2008. Since 2002, nearly every year, the percentage of those going to prison for possession offenses has increased. For example: - In 2000, 52 percent of those admitted to prison for drug offenses were convicted of sales offenses, and 48 percent were convicted of possession offenses. - By 2008, possessions offenders made up nearly 62 percent of drug offenders incarcerated for drug offenses, while sales offenders made up just 38 percent of individuals entering prison for drugs. - In 2008, 53 percent of those entering prison for drug offenses were convicted of a Class 4 felony, the lowest-level possession offense. The number of prisons entrances for individuals convicted of the lowest level of drug offenses, Class 4 possession offenses, increased by 34 percent, from 4,634 individuals in 2000 to 6,188 individuals in 2008. - In 2000, these offenders represented 44 percent of admissions to prison for all drug offenses, but by 2008, Class 4 possession offenders comprised 53 percent of admissions for drug offenses that resulted in prison terms. - Imprisonment for individuals convicted of cannabis possession, although small in number, increased by 35 percent from 189 individuals in 2000 to 256 individuals in 2008. - Technical violations among Class 4 drug possession offenders that resulted in a new prison admission increased from 279 individuals in 2000 to nearly 900 individuals in 2008. This was an increase of more than 220 percent. Reducing Recidivism - Drug treatment in jail reduces recidivism by about 4.5 percent. - Drug treatment in prison provides a nearly 6 percent reduction in recidivism. - Drug treatment in the community reduces recidivism by about 9.5 percent. - The largest impact on recidivism rates occurs when individuals are given intensive supervision (parole or probation) with treatment, which reduces recidivism by more than 16 percent. Cost of Incarcerating Lowest Level Drug Offenders in 2008 In Illinois, it costs about $61.36 per day to house an offender in prison. The majority of low-level drug possession offenders will most likely spend a short period of time in prison (e.g. 120 days or less). - The cost for an offender to spend 120 days in prison is approximately $7,363. - The cost of imprisoning the 4,379 Class 4 possession offenders (the lowest level drug offense) in 2008 (assuming an average stay of 120 days) was $34,243,453.00. Details: Chicago: Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy, 2009. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 15, 2016 at: https://www.roosevelt.edu/CAS/CentersAndInstitutes/IMA/ICDP.aspx Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: https://www.roosevelt.edu/CAS/CentersAndInstitutes/IMA/ICDP.aspx Shelf Number: 147871 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug OffendersDrug PolicyDrug ReformIntensive Supervision |
Author: Kane-Willis, Kathleen Title: Understanding Suburban Heroin Use. Research Findings from the Reed Hruby Heroin Prevention Project at the Robert Crown Center for Health Education Summary: Mexican heroin production has increased significantly since 2002 from an estimated 6.8 metric tons to a production level of 50 metric tons in 2011 - a more than seven-fold increase in just seven years. This increase in production has made heroin more available in many areas across the country, including Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Illinois, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. Patterns of suburban heroin use have been reported nationally and in Illinois: - Though heroin use levels may be somewhat stable, use is increasing among young people in many suburban and rural areas, according to the US Department of Justice. - Illinois has seen an increase in young suburban users, evident in public treatment admissions and hospital discharge data. For example: Among 20 to 24 year olds, from 1998 to 2007, hospital discharges for heroin use among Chicagoans declined 67 percent but increased more than 200 percent in the Collar Counties. National survey and treatment data indicate increases in youth heroin use: - According to the National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health, initiations to heroin have increased 80 percent since 2002. - Among those ages 12 to 17, survey data indicates that nearly 34,000 youths initiate to heroin in a given year. - Among those ages 12 to 17, survey data indicates that nearly 3,753 youths used heroin on any given day, not necessarily for the first time. - Treatment admissions among those in their teens and their 20s increased by about 56 to 58 percent from 1996 to 2006. - The majority of youth aged 12 to 17 entering public treatment for heroin across the nation were white (76 percent), followed by Latinos (16 percent), with only 2 percent of those entering treatment being African American. - In Illinois, nearly 70 percent of youth under age 18 admitted to public treatment were white. Injection drug use is increasing among younger heroin users: - Over a ten year period, injection drug use has increased among heroin using teens by 94 percent, with about 70 percent of teens reporting injection currently. - Injection drug use among 20 year olds entering treatment for heroin increased by 110 percent, with more than three quarters reporting injection drug use. The academic literature has demonstrated some linkage between the usage of opiate pills to the initiation of heroin and survey data demonstrate that: - In 2008, over 900,000 12 to 17 year olds initiated to prescription pain pills. - While cannabis initiation trumps prescription pain pill initiation, (59 percent vs. 17.1 percent), the second most common illicit drug initiation was to prescription pain pills. Understanding Heroin Use, Addiction and Dependency Heroin has one of the highest dependency liability profiles of any licit or illicit drug--only nicotine ranks higher. As such, the fear the public may have about the increasing heroin use among young people is understandable. Of those who are offered heroin, about 20 percent will try it, and of those, 25 percent will proceed to dependency. The academic literature indicates that the life trajectory of heroin dependent persons is poor, with extremely negative outcomes. There is little information available in the literature on this emerging population of suburban heroin users. In order to build a profile of suburban heroin use and users, the researchers decided to use a "life map" approach. This approach allowed the research team to build profiles of suburban heroin users in order to better understand this growing population. Heroin Interview Findings Among the interviewees, the researchers found three pathways to heroin: 1. Pill Use to Heroin -- Use and dependence on opiate pills prior to using heroin (e.g. using heroin as a replacement for opiate pills when they were difficult to obtain) - One third of the sample was dependent on opioid pills like Oxycontin or Vicodin before transitioning to heroin. - One participant had become addicted after being prescribed Vicodin by his doctor. - Pill users' perception of heroin use were softened (e.g. they were less scared to try it) once they realized the connection between opioid pills and heroin. 2. Cocaine Use to Heroin Use of heroin to ease the effects of cocaine binges (e.g. using heroin to "come down" from the cocaine) o Users who binge on cocaine generally find that they require something to stop the cocaine binge and enable them to fall asleep. Roughly one-third of our sample initiated to heroin in this manner. 3. Poly drug use to Heroin - Poly drug use to heroin was the most common path to initiation among our sample, with just over one third initiating to heroin in this manner. Characteristics of Heroin Initiation - All of the interviewees first initiated use to heroin by inhalation - "snorting" or "sniffing" heroin. Most of the interviewees thought that heroin used this way was "less addictive" or had no addictive qualities at all. - The mean age of first use of heroin was 18.4. Three of the interviewees used heroin at age 15. - All of the interviewees, except one, transitioned from sniffing to injection. - One third of our sample began to use heroin while they were in high school.- Among the higher SES participants, heroin use spread throughout the high school peer group and many people became dependent. - The majority of those interviewed had little or no idea what heroin use dependence consisted of or the withdrawal syndrome associated with it. - Many became addicted quickly after initiation, but dependency was generally identified by another person (someone who was dependent). Interviewees thought that the withdrawal syndrome was the flu or some other illness. Interviewees had minimal drug knowledge: - The majority of heroin interviewees had little or no education regarding heroin use and dependency. - Many indicated that if they had known about heroin - (and other opioids) -addictive and dependency profile, they would not have become addicted. Characteristics of the Sample - More than 75 percent of the interviewees self-reported mental health disorders or exhibited symptoms of mental health disorders. - The high levels of mental health disorders - self-report or observed symptoms - indicate that one reason for using or continuing to use heroin was to ease these symptoms; thus selfmedication was common in most interviewees. - More than two-thirds of the sample exhibited sensation seeking behavior. Negative Experiences Related to Heroin Use Health Mortality rates for heroin dependent persons are extremely high. Over 50 percent of heroin dependent persons will be dead before the age of 50, with the mean age of death being 30. Overdose is a common danger that both novice and dependent users with extensive use backgrounds may face: - About one-third of the sample experienced multiple overdoses. - Two interviewees had friends who died from heroin overdoses. Heroin use causes major health problems, including heart disease, blood borne pathogens from injecting (HIV/HCV/HBV) and dental problems. Heroin dependent individuals have high rates of co-occurring disorders (COD), which makes them more prone to die from suicide than the general population: - One third of the sample suffered significant scarring from injection, amputation or limb damage as a result of injection drug use. - About half the sample had missing teeth, caused by the lack of saliva in the heroin dependent person. - At least three of the interviewees had been hospitalized for a serious event related to drug use including endocarditis, abscesses at the injection site, cellulitis and other infections. - Three of the participants attempted suicide on more than one occasion. Education, Employment and Housing - More than a third lost jobs due to heroin dependency. - More than half left educational programs due to heroin dependency (this includes high school and college). - Nearly half the sample experienced a period of homelessness. Crime Victimization - More than half of the female interviewees had been subject to a crime. Three were victims of violent sexual assault (all while living in precarious housing/homelessness situations). - At least one male was subject to a hold-up at gunpoint by other users. - Many of the interviewees indicated that they had been victims of other forms of crime, such as having money stolen during drug transactions, generally with other users. Criminal Activity As the heroin user becomes more dependent and loses employment, the normal trajectory indicates that the heroin dependent individual will commit crimes to support their habit. Generally these crimes are acquisitive crimes, which are crimes to obtain money. Violent crime is not common among heroin dependent users: - About 75 percent of the sample committed some form of theftXincluding theft from parents, shoplifting, and burglaries. - Those who engaged in drug selling after their addiction did so to provide money for heroin. About half of our male interviewees engaged in drug selling. - Another way in which heroin dependent individuals in our sample paid for heroin was by giving other users rides to the city to purchase heroin. - More than half of the female interviewees engaged in sex work (prostitution) after they had become dependent on heroin. - More than 70 percent of our sample reported an arrest after becoming dependent on heroin. - About half of the sample had at least one felony conviction. - Nearly one-third of our sample experienced incarceration. More men than women (3:1) experienced incarceration after being dependent on heroin. Challenges Overcoming Addiction/Dependency Once heroin dependency is established, the life trajectory of heroin users tends to be one of treatment followed by relapse. This pattern generally continues throughout the individual's life: - The majority of our sample (80 percent) had been in some form of treatment more than one time. - More than half of the sample had used heroin in the three months preceding the interview. - About a third of the sample indicated that while they had not used recently, they would if they had the opportunity. Details: Chicago: Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy, 2015. 77p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 15, 2016 at: https://www.robertcrown.org/files/Understanding_suburban_heroin_use.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: https://www.robertcrown.org/files/Understanding_suburban_heroin_use.pdf Shelf Number: 147872 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug OffendersHeroin Addicts |
Author: Kane-Willis, Kathleen Title: Diminishing Capacity: The Heroin Crisis and Illinois Treatment in a National Perspective Summary: National Trends - This rise of heroin use has been a major focus of concern among government agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and data verify these concerns: - In 2013, the number of individuals (681,000) reporting past year heroin use was significantly higher than in 2007 (314,000), nearly doubling over the six year period. - In 2012, those entering treatment reporting heroin as this primary substance of abuse increased to 16% of all treatment admissions, the highest level since data collection began in 1992. - Heroin overdoses (poisonings) have nearly quadrupled from 2002 to 2013, with 8,200 deaths in 2013. Illinois Trends While heroin treatment episodes are reaching historic highs nationally, in Illinois treatment admissions for heroin are significantly higher than the nation as a whole, for example: - Nationally, heroin treatment admissions comprised 16.4% of total state funded treatment in 2012, while in Illinois heroin admissions make up one-quarter of all treatment admissions for the state, and are 56% greater than the nation as a whole; - In 2012, the Chicago Metropolitan Area percentage of treatment admissions for heroin was more than double the national average (35.1% vs 16.4%). - From 2006 to 2012, heroin was the second most common reason for Illinoisans to enter state publicly funded treatment, after alcohol. In 2000, it was the 4th most common reason. Heroin use is not only rising in urban areas area but is also dramatically increasing in rural and suburban counties. - In 2007, treatment episodes for heroin comprised just 4% of total publicly funded treatment in Metro East Illinois, but by 2012, heroin made up 18% of all treatment episodes - a fourfold increase in just 5 years. - In 2007, treatment admissions in Decatur for heroin comprised just 3% of the total, spiking to 23% in 2012, representing a 6-fold increase. - In 2007, treatment admissions in Peoria-Pekin for heroin were 7% and by 2012 it was 16%, a 119% increase. - Between 2007 and 2012, treatment episodes for heroin more than doubled in Bloomington-Normal and Champaign- Urbana from 5% to 11% and 6% to 13% respectively. According to survey data heroin use is increasing especially among young people in Illinois. - In 2007, 2.5% of Illinois youth reported using heroin in the past year, while in 2013, that number increased to 3.8%, a nearly 50 percent increase in just six years. - The greatest percentage increase occurred among females - a 90% increase over that time period. Males were more likely to report using heroin - nearly six percent in 2013. The Chicago Metropolitan Area ranks in the top for both emergency department mentions for heroin and number of individuals who were arrested and tested positive for heroin. - Arrestees from Cook County tested positive for opiates (including heroin) at a rate of 18.6%, higher than any other area in the nation. - Arrestees from Cook County also self-reported using heroin more times per month than those from any other jurisdiction, (26.8 days per month). - Arrestees from Cook County reported using heroin in the last three days more than those from any other region (15.7%). - The Chicago Metropolitan area ranked first in the country for the total number of mentions for heroin (23,627) nearly double the number for New York City. - Chicago also reported the highest number of heroin mentions among African American mentions (13,178), nearly four times more than New York City (3,463) and nearly 6 times higher than Detroit (2,311). - Among whites, only Boston had more ED mentions for heroin (10,045), but Chicago was second (7,024). - Chicago ranked highest in the number of ED mentions for both women and men. Adjusting for population, Chicago ranked 2nd highest in the number of mentions overall, behind Boston. Declining Treatment Capacity: Illinois in National Perspective While heroin use is increasing in every area of the state, there has been an alarming and dramatic decrease in treatment from 2007 to 2012. - Illinois ranked first in the US for the decline in treatment capacity over this period, a loss of more than half of its treatment episodes, 52% decrease over the five year period. - In 2007, Illinois ranked 28th in state funded treatment capacity, but in 2012 Illinois ranked 44th, or 3rd worst in the nation; only Tennessee and Texas ranked lower. - In 2012, Illinois's state funded treatment rate was (265 per 100K) more than 50% lower than the US rate. - When compared to other Midwestern states, Illinois had the lowest rate of state funded treatment. Minnesota's rate was 2.7 times Illinois's rate (982.1 vs 256.6), Ohio's rate was twice as high as Illinois, Wisconsin rate was 1.8 times greater, and Indiana's rate, which was lower than that for any Midwestern state, aside from Illinois, was still 43% higher than Illinois. Illinois State funding for addiction treatment decreased significantly: - From 2007 to 2012, General Revenue Funding decreased by nearly 30% ($111M vs $79M), while Medicaid funding decreased by 4% over this time period. - These decreases in funding continue in FY 16, where the proposed budget represents a 61% decrease in state funded addiction treatment; - Including Medicaid increases from FY13 to FY16, addiction treatment funding (including Medicaid), still dropped by 28% overall ($163M in 2007 to $116M in the proposed FY16 budget) Details: Chicago: Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy, 2015. 39p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 15, 2016 at: https://www.roosevelt.edu/CAS/CentersAndInstitutes/IMA/ICDP.aspx Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: https://www.roosevelt.edu/CAS/CentersAndInstitutes/IMA/ICDP.aspx Shelf Number: 147874 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug OffendersHeroin Addicts |
Author: Phelps, William Title: Idaho Drug and Alcohol Related Arrests and Charges: 2006-2013 Summary: The arrest data extracted and analyzed are from the Idaho Incident Based Reporting System (IIBRS) repository maintained by Idaho State Police between 2006 and 2013. Court information is from the Idaho Supreme Court for the years 2008‐2013. Since the court data was initially requested for a different report, the date range does not match that of the IIBRS section of the current report. IIBRS Alcohol related arrests have been declining since 2006, while drug related arrests have increased by nearly 18%. Arrests for driving under the influence decreased by 28% between 2006 and 2013. Between 2006 and 2013, 7,764 pounds of marijuana were seized; the most of any drug. Prescription drug seizures peaked in 2012 with 31,730 dosage units seized. Cases involving cocaine decreased between 2006 and 2013 while cases involving opiates (e.g., heroin) increased by 283%. Although offenders arrested for drug or alcohol related offenses are most often male, the proportion of female arrestees increased slightly in 2013. The proportion of female arrestees was largest for cases involving methamphetamine and prescription drugs. In 2013, the offender was suspected of being under the influence of alcohol or drugs in nearly 20% of violent crime arrests. Court Information The rate of alcohol cases declined between 2008 through 2013 from 14.3 to 8.7 per 1,000 people in Idaho. The rate of drug cases increased between 2008 through 2013 from 6.3 to 7.6 cases per 1,000 people. Possession accounted for more than 80% of drug charges and DUIs accounted for nearly 60% of alcohol charges. Drug use/consume cases increased by 24% between 2008 and 2013. Cases involving minors in possession of alcohol decreased by 12% between 2008 and 2013. Individuals age 18‐24 accounted for the largest percentage of defendants in drug and alcohol related cases between 2008 and 2013. More than 40% of drug charges between 2008 and 2013 involved paraphernalia. The most common drug types in transporting/importing cases between 2008 and 2013 included marijuana (38.4%) and methamphetamine (38.9%). Nearly 45% of drug charges and less than 25% of alcohol charges were dismissed. The percent of drug and alcohol related cases involving a probation violation decreased from approximately 11% in 2012 to 6% in 2013. Details: Meridian, ID: Idaho Statistical Analysis Center, Idaho State Police, 2015. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 29, 2016 at: https://www.isp.idaho.gov/pgr/inc/documents/AlcoholandDrugTrendReport06-13Final.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: https://www.isp.idaho.gov/pgr/inc/documents/AlcoholandDrugTrendReport06-13Final.pdf Shelf Number: 140514 Keywords: Alcohol Related Crime, DisorderDriving Under the InfluenceDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersDrunk Driving |
Author: Esposito, Carolina Title: Analysis of the local context report DELIVERABLE 5 Summary: SPRING project aims to fight recidivism of drug related crimes committed by young people in urban contests, through the identification of best practices in alternative measures and treatment programs to detention for drug addicted offenders and prevention campaigns. WP 4 (Analysis of the local context) will aim to perform the country analysis and to report the general knowledge framework about the issues tackled by the project in each participating country (at national and local level): prevention of and fight against recidivism of drug related crimes. The country analysis for each participating country will be based on a literature review of scientific publications, official documents, laws, agreements and guidelines with reference to drug phenomenon and drug addiction and to alternative treatment programs to detention for drug addicted offenders (paying particular attention to experiences with music therapy) This research will concern the following points: Demographic and socio-cultural analysis and description of drug phenomenon with particular reference to anti-social behaviour; Legal and regulatory framework on drug and drug addiction; National data about drug related crimes and drug addicted offenders; Legislation in force, national and local agreements on the topics of: health interventions in the field of addiction social and health practices in the field of addiction National data about health and social practices in the field of addiction; Alternative measures to detention for drug addicted offenders; National data about alternative measures and treatment programs to detention for drug addicted offenders. In order to highlight most clearly the general framework of each participating country, a SWOT analysis (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) will be perform to provide a summary of the strength and weaknesses to be considered in the future phases of the project Details: Valenza (AL): Spring Project, 2016? 160p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 2, 2016 at: http://www.spring-project.eu/upload/documenti/deliverables_spring/WP4_final_report-ENG.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Europe URL: http://www.spring-project.eu/upload/documenti/deliverables_spring/WP4_final_report-ENG.pdf Shelf Number: 145775 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug AddictionDrug TreatmentDrugs and CrimeRecidivism |
Author: Westermaier, Franz G. Title: The Impact of Lengthening the School Day on Substance Abuse and Crime: Evidence from a German High School Reform Summary: In the 2000s, a major educational reform in Germany reduced the academic high school duration by one year while keeping constant the total number of instructional hours before graduation. The instructional hours from the eliminated school year shifted to lower grade levels, which increased the time younger students spend at school. This study explores the impact of the reform on youth crime rates and substance abuse using administrative police crime statistics, administrative student enrollment data, and a student drug survey. The staggered implementation of the reform in different Lander -age-groups allows for a difference-in-difference approach. I find that the reform resulted in a decline in crime rates, which is almost exclusively driven by a reduction in violent crime and illegal substance abuse. Regarding the latter, the rate of illegal cannabis consumption strongly declined; however, no significant effect is detected on cannabis dealers or the consumption of other illegal drugs. The survey evidence further suggests that decreased cannabis consumption was not driven by a shift of consumption into 'school hours'. The results point to an 'incapacitation' effect of schooling due to the increased instructional hours at lower grade levels. Details: Berlin: DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, 2016. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: Discussion Papers no. 1616: Accessed November 17, 2016 at: https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.546486.de/dp1616.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Germany URL: https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.546486.de/dp1616.pdf Shelf Number: 144857 Keywords: Crime RatesDrug Abuse and CrimeMarijuanaSchool ReformSubstance Abuse |
Author: Sperber, Kimberly Gentry Title: Factors Influencing Medication-Assisted Treatment in Ohio Halfway Houses and Community-Based Correctional Facilities Summary: Recent years have witnessed an alarming increase in the number of people dependent on opiates. Nationally, opiate overdose is the second leading cause of injury related death, surpassed only by car accidents. In Ohio, accidental overdoses has been the leading cause of death since 2007. In fact, there has been a 472% increase in drug overdose deaths from 1999 to 2013. An increase in opiate dependent people means that community corrections programs are seeing a dramatic increase in admissions of opiate dependent offenders. This is not surprising given that the link between opiate use and crime is well established. The Center for Health and Human Services Research at Talbert House completed a study based on previous National Institutes of Health studies that have examined: (1) barriers to MAT within private and public substance abuse treatment programs and (2) counselor attitudes toward MAT. This study was replicated in halfway houses and Community Based Correctional Facilities (CBCF) across Ohio and assesses attitudes of both treatment and security staff in these programs. All Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (ODRC)-funded halfway houses and CBCFs were invited to participate in the study. All but two programs elected to participate. Data were collected through two mechanisms. The first was an in-depth structured, face-to-face interview with key staff including Program Directors, Clinical Supervisors, a representative of the medical staff, and at least two clinical/direct service staff. An interview guide was used to gather information on key independent variables within a number of domains. Examples of these domains include organizational structure, organizational resources, dominant treatment philosophy and types of services offered, availability of medical personnel, funding sources, exposure to and understanding of MAT research findings, referral source support for MAT, staff support for MAT, concerns associated with providing MAT to offenders, and client characteristics. A total of 181 staff participated in interviews for this study. The second mechanism was the administration of anonymous surveys to all staff at each facility. These surveys assessed knowledge about MAT, beliefs about the effectiveness and appropriateness of MAT for offenders, and endorsement of myths about MAT. 1876 surveys were distributed, and 910 were returned for a response rate of 49%. Interview and survey questions asked about MAT in general as well as about specific medications (e.g., methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone), where appropriate. Survey items were rated on a Likert scale. Major Findings A total of 49 facilities participated in the study. Interviews with the Program Directors of these facilities demonstrated that 17 of the programs did not allow any access to MAT at the time of the interview while 13 programs directly prescribed addiction medication to clients with opioid disorders, and an additional 19 programs allowed clients to access addiction medications through an external provider during their stay in the facility. Of the 13 programs providing MAT, 62% prescribed oral naltrexone, 46% prescribed injectable naltrexone, and 62% prescribed buprenorphine. No programs prescribed or allowed access to methadone. While many programs had begun to implement various forms of MAT, interview results showed that the programs faced a number of barriers to implementing comprehensive MAT services including: infrastructure, financial, workforce development, and stakeholder support. 63.3% of the facilities did not have access to medically supervised detoxification services for the clients they serve. Response patterns indicated financial barriers to hiring medical staff. Respondents indicated difficulties finding medical staff willing to provide services within correctional programs and with the appropriate experiences for treating a criminal justice population, particularly those with substance use disorders. 83% of the Program Directors agree that the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OHMAS) is supportive of the use of medications for treating substance abuse in community corrections settings. However, less than 40% of the Program Directors agreed that OHMAS had adequately disseminated information about how to implement MAT in community corrections programs or that OHMAS had offered sufficient training opportunities about using medications to treat substance abuse. The primary method staff use to learn about MAT is having conversations with staff of other substance abuse treatment organizations. Survey data were used to assess staff beliefs about general treatment approaches for clients with addiction disorders, beliefs about MAT for clients with addiction disorders, and beliefs about the outcomes of MAT. Regarding overall treatment philosophy, survey responses demonstrated an overall pattern of clinical staff providing significantly higher ratings on items reflective of cognitive-behavioral and motivational enhancement approaches, and operations staff providing significantly higher ratings on items reflective of 12-step approaches and more confrontational approaches. Regarding concerns with MAT, the consistent pattern was that operational staff were more likely to agree with a series of negative statements, such “Using medications to treat addiction is substituting one drug for another” or “Medications are drugs and you cannot be clean if you are taking drugs.” Operations staff provided a statistically significantly lower endorsement of agreement to the item “I have received adequate information about the effects of using medication-assisted treatment for offender populations.” Operations staff also provided significantly lower ratings of agreement than supervisory and clinical staff on items that reflected benefits of MAT, such as MAT reduces relapse, increases employment, reduces crime, reduces or blocks the effects of opioids, increases family stability, and improves birth outcomes for children born to addicted mothers. On the other hand, they provided significantly higher ratings of agreement to items indicating beliefs about negative outcomes of MAT, such as MAT rewards criminals for being drug users and interferes with the ability to drive a car. In the surveys, we also asked staff about their perceptions of the acceptability and effectiveness of four medications used to treat opioid disorders: buprenorphine, methadone, oral naltrexone, and injectable naltrexone. Since previous studies have found that lack of information about medication effectiveness serves as a barrier to its implementation, we also sought to examine the extent of knowledge diffusion regarding each medication. We operationalized diffusion as a dichotomous variable. This variable was coded based on the response to the item “Based on your knowledge and personal experience, to what extent do you consider each of the following treatment techniques to be effective?” Answering “I don’t know” was coded as a lack of diffusion, while all other ratings were considered as evidence of diffusion. Finally, we sought to identify predictors of knowledge diffusion, endorsements of acceptability, and endorsements of effectiveness. Results are summarized below: 35.1% did not know the effectiveness of buprenorphine, 37.2% did not know the effectiveness of methadone, 55.4% did not know the effectiveness of oral naltrexone, and 44% did not know the effectiveness of injectable naltrexone. This trend is consistent with the amount of time these medications have been in use within the field of community corrections in Ohio. Staff perceived methadone and buprenorphine as less effective than both oral and injectable naltrexone, with the highest rating of effectiveness assigned to injectable naltrexone. Regarding acceptability, the results show the same trend, with staff rating methadone and buprenorphine as less acceptable than both forms of naltrexone. Again, injectable naltrexone received the highest endorsement of acceptability. Operations staff were more likely to provide a “don’t know” response regarding the effectiveness all four medications (see Table 1.). On the other hand, staff who worked in programs that provided access to MAT (rather than directly providing MAT) were more likely to endorse an opinion about all four medications. Staff who agreed that they had received adequate information about the effects of using MAT with offender populations also had an increased likelihood of endorsing an opinion about the effectiveness of all four medications. Staff and agency characteristics did not consistently predict perceived acceptability across the four medications (see Table 2.). Predictors that were somewhat consistent across models included staff beliefs about outcomes of MAT, whether the facility directly provided MAT, and staff concerns about MAT. Specifically, staff who demonstrated a higher level of agreement with positive statements indicating positive outcomes of MAT were significantly more likely to endorse the use of buprenorphine, oral naltrexone, and injectable naltrexone as acceptable. While direct provision of MAT served to increase the probability that staff would rate oral and injectable naltrexone as acceptable, it served to decrease the probability that staff would endorse methadone as acceptable. The only consistent predictor of perceived effectiveness across all four medications was staff beliefs regarding the positive outcomes of MAT (see Table 3.). Higher average ratings on these beliefs resulted in statistically significant increases in the probability that staff would agree that the medication was effective. Details: Columbus, OH: Center for Health & Human Services Research, 2016. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 8, 2016 at: http://www.publicsafety.ohio.gov/links/MAT_CBCFs_Report.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://www.publicsafety.ohio.gov/links/MAT_CBCFs_Report.pdf Shelf Number: 145616 Keywords: Community-Based CorrectionsDrug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersDrug TreatmentHalfway HousesSubstance Abuse Treatment |
Author: Sutherland, Paul Title: What drug types drove increases in drug use and possession offences in Victoria over the past decade? Summary: Previous CSA research papers have identified large increases in the number and rate of drug use and possession offences across Victoria over the past decade, which were more prominent in regional Victoria than they were in rural or metropolitan areas. To date, this work has not considered the particular types of drugs that accounted for the observed increases. This study used information recorded by Victoria Police about the type of drugs involved in use and possession offences to examine the drug types associated with the observed increases and the characteristics of alleged offenders across drug types. The study found that cannabis offences continue to account the majority of use and possession offences, but that there have been significant increases in the number of cannabis, ecstasy, methamphetamine, prescription and 'other' drug offences over the past ten years. As at end of March 2016, the rates of amphetamine, cannabis, ecstasy and methamphetamine use and possession offences are higher in regional areas than they are in rural or metropolitan areas. Details: Melbourne: Victoria Crime Statistics Agency, 2016. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: In Brief no. 5: Accessed December 19, 2016 at: https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/embridge_cache/emshare/original/public/2016/07/b1/e4c026718/08072016_Inbrief5_FINAL.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Australia URL: https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/embridge_cache/emshare/original/public/2016/07/b1/e4c026718/08072016_Inbrief5_FINAL.pdf Shelf Number: 147752 Keywords: Crime StatisticsDrug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Offenders |
Author: Public Health England Title: An evidence review of the outcomes that can be expected of drug misuse treatment in England Summary: This review gives policy makers and local areas an objective assessment of what drug treatment outcomes are achievable, and compares outcomes in England to the evidence and to other drug treatment systems It reviews the impact of housing problems, unemployment and social deprivation on treatment engagement and outcomes. The review also considers how drug treatment will need to be configured to meet future need and recommends an appropriate set of measures or indicator for treatment evaluation. Details: London: Public Health England, 2017. 158p., app. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 3, 2017 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/586111/PHE_Evidence_review_of_drug_treatment_outcomes.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/586111/PHE_Evidence_review_of_drug_treatment_outcomes.pdf Shelf Number: 140804 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug Offenders |
Author: Pope, Leah G. Title: A New Normal: Addressing Opioid Use through the Criminal Justice System Summary: The United States is experiencing an epidemic of drug overdose deaths that cuts across economic, racial, and geographic boundaries. In the midst of this devastation, people are struggling to find ways to save the lives of their community members. While the "war on drugs" created tough enforcement policies that resulted in a bloated justice system, there is increasing momentum for a smarter and more compassionate approach to people who use drugs. This report describes how some innovative jurisdictions are implementing harm reduction strategies in order to reduce overdose deaths, improve the well-being of justice system-involved people, and advance the health and safety of their communities. It shares perspectives from stakeholders in law enforcement, the court system, corrections agencies, drug policy, and the community about what strategies are being implemented, how they have overcome barriers, and what work remains to be done. Details: New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2017. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 6, 2017 at: https://www.vera.org/publication_downloads/new-normal-opioid-use-criminal-justice-system/new-normal-opioid-use-criminal-justice-system.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://www.vera.org/publication_downloads/new-normal-opioid-use-criminal-justice-system/new-normal-opioid-use-criminal-justice-system.pdf Shelf Number: 145583 Keywords: Drug AbuseDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse PolicyiDrug EnforcementDrug OffendersOpioid |
Author: Dragone, Davide Title: Crime and the Legalization of Recreational Marijuana Summary: We provide first-pass evidence that the legalization of the cannabis market across US states may be inducing a crime drop. Exploiting the recent staggered legalization enacted by the adjacent states of Washington (end of 2012) and Oregon (end of 2014) we find, combining county-level difference-in-differences and spatial regression discontinuity designs, that the legalization of recreational marijuana caused a significant reduction of rapes and thefts on the Washington side of the border in 2013-2014 relative to the Oregon side and relative to the pre-legalization years 2010-2012. We also find evidence that the legalization increased consumption of marijuana and reduced consumption of other drugs and both ordinary and binge alcohol. Details: Bonn, Germany: Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), 2017. 18p. Source: Internet Resource: Discussion Paper Series no. 10522: Accessed March 8, 2017 at: http://ftp.iza.org/dp10522.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: http://ftp.iza.org/dp10522.pdf Shelf Number: 141374 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug LegalizationMarijuana |
Author: Gau, Jacinta M. Title: Non-Medical Use of Prescription Drugs: Policy Change, Law Enforcement Activity, and Diversion Tactics Summary: The crisis in prescription-opioid addiction began long before it was finally brought out into the open (Inciardi et al., 2009). Southern states experienced the most notable rates of addiction and overdose. This finding was attributed to this group’s high level of involvement in manuallabor occupations and tendency to be uninsured and live in areas with few or no medical resources (Young, Havens, & Leukefeld, 2012). Many people's opioid addiction begins when they are prescribed these pills for legitimate pain. The State of Florida emerged as the epicenter of the national opioid epidemic. In 2010, the Florida Medical Examiners Commission's (FMEC) annual report revealed startling rates of deaths due to or related to oxycodone, hydrocodone, and other prescription opioids; in fact, more people died from opioids than from cocaine. The report found that, excluding alcohol, prescription drugs were 81% of all drug-related or drug-caused deaths (FMEC, 2011). In 2011, this rose to 83% (FMEC, 2012). The Florida legislature’s first contribution to the fight against prescription pill abuse was the authorization of the creation of a prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) in 2009 (also known as E-FORSE; FS 893.055). The PDMP became operational in 2011. Law enforcement officers may become certified to access the PDMP directly; those who are not certified can gain access only via a certified officer or the Florida Department of Health (FDOH). The second major step occurred in 2010 with the official creation of the term "pain management clinic" (PMC) and requirement that certain medical establishments register with the FDOH as pain clinics under the law (FS 458.3265 (applicable to medical practices) and FS 459.0137 (applicable to osteopathic practice). There are two triggers which would require a medical office to register as a pain clinic: (a) if the clinic advertises in any medium that it offers pain management services; or (b) if in any month a majority of the clinic's patients are prescribed opioids, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, or carisoprodol for the treatment of chronic, nonmalignant pain. The third meaningful piece of legislation was House Bill (HB) 7095. Dubbed the "pill mill law," HB 7095 was signed into law on June 3, 2011 (and went into effect on July 1, 2011) and established several new regulations pertaining to the physical facilities of pain clinics and the acceptable minimum extent of medical examinations and follow-ups physicians must perform on patients before and after prescribing them opioids for the treatment of chronic, nonmalignant pain. HB 7095 was intended to compel physicians and clinics currently operating in a subpar manner to either improve or go out of business, while at the same time adding no burden to physicians already delivering high-quality, ethical care. This law also contained a dispensing ban, which prohibits PMCs from operating on-site pharmacies. Now, patients receiving prescriptions from PMCs must fill those prescriptions at independently operated community pharmacies (CPs). The present project is an overview of trends in PMCs occurring in the three years following the important changes to Florida law and policy that occurred primarily in 2011 (though changes began in 2009). Quantitative and qualitative data were collected. The first source of quantitative data is the FDOH, which is charged with receiving and approving applications, inspecting facilities, handling disciplinary allegations and hearings, and forcibly closing clinics found to be in persistent violation of regulatory standards. Second are three police departments serving large cities across the state, from which geocoded crime-incident data were obtained. Finally, qualitative data from in-depth interviews with law-enforcement officers around the state allow for a detailed look into the challenges law enforcement face in attempting to hold pain-management clinic physicians criminally liable. Details: Orlando, FL: Department of Criminal Justice University of Central Florida, 2017. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 21, 2017 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/250603.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/250603.pdf Shelf Number: 144536 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug AddictionDrug Control PolicyPrescription Drug AbusePrescription Drugs |
Author: Persuaduraan Korban Napza Indonesia (PKNI) Title: Women speak out: Understanding women who inject drugs in Indonesia Summary: The needs of women who inject drugs have largely been ignored by existing programmes and policies in Indonesia. The Indonesian Drug Users Network supported the implementation of the Perempuan Bersuara study to explore health needs, sexual and injecting risk behaviours, gender-based violence, contact with law enforcement, and harm reduction service accessibility among more than 700 women who inject drugs across multiple sites in West Java, Greater Jakarta, and Banten province. As people who use and inject drugs and direct beneficiaries of Indonesia's harm reduction and HIV response, we feel that the complex needs of women in our community have been neglected for far too long. There is an urgent need to develop gender-sensitive, low-threshold programmes and evidence-based drug policies that accommodate and respond to the specific needs of this group. Details: s.l.: Indonesian Drug Users Network, 2016. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 27, 2017 at: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/566349360/library/WomenSpeakOut_English_Web.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Indonesia URL: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/566349360/library/WomenSpeakOut_English_Web.pdf Shelf Number: 144592 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug-Related ViolenceFemale Drug UsersGender-Specific Programs |
Author: Crawford, Catherine Title: United Kingdom Drug Situation: Focal Point Annual Report 2016 Summary: Executive summary - Overall drug prevalence in the general population is lower now than ten years ago, with cannabis being the main driver of that reduction. However, there has been little change in recent years. - The order of drugs most commonly reported by respondents has not changed much over this time, with cannabis most prevalent (6.5%) followed by powder cocaine (2.2%) and ecstasy/MDMA (1.5%), according to the most recent Crime Survey for England and Wales. - Seizures data suggests that herbal cannabis has come to dominate the market. While resin was involved in around two-thirds of cannabis seizures in 2000, it was involved in only five per cent in 2015/16. - On 26 May 2016, the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 came into force in the UK, prohibiting the production, supply, import/export and possession on prison grounds of psychoactive substances, other than those exempted by the legislation. This act was brought in to tackle the trade in new psychoactive substances (NPS) which has steadily grown in recent years. Over 350 premises in the UK trading in NPS have either closed or stopped selling substances covered by the legislation. - In addition, synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRAs), a class of NPS whose use among the prison population and vulnerable people has caused concern, became controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 as Class B substances in December 2016. - Temporary class drug orders on methylphenidate-related compounds (including ethylphenidate) and methiopropamine have been remade for another 12 months. - Using the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) definition, which refers to deaths caused directly by the consumption of at least one illicit drug, the total number of drug-related deaths (DRDs) in the UK during 2014 was 2,655; a five per cent increase from 2013 and the highest number reported to date. - Due to substantial delays being typical between occurrence and registration of DRDs in England and Wales, UK-wide DRD figures are not yet available covering deaths occurring beyond 2014. However, published statistics for DRDs occurring in Scotland during 2015 showed a 15% increase on 2014. - Deaths registered in 2015 in England and Wales were notably higher than deaths registered in 2014. It is therefore likely that DRD figures for 2015 will set a new record. - Across the UK there were 2,304 deaths reported which featured an opioid (87% of UK cases). As in previous years, the substance with the largest number of associated deaths was heroin. In contrast to the UK as a whole, tramadol was the most commonly mentioned opioid drug in Northern Ireland. - The proportion of deaths involving cocaine has risen; however, many of these deaths are believed to be heroin users who also use crack cocaine. - The number of MDMA-associated deaths in England and Wales rose to 57 cases, returning to levels seen prior to the decrease in availability of MDMA in the late 2000s. - Over the last decade the average age of death has increased from 37.6 years in 2004 to 41.6 in 2014, with males being younger than females (40.3 years and 44.6 years respectively). The largest proportion of deaths in the UK in 2014 was in the 40-44 years age group. - There were 124,234 treatment presentations in the UK in 2015. This total includes for the first time, data from individuals presenting to treatment services in prisons in England. - Fifty per cent of all treatment presentations in the UK were for primary opioid use, with 26% of all service users presenting for treatment of cannabis use. However, among those who had never previously been in treatment, just under half (48%) of clients had a primary substance of cannabis, compared to 21% who presented for treatment of heroin. The proportions of users presenting for treatment of these substances appear to have stabilised over the past two years. - The primary drugs cited by those presenting to specialist substance misuse treatment services varied notably between each of the four countries of the UK. While almost half of treatment entrants cited heroin in England, Scotland and Wales, less than 10% did in Northern Ireland. - Benzodiazepines were cited as a primary problem substance in far greater proportion of cases in Scotland and Northern Ireland than in England or Wales, whereas Wales had a far higher proportion of clients citing amphetamines/methamphetamines than in any of the other countries. - Treatment data from prisons showed that 27,836 individuals presented to treatment services in English prisons in 2015, with 564 presenting in prison in Northern Ireland; approximately one-quarter of the treatment clients from each country. Heroin was the most common primary substance among clients in England, whereas cannabis was the most common substance in Northern Ireland. - The use of NPS, and SCRAs in particular, remains a growing concern in prisons in the UK. Surveys carried out in England, Wales and Scotland found that around 10% of prisoners reported use of SCRAs while in prison, behind cannabis with a prevalence at around 15%. - The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has found 64 deaths that occurred in prisons in England and Wales between June 2013 and April 2016 that were associated with NPS. NPS use has also been associated with self-harm incidents, intimidation and violence. - National Take-Home Naloxone programmes continue to supply naloxone to those exiting prison in Scotland and Wales: there were 932 kits issued by NHS staff in prisons in Scotland, and 146 in Wales, in 2015/16. - Prevalence of HIV among people who inject drugs (PWID) participating in the Unlinked Anonymous Monitoring (UAM) survey in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2015 was one per cent (a similar level to recent years). HIV prevalence among 'recent initiates' to injecting substantially increased in 2015 to 2.6%, the highest level seen in the last ten years. However, this likely represents an increase in prevalence among men who have sex with men rather than among the wider population who inject drugs. - There were 50 new diagnoses of HIV among PWID reported from Scotland, compared with 17 in 2014. This increase was due to an outbreak of HIV in PWID in Glasgow. - Around 90% of the hepatitis C infections diagnosed in the UK are acquired through injecting drug use. The prevalence of hepatitis C among PWID has remained fairly stable over the last ten years, and was 50% in the UAM survey of PWID in 2015. - Hepatitis B prevalence rates have also remained stable for 2015 at 13%. This is half the level seen ten years ago, with the decrease likely to be due to the increased uptake of the hepatitis B vaccination among the PWID population. - The level of direct sharing of needles and syringes reported by participants in the UAM Survey of PWID has declined over the last decade from 28% in 2005 to 16% in 2015. However, levels of concern have increased around the harms associated with people who inject NPS such as mephedrone. One-third of participants in the UAM survey of PWID who were currently injecting mephedrone reported they had shared needles or syringes previously used by someone else. - An Independent review into the impact on employment outcomes of drug or alcohol addiction, and obesity was published in December 2016 and made a number of recommendations to promote employment of those with addictions, including that those making a claim should be required to attend a structured discussion with a healthcare professional on the impact of their health condition on their ability to work. - The Association for Young People's Health, in conjunction with Public Health England, published A public health approach to promoting young people's resilience, to aid policy makers and commissioners. Similarly, Mentor-ADEPIS published a briefing paper aimed at teachers and practitioners on how building resilience can prevent substance abuse. - The numbers of recorded incidents of possession and supply offences across the UK, and arrests for drug offences in England and Wales, have fallen in 2015/16, continuing the trends seen over the past five years. In 2015/16, 31,342 supply/trafficking offences and 157,271 possession offences were recorded in the UK. - Heroin purity has continued to rise since the low level seen in the early 2010s, and in 2015 was 44%, more than twice the purity seen in 2011 and 2012 when it reached its nadir. Similarly, cocaine purity, which was at its lowest in 2010, has risen since that time, and in 2015 was also 44%. - Street level price data from law enforcement agencies suggests that most recorded drug prices have remained stable in recent years. - The number of cannabis seizures in all forms in England and Wales in 2015/16 decreased, continuing the downwards trend seen in recent years. Cocaine, ecstasy and heroin seizure numbers all remained stable, while the number of crack seizures increased in 2015/16. Details: London: United Kingdom Focal Point at Public Health England, 2017. 180p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 17, 2017 at: http://www.nta.nhs.uk/uploads/2905931ukdrugsituation2016webaccessible.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.nta.nhs.uk/uploads/2905931ukdrugsituation2016webaccessible.pdf Shelf Number: 144988 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug EnforcementDrug OffendersDrug TreatmentIllegal Drug Use |
Author: Capis, Salvatory Odhiambo Title: Socio-Economic Factors Contributing to Relapse of Reformed Convicts In Kenya: A Case of Vihiga District, Vihiga County Summary: Incidences of repeat offending have remained elusive amidst major efforts in transforming the societies for betterment. Correctional institutions have tried all that could be done to address notable negative behavioral characters but little remains to be observed. According to the Kenya Prison Reform Centre (KPRC), nearly two thirds of prisoners in Kenya re-offend within two years of release. However, factors that compel reformed convicts to relapse even after leaving prisons are not well understood. This study therefore examined the socio-economic factors that contribute to the relapse of reformed convicts in Kenya, with a specific view of Vihiga district. The study examined the following specific objectives: investigated how unemployment has contributed to the relapse of the reformed convicts within Vihiga District, examined Education as a factor in the relapse of reformed offenders within Vihiga District, analyzed the effects of drug abuse and how it has encouraged the relapsing of the reformed convicts within Vihiga District and assessed the attitudes of the community towards the reformed convicts and its effects in their relapse within Vihiga District. The study was guided by labeling theory to help understand how labels shape human behavior. The study area was Central Maragolli location of the Vihiga district. The total population of reformed convicts in the location was unknown due to the sensitivity of the attribute under study. The reformed convicts were therefore sampled through snowballing until saturation levels were reached. Simple random sampling was also done on Central Maragoli's house hold population of 5310 and a sample of 372 drawn based on Glen Israel's formula of determining sample size. The 372 households were targeted for a community survey. For the Ex-convicts, purposive sampling technique was utilized. 12 in-depth interviews were carried out with ex-convicts. The data collected was analyzed both quantitatively as well as qualitatively. The study findings pointed out that unemployment as a component of socio-economic factor contributed greatly to the relapse of the reformed convicts; with discrimination of the convicts leading the pack at 96.3%, suspicions rate at 83.9%, lack of locally viable skills at 83.9%, low educational levels and unmet ambitions at 64.9%. Educational level as a component of socio-economic factor contributed to the relapse of the reformed convicts with over 90% of those who recidivate being at primary levels while the number diminishes as one climbs higher levels in education. None was found to have relapsed at the University level of education. Drug abuse and addiction among the reformed convicts was also established to have contributed at 92.5% of the relapsed cases of the reformed convicts. Low and negative community attitude with heightened suspicions among the community members were among key factors that greatly contribute to the relapse of the reformed convicts. They have destroyed societal fibers meant to keep communities knit together. The study therefore concluded and recommended that; early identification and nurturing of local talents and individual initiatives be enhanced to reduce the future life explosion in the unemployment phenomenon. Programs that offer bursaries and other educational support as well as prevailing upon local leadership to initiate institutions of higher learning within the District to be enhanced in order to improve education standards. There is an argent need to domesticate and effectively implement the existing policy on drug use and abuse within the District. The already locally existing programs be effectively involved in transforming the negative community attitude toward the reformed convicts which increases their chances of relapsing after rehabilitation. Amongst others, the study proposed further research on challenges facing the Rehabilitation Programs on Offenders management within the community. Details: Nairobi: University of Nairobi, 2012. 114p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed May 24, 2017 at: http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/11295/56127/Capis_Socio-economic%20Factors%20Contributing%20To%20RelapseOf%20Reformed%20Convicts.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y Year: 2012 Country: Kenya URL: http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/11295/56127/Capis_Socio-economic%20Factors%20Contributing%20To%20RelapseOf%20Reformed%20Convicts.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y Shelf Number: 145764 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeEconomics and CrimeRecidivismRepeat OffendingSocio-economic Conditions and Crime |
Author: Havnes, Ingrid Amalia Title: Violence and diversion of prescribed opioids among individuals in opioid maintenance treatment. A complementary methods study of violent crime convictions in a national cohort and qualitative interviews among prisoners Summary: Background: Opioid dependence is linked to crime, morbidity and mortality, directly through drug overdoses and indirectly via drug-related mortality, accidents, suicides and violence. Violence in general is a major health concern worldwide. Opioid maintenance treatment, OMT, is found to reduce mortality, morbidity and criminal behaviour, but less is known about the effect of OMT on violent crime. A possible negative consequence of OMT is diversion of methadone and buprenorphine and rising overdose deaths related to these medications among individuals not enrolled in OMT. The aim of this thesis is to study violent crimes prior to, during and after OMT in a national cohort and to generate new knowledge about OMT-enrolled individuals' experiences and understandings of being both violent and non-violent offenders, the role of substances in such crimes as well as their understandings and motivations related to diversion of prescribed opioids. Materials and methods: Two complementary data collection methods have been used. Violent convictions were investigated by use of cross-registry methods for a complete longitudinal national OMTcohort of 3221 individuals with an observation period of 9 years and a qualitative study among 12 imprisoned, OMT-enrolled individuals. 28 semi-structured interviews were thematically analyzed with a reflexive and interactive approach. Findings: Violent crime rates were significantly reduced during OMT compared with before treatment. The rate of convictions for violent crime during OMT was halved among those who remained in treatment. The reduction was less pronounced for those who left treatment: for this group, the rate of violent convictions after OMT was higher than before treatment. The risk of convictions for violent and non-violent crime during OMT was highest for those with violent convictions prior to treatment. In the qualitative part of the study, it was found that substances and, in particular, high-dose benzodiazepines were deliberately used to induce temporary 'antisocial selves' capable of transgressing individual moral codes and performing non-violent and violent criminal acts, mainly to support costly heroin use prior to OMT. During OMT, impulsive and uncontrolled substance use just prior to the violent acts that the participants were imprisoned for was reported. Benzodiazepines were also used to reduce memories of and alleviate the guilt associated with having committed violent crimes. The study participants maintain moral standards, engage in complex moral negotiations, and struggle to reconcile their moral transgressions. They were found to exhibit a considerable amount of self-control, selfregulation and/or self-initiation of external control related to intake of methadone and buprenorphine in various settings. Their acquired norm of sharing with others in a drug using community was carried along when entering OMT. Several had developed strategies to avoid selling or giving of methadone or buprenorphine to others. Giving one's opioid prescriptions to an individual in withdrawal, was seen as an act of helping. Individuals enrolled in OMT might thus be trapped between practicing norms of helping and sharing and adhering to treatment regulations. Conclusions: Opioid dependent individuals with violent convictions should have access to OMT. Treatment providers should identify individuals with histories of violent behavior. The situation that precede and motivate violent behavior and the potential role of substances prior to and after such crimes should be explored with the patient in question. What appears as a severe antisocial personality disorder may be partly explained by substance use. Treatment providers should explore the living conditions and social lives of individuals applying for and enrolled in OMT. To following OMT guidelines may entail breaking a personal and drug culture norm of sharing and helping by means of providing OMT medications to those in need. Opioid-dependent couples should be encouraged to apply for and enroll in OMT at the same time, if both are motivated for starting treatment. Some individuals might know what particular configurations of internal and external control they need in order to achieve their own treatment goals in OMT. An individual's experience and ability to execute self-control and self-regulation with regard to drug taking may be seen as a resource throughout the course of treatment. Details: Oslo: University of Oslo, 2015. 118p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed August 4, 2017 at: https://www.duo.uio.no/handle/10852/42124 Year: 2015 Country: Norway URL: https://www.duo.uio.no/handle/10852/42124 Shelf Number: 146719 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug OffendersOpioid EpidemicOpioidsPrescription DrugsSubstance Abuse TreatmentViolent Crime |
Author: Bronson, Jennifer Title: Drug Use, Dependence, and Abuse Among State Prisoners and Jail Inmates, 2007-2009 Summary: 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. Comparisons to the general population are based on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrations National Survey on Drug Use and Health, conducted in 2007, 2008, and 2009. Highlights: During 2007-09, an estimated 58% of state prisoners and 63% of sentenced jail inmates met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) criteria for drug dependence or abuse. Among prisoners and jail inmates, prevalence estimates for those who met the criteria for dependence were two to three times higher than for abuse. The percentage of inmates who met the DSM-IV criteria was higher for those held for property offenses than those held for violent or other public order offenses. Lifetime drug use among the incarcerated populations was unchanged from 2002 to 2009. During 2007-09, prisoners (77%) and jail inmates (78%) reported having ever used marijuana/hashish, more than any other drug. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2017. 27p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 11, 2017 at: https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/dudaspji0709.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/dudaspji0709.pdf Shelf Number: 147212 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersJail InmatesPrisoners |
Author: Nugent, Stephen Title: Armed Robbery from an Offender's Perspective: Implications for Prevention Summary: PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The broad purpose of the study was to examine the offender's perspective of armed robbery to assist the development of operational strategies to reduce the incidence of armed robbery. SURVEY DATA One hundred and ten convicted robbers, both male and female, were interviewed in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland; additional perspectives were sought from robbery victims, police officers and bank security staff. Information collected from the robbers focussed on one particular robbery, and covered the following topics: - their modus operandi; - their assessment of security arrangements, including police activity; - the likelihood of crime being shifted to other areas if the banks become too tough a target; - their progression in crime; - their attitudes to staff, customers and hostages; and - their reaction to punishment and penalties. BACKGROUND The rate of reported robbery in Australia more than doubled in the ten years from 1975/76 to 1984/85 (Mukherjee et al, 1987). Bank hold-ups have mirrored this general upsurge, though with uneven trends peaking in 1983 and again in 1987. Bank robberies entail great financial loss and severe psychological strains for both staff and customers. ROBBERY PREVENTION STRATEGIES This report addresses prevention strategies which may be described as 'situational', such as increasing the physical security of potential crime targets (eg installing security cameras, alarm systems and bullet-resistant barriers), changing environmental characteristics of banks and other targets (eg size and location), and introducing surveillance strategies (eg increased police patrols, security guards). Situational crime prevention aims to increase the risks and decrease the profits of a specific form of crime, in order to discourage potential offenders. Examples of successful situational crime prevention include reduction in airline hijackings due to defensive measures taken by airlines, reduction of cheque frauds in Sweden ollowing the introduction of cheque guarantee cards, and a drop in public telephone theft in England after aluminium coin boxes were replaced by steel ones (Geason and Wilson, 1988). THE FINDINGS The Robbers - Background A 'typical' picture of robbers in general is that they are Australian-born, usually (though not always) male, under 30 years of age, come from a relatively large family, have limited formal education, are unemployed and have little or no formal training in the use of firearms. Bank Robbers - The only difference in background characteristics found between bank robbers and those who robbed other targets was their age, with markedly fewer of those who robbed banks in the very young (15-19 years) category. Progression in Crime - Eighty per cent of respondents had been involved in criminal activity, other than robbery, at some stage during their lives, with shoplifting the most frequently cited activity. More then 40 per cent indicated that they had spent time in a juvenile institution, while more than 60 per cent said they had served time in prison before. Thus, involvement in criminal activity has been a way of life for many of these offenders, and many appear to have 'graduated' to robbery after having tried other forms of criminal activity. The most frequently cited advantages of robbery over other types of crime were 'dealing in cash' and being 'quick and easy'. Other Robberies - Interviewees were reluctant to discuss other robberies with which they had been involved, especially robberies for which they had not been convicted. However, over half admitted to being involved in one or more other robberies. Stated Reasons for Involvement in Robbery - The need for money to support a drug habit was the most common reason given for involvement in criminal activity in general (33.7 per cent) and robbery in particular (44.6 per cent). These figures suggest the possibility that some people may get into criminal activity (other than robbery) for reasons other than drugs, but may then 'move up' to robbery in order to support a drug habit that develops. Generalised poverty appeared to be a further reason for involvement in crime, related to the need to pay off debts, unemployment and the need for income to provide for the family. Drug usage appears to be a serious problem with both legal and illegal drugs used. Not only did a number of offenders rob in order to get money to buy drugs, but a number also carried out the robbery while under the influence of a drug. Further, it appears that robbers followed through with their stated intention and used some or all of the proceeds of the robbery to buy drugs. Many interviewees indicated that they would like to join a drug rehabilitation program. Details: Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 1989. 150p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 26, 2017 at: http://aic.gov.au/media_library/archive/publications-1980s/armed-robbery-from-an-offenders-perspective.pdf Year: 1989 Country: Australia URL: http://aic.gov.au/media_library/archive/publications-1980s/armed-robbery-from-an-offenders-perspective.pdf Shelf Number: 124287 Keywords: Armed Robbery Bank Robbery Drug Abuse and CrimeRobbery Situational Crime Prevention |
Author: MacDonald, Shanna Farrell Title: Women Offenders, Substance Use, and Behaviour Summary: About four-in-five women offenders in Canada have substance use problems, and recent evidence suggests that substance use is more important in understanding women's offending than it is in men's. However, little research has focused on the differences in substance use behaviours among women and their relationship to correctional outcomes. Considering that substance use variability has been shown to inform treatment success in the community, this study examined the relationships of both substance use severity and type of user with institutional and post-release behaviour. Participants were 962 women newly admitted to a federal women's institution from February 2010 to February 2014 who completed a computerized assessment of their substance use problems. Women were categorized both based on the severity of their substance use issue and on the type of substance that was most problematic for them (none, alcohol, drugs, or alcohol and drugs). Women in each category were contrasted in terms of their demographic and offence information, their substance use behaviours, their institutional adjustment (institutional offences and segregation placements), and their post-release outcomes. Both substance use severity and type of user were found to be associated with the women's offence, risk, and substance use characteristics. As severity increased, so did the proportion of women who had committed a violent index offence and who had served a previous federal sentence. Not surprisingly, severity of problem was also associated with a more extensive history of substance use, as well as use of a wider variety of drugs. In terms of type of substance user, women in the alcohol and drug group were more likely than those in the other groups to have been convicted of a violent offence or served a previous federal sentence and had more elevated risk. The breadth of the alcohol and drug users' substance use history was also more extensive. As well, both substance use severity and type of user were associated with institutional behaviour and post-release outcome. Women with more severe substance use problems and who had used drugs (either as their sole problematic substance or together with alcohol) were more likely to be found guilty of disciplinary offences, to be placed in segregation, and to be returned to custody after their release, even after accounting for possible covariates. Overall, results emphasized the importance of considering differences in substance use among women offenders. This finding, together with the prevalence of substance use problems among women, underscores the importance of interventions in this area. The Correctional Service of Canada offers women offenders correctional programs that address the problematic behaviours directly or indirectly linked to their crime - which may include substance use. The programs aim to help women understand the impact of problematic behaviours and to enhance their ability to live balanced and crime-free lives. Conforming to this principle, at CSC, women offenders participating in correctional program create individual self-management and healing plans focused on the behaviours they identify as problematic in their own lives and offence cycles, including substance use. Details: Ottawa: Correctional Service Canada, 2015. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Report 2015 No. R-358: Accessed February 20, 2018 at: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2017/scc-csc/PS83-3-358-eng.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Canada URL: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2017/scc-csc/PS83-3-358-eng.pdf Shelf Number: 149189 Keywords: Correctional ProgramsDrug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersFemale OffendersGender-Specific ProgramsSubstance Abuse OffendersWomen Offenders |
Author: Cooper, Caroline S. Title: Establishing Drug Treatment Courts: Strategies, Experiences and Preliminary Outcomes. Volume One: Overview and Survey Results Summary: Drug dependence is a chronic relapsing disorder that must be addressed and treated as a public health matter, on a par with the treatment of other chronic diseases.2 It is a cluster of behavioral, cognitive and physiological phenomena that develop after repeated substance use and that typically include a strong desire to take the drug, difficulties in controlling its use, persisting in its use despite harmful consequences, a higher priority given to drug use than to other activities and obligations, increased tolerance, and sometimes a physical withdrawal state.3 Heavy drug use is found more frequently among offenders than among the general population, as shown by a number of studies in the Western Hemisphere and Europe.4 Using Goldstein's conceptual model,5 acquisitive crime to support a compulsive drug habit represents a fair proportion of crimes committed by offenders with substance abuse problems. Offenses committed under the influence of drugs or alcohol, according to self-reports in some countries, represent an even higher percentage of crimes by drug-dependent offenders Because drug abuse is compulsive, it does not stop at the prison door. In a 2009 survey of prisoners conducted by the Scottish Prison Service, 22% of prisoners reported that they had used drugs in prison in the month prior to the survey. 7 Treatment alternatives to incarceration for drug-dependent offenders involve diverting substance-abusing offenders from prison and jail into treatment and rehabilitation under judicial supervision. By increasing direct supervision of offenders, coordinating public resources, and expediting case processing, treatment alternatives to incarceration can help break the cycle of criminal behavior, alcohol and drug use, and imprisonment. The details of these alternative mechanisms vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but most involve suspension of the sentence provided the offender agrees voluntarily8 to participate in a drug treatment program. The judge in the case supervises the offender's progress in treatment, with the assistance of the prosecutor, social workers (case officers), treatment providers and probation officers. The judge has the power to end the treatment program if the offender violates its terms and conditions, in which case, the sentence will be handed down and the offender will be incarcerated. Drug treatment under judicial supervision is well established in countries like Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, under the name of "drug courts" or "drug treatment courts". While the name may vary from place to place, and the conditions of participation may differ, the essential ingredients are as described above. For the purposes of this publication, we shall use the term "drug treatment courts" and "drug courts" interchangeably. At a number of recent seminars organized by the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), Secretariat for Multidimensional Security of the Organization of American States9 , judges, prosecutors and health care personnel from Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe examined the feasibility of establishing treatment alternatives to incarceration for drug-dependent offenders, one form of which are drug courts. Some of the CICAD countries expressed great interest in setting up such programs, although civil law countries pointed to some difficulties they might face in working such alternatives into their penal codes and procedures. Countries where drug courts are already up and running spoke of how they had overcome obstacles and public skepticism, and stressed the need for good evaluations and research on the outcomes of drug treatment court programs in order to demonstrate their effectiveness. Through its program of City Partnerships on the improvement of Drug Treatment, CICAD has helped the courts of Suriname and the State of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, to set up new drug treatment courts, and continues to support the work of drug courts in Chile, Jamaica and other interested countries and cities. Belgium, where a new drug treatment court pilot has been created, has taken a collaborative approach, involving city officials and universities in the process. CICAD's exchange of good practices in recent years allowed countries where drug treatment courts are in place to share different approaches to drug court challenges. Key to the success of drug courts in the U.S. has been the ability to demonstrate to lawmakers and the public at large that drug court participants have lower rates of recidivism and lower rates of relapse into drug use than drug dependent offenders who are incarcerated. We therefore recommend that all drug treatment courts have a robust information system, to assure public acceptance of alternatives to incarceration for drug-dependent offenders as well as to secure future funding. Details: Washington, DC: Organization of American States, 2010. 152p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 20, 2018 at: http://www.cicad.oas.org/fortalecimiento_institucional/dtca/files/Establishing_DTC_%20Strategies_Experiences_Preliminary_Outcomes_volume%201.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Latin America URL: http://www.cicad.oas.org/fortalecimiento_institucional/dtca/files/Establishing_DTC_%20Strategies_Experiences_Preliminary_Outcomes_volume%201.pdf Shelf Number: 118587 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug CourtsDrug OffendersDrug Treatment CourtsProblem-Oriented Courts |
Author: Pew Charitable Trusts Title: More Imprisonment Does Not Reduce State Drug Problems: Data show no relationship between prison terms and drug misuse Summary: Nearly 300,000 people are held in state and federal prisons in the United States for drug-law violations, up from less than 25,000 in 1980.1 These offenders served more time than in the past: Those who left state prisons in 2009 had been behind bars an average of 2.2 years, a 36 percent increase over 1990,2 while prison terms for federal drug offenders jumped 153 percent between 1988 and 2012, from about two to roughly five years.3 As the U.S. confronts a growing epidemic of opioid misuse, policymakers and public health officials need a clear understanding of whether, how, and to what degree imprisonment for drug offenses affects the nature and extent of the nation's drug problems. To explore this question, The Pew Charitable Trusts examined publicly available 2014 data from federal and state law enforcement, corrections, and health agencies.4 The analysis found no statistically significant relationship between state drug imprisonment rates and three indicators of state drug problems: self-reported drug use, drug overdose deaths, and drug arrests. The findings-which Pew sent to the President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis in a letter dated June 19, 2017-reinforce a large body of prior research that cast doubt on the theory that stiffer prison terms deter drug misuse, distribution, and other drug-law violations. The evidence strongly suggests that policymakers should pursue alternative strategies that research shows work better and cost less. Details: Philadelphia: Pew Charitable Trusts, 2018. 19p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 4, 2018 at: http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2018/03/pspp_more_imprisonment_does_not_reduce_state_drug_problems.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2018/03/pspp_more_imprisonment_does_not_reduce_state_drug_problems.pdf Shelf Number: 149676 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersMass Incarceration |
Author: Patterson, Eileen Title: Drug use monitoring in Australia: 2015 and 2016 report on drug use among police detainees Summary: Established in 1999, the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program is funded by the Australian Government and is the nation's largest and longest-running ongoing survey of police detainees across the country. DUMA currently operates at five data collection sites and comprises two core components: a self-report survey including a range of criminal justice, demographic, drug use and drug market participation information; and voluntary urinalysis, which provides an objective measure for corroborating reported recent drug use (within 48 hours of arrest). This biennial report is part of the Australian Institute of Criminology's (AIC) Statistical Report series and aims to describe the DUMA data collected between January 2015 and December 2016 (herein referred to as 2015-16) at five sites: Adelaide (South Australia), Brisbane (Queensland), Perth (Western Australia) and Sydney (Bankstown and Surry Hills, New South Wales). Details: Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2018. 98p. Source: Internet Resource: Statistical Report 04: Accessed April 24, 2018 at: https://aic.gov.au/publications/sr/sr4 Year: 2018 Country: Australia URL: https://aic.gov.au/publications/sr/sr4 Shelf Number: 149873 Keywords: Alcohol AbuseDrug Abuse and Addiction Drug Abuse and Crime Drug Offenders Illicit DrugsSubstance Abuse |
Author: Ledebur, Kathryn Title: Promoting Gender-Sensitive Drug Policies in Bolivia Summary: In the Plurinational State of Bolivia, women account for 8 percent of the country's more than 17,000 people behind bars. In only three other Latin American countries (Guatemala, El Salvador and Chile) do women comprise a larger share of the overall incarcerated population. Almost 40 percent of the women behind bars in Bolivia are held for low-level drug offenses, often as a result of structural socioeconomic conditions, such as poverty and the pressures of single parenting. These women are typically poor, have limited education, and do not have access to stable jobs with decent pay; a startling percentage have been victims of domestic and sexual violence. They are often driven into the drug trade out of economic necessity. High rates of pretrial detention have also contributed to severe prison overcrowding. Indeed, according to the online database the World Prison Brief, Bolivian prisons are ranked as the eighth most congested in the world. In response to extreme prison overcrowding, between 2012 and 2018 the government of President Evo Morales enacted six prison pardon, sentence reduction, and amnesty initiatives, leading to the release of almost a third of Bolivia's total incarcerated population. Specific gender-sensitive clauses benefited mothers and caregivers. These gender-focused initiatives, paired with poverty reduction and increased state support for mothers, contributed to an 84 percent decrease in the number of women incarcerated for drug offenses between 2012 and 2017, going against the trend of increasing female incarceration for drug-related offenses in most Latin American countries. But Bolivia's considerable progress in reducing the incarceration of women for drug offenses could stall without the enactment and implementation of broader judicial reform efforts. Promoting Gender-Sensitive Drug Policies in Bolivia concludes with a series of concrete reforms that are needed to significantly advance the implementation of gender-sensitive drug policies in Bolivia. Of particular importance, the voices of women impacted by drug policies must be included in the debate, in order to develop and implement more effective, humane, and inclusive initiatives, grounded in public health and human rights. Details: Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the Andean Information Network, 2018. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 2, 2018 at: https://www.wola.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Bolivia-Report_FINAL_English.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Bolivia URL: https://www.wola.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Bolivia-Report_FINAL_English.pdf Shelf Number: 150027 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug OffendersDrug PolicyFemale OffendersGender-Specific Responses |
Author: Chrusciel, Margaret M. Title: Untangling the Interconnected Relationships between Alcohol Use, Employment, and Offending Summary: Both substance use and employment are correlates of crime that are heavily examined by criminological research. Efforts to explore these connections have produced two rich bodies of literature that provide insight into the nuances of the relationship between substance use and offending and the relationship between employment and crime. Research shows that while substance use increases subsequent criminal behavior, employment seems to reduce offending. Given the strong positive association between substance use and crime and the inverse effect of employment on offending, it is possible that drug use and employment interact in their impact on crime. In addition to potential moderation, the relationship between drug use, employment, and crime may be explained by mediation mechanisms. Thus, the current study uses data from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97) to examine the possibility of moderation and/or mediation between substance use and employment in their impact on offending. Details: Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, 2017. 187p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 4, 2018 at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=5261&context=etd Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=5261&context=etd Shelf Number: 150051 Keywords: Alcohol and Crime Alcohol Related Crime, Disorder Drug Abuse and CrimeEmployment and Crime |
Author: Flacks, Simon Title: A Risky Business? The Governance of Young People's Drug Treatment in England and Wales Summary: Few issues cause more disquiet among the public and politicians than the sticky subject of drug policy, and children and youth remain central to our anxieties. Whilst there has, in the UK at least, been some understanding that certain drugs, particularly cannabis, are now a 'normal' part of youth culture (Parker et al. 1995; Measham and Shiner, 2009), there is strident resistance to the belief that drug use should be framed as a 'practice of the self' (Duff, 2004). Illegal drugs are broadly perceived as a risk to individuals, and to public health and safety in general, and it is still true to say that "most people do not take illicit drugs and do not like the idea that other people do" (Hathaway 2001: 132). As the above statement in parliament indicates, the risk to children, either due to parental drug use or because of their own consumption, is a recurrent feature of media and political discourse. Children, moreover, are at the heart of government drug policy rhetoric (Drug Strategy 2008: 21, 2010: 11). It is perhaps unremarkable that drugs and children are so often discursively associated; children embody 'risk' in advanced liberal democracies. The lurking dangers of contemporary life, real or imagined, coagulate in the adolescent's emerging, unfinished‐adult body (Tulloch and Lupton, 1998). The use of drugs, a cause of considerable anxiety among the majority of individuals, is a particularly profound threat to the nascent, vulnerable teenager who remains under the watchful eye of various scientific disciplines. Although sociologically‐informed studies of, for example, youth criminality have proliferated, it is arguably the discipline of developmental psychology that has most shaped our beliefs about adolescence. Moore (2002: 16) argues that: [T]he developmental model, more than any other concerning youth, has arguably become the master narrative or discourse in popular cultural expression regarding child‐ rearing, adolescence and youth (e.g., the work of the Freud‐inspired Benjamin Spock), being used to justify the "naturalness" of angst‐ridden adolescence According to this model, in which adolescence is determined as a time of 'storm and stress', drug use might be considered a pathological response to the traumas of leaving childhood and entering adulthood. The expressions 'children', 'young people' and 'youth' will be used throughout the thesis. Although child, according to both the UK Childrens Act 1989 and the United Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 1) refers to anyone under the age of 18, the majority of older 'children' do not refer to themselves as such. This thesis addresses drug treatment for all people under the age of 18, although in reality very few individuals below the age of 14 are receiving treatment for drug problems (Roberts, 2010). The distinction between 'child' and 'young person' is clearly important for the ways in which 'childhood', 'adolescence' and 'youth' are socially constructed. The 'drug taking child', and particularly the young 'problem user', sit at the juncture of public anxieties around both childhood and drug taking in general. According to Jackson and Scott (1999: 85), "[c]hildhood is increasingly being constructed as a precious realm under siege from those who would rob children of their childhoods, and as being subverted from within by children who refuse to remain childlike." The general premise of this project is that, whilst drugs and 'youth' have in general been the subject of considerable socio‐legal (and sociological and legal) academic scrutiny, the issue of children/youth and drug treatment has remained almost entirely outside the scope of scholarly interest. The aim of this thesis is therefore to address this lacuna. A second important point to make is that the focus of the discussion, as the introductory quote suggests, will be cannabis. The reason for this is that, as we shall see, this is the drug that constitutes, by a considerable distance, the most common reason for admission to drug treatment for under‐18s. All of the young people interviewed had been identified as having problems with the use of cannabis, and all of the drug workers similarly identified this drug as the primary cause of concern, and the main focus for treatment. The thesis does not concern itself explicitly with the extent to which Charles Walker MP's fears about the risk to youth from cannabis hold true, although, as we shall see, they are certainly exaggerated. Nor is the purpose to evaluate drug treatment, or to consider whether the growth in provision is 'good' or 'bad'. Rather, it is interested in the 'what', 'how' and particularly 'why' of drug policy and drug treatment as it relates to under‐18s, with a particular focus on the drugs‐crime nexus. Details: Vienna: University of Vienna, 2013. 277p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed July 26, 2018 at: http://othes.univie.ac.at/29929/1/2013-05-14_0963213.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://othes.univie.ac.at/29929/1/2013-05-14_0963213.pdf Shelf Number: 150925 Keywords: Adolescent Drug Abuse Cannabis Drug Abuse and Addiction Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Offenders Drug Policy Drug Treatment Illicit Drugs Marijuana Substance Abuse Substance Abuse Treatment Youthful Offenders |
Author: Peacock, Amy Title: Australian Drug Trends 2018: Key findings from the National Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) Interviews Summary: Sample characteristics The IDRS sample in 2018 were predominantly male with a mean age of 43, consistent with the national profile in previous years. Two in five participants (41%) reported that their drug of choice was heroin, although methamphetamine remained the drug injected most often in the past month (45%). Weekly or more frequent use of crystal methamphetamine increased in 2018 (47%), continuing an upward trend that has been observed from 2010 onwards. Heroin Recent (i.e., past six month) use of heroin has decreased amongst the annual sentinel sample since monitoring began but remained stable in 2018 (51%) compared to 2017. Thirty-one per cent of recent consumers reported daily use of heroin in 2018. The median price for one gram of heroin was reported at the lowest value since monitoring commenced. Methamphetamine Recent use of any methamphetamine has fluctuated over the years and showed a significant increase in 2018 compared to 2017, with three in four participants (77%) reporting recent use. This was driven by the significant increase in use of crystal methamphetamine (75%) - the most commonly used form. A lower median price was observed for powder, base, and crystal methamphetamine relative to the previous few years. A greater number of consumers perceived crystal purity as high in 2018 (35%) compared to 2017. Cocaine Recent use of cocaine and frequency of use has generally decreased amongst the national sample since the beginning of monitoring (14% in 2018), though numbers reporting use were originally quite low. Cocaine was perceived as 'low' in purity by one-third of participants (33%) in 2018, the highest percentage observed in 15 years. Cannabis Recent use of cannabis remained largely stable in 2018, though a small decline in use has been observed since monitoring began in 2000, with three in four participants (73%) reporting recent use in 2018. Nearly half of consumers (45%) reported using cannabis daily. Pharmaceutical opioids Use of all forms of pharmaceutical opioids has remained stable or significantly declined since monitoring of each opioid first began. In 2018, morphine was the most common pharmaceutical opioid used in a non-prescribed context (22%), with 7% reporting non-prescribed fentanyl use. New psychoactive substances (NPS) and other drugs Use of NPS has remained low and stable over the period of monitoring, with one in ten participants (11%) reporting recent use. Rates of non-prescribed benzodiazepine use have decreased, with 30% reporting such use in 2018. Alcohol and tobacco use have remained consistently high over the period of monitoring, with 93% reporting recent use of tobacco (92% of consumers reporting daily use). Drug-related harms and other risks One-quarter (25%) reported using a combination of opioids, benzodiazepines, and/or stimulants the day prior to interview. One in five participants (20%) reported overdosing on any drug in the preceding year, most commonly heroin. Eight per cent of the total sample had been resuscitated with naloxone by somebody trained through the take-home naloxone program, and 3% with naloxone obtained through a pharmacy. Rates of sharing of needles and other injecting equipment remained stable in 2018, although there was an increase in experience of an injection related problem (73%). Self-reported mental health problems and criminal activity remained relatively high and stable (45% and 41%, respectively). Details: Sydney, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW Australia, 2018. 70p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 12, 2018 at: https://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/ndarc/resources/National%20IDRS%20Interview%20Report%202018.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Australia URL: https://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/ndarc/resources/National%20IDRS%20Interview%20Report%202018.pdf Shelf Number: 152907 Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addiction Drug Abuse and CrimeIllegal Drugs Illicit Drug Abuse |
Author: Ghandnoosh, Nazgol Title: Opioids: Treating an Illness, Ending a War Summary: More people died from opioid-related deaths in 2015 than in any previous year. This record number quadrupled the level of such deaths in 1999. Unlike the heroin and crack crises of the past, the current opioid emergency has disproportionately affected white Americans-poor and rural, but also middle class or affluent and suburban. This association has boosted support for preventative and treatment-based policy solutions. But the pace of the response has been slow, critical components of the solution-such as health insurance coverage expansion and improved access to medication-assisted treatment-face resistance, and there are growing efforts to revamp the failed and costly War on Drugs. Details: Washington, DC: The Sentencing Project, 2018. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 24, 2019 at: https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/opioids-treating-illness-ending-war/ Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/opioids-treating-illness-ending-war/ Shelf Number: 154399 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AddictionDrug Abuse and CrimeOpioid EpidemicOpioidsPrescription Drugs |
Author: Weinberger, Gabriel Title: The Criminal Justice System and More Lenient Drug Policy: Three Case Studies on California's Changes to How Its Criminal Justice System Addresses Drug Use Summary: The nation's reliance on incarceration appears to have reached a peak a few years ago and there is a movement towards a major de-carceration initiative that will be driven by local jurisdictions. Current research must be focused on learning from the early wave of de-carceration experiments, which are mostly associated to drug-related crimes, to provide implications for future policymaking. This dissertation deals with the implementation, at the local level, of various major changes to California's criminal justice system. These changes include liberalization of marijuana policies, Public Safety Realignment, and Proposition 47. The theme behind these changes has been a change in how the criminal justice system sanctions drug use. This dissertation explores an important question from each policy that can guide future policy. The first chapter explores whether localities that allowed for regulated dispensaries that sell medical marijuana to operate experienced an increase in crime rates. The second chapter describes how Public Safety Realignment changed the landscape for how social services are provided through the criminal justice system, detailing the effect on counties by using Los Angeles as a case study. Finally, the third chapter uses Los Angeles as a case study to answer whether community supervision is an adequate mechanism for engaging individuals with substance use disorder treatment. Overall, the dissertation suggests that there may be collateral consequences from more liberal policies but that these can be addressed outside of the scope of the criminal justice system. In the context of regulating the supply of marijuana, a formerly illicit drug in California, I find that it did not result in a wave of higher crime rates. Finally, a major implication from this dissertation is that further work is required to serve the population that is affected by policies that reduce the use of incarceration for drug-related crimes. Local governments need to continue to address low-level crime caused by problematic drug use by improving their systems for providing social services without settling for using the lever of the criminal justice system. Details: Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2019. 125p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation, Accessed April 17, 2019 at: https://www.rand.org/pubs/rgs_dissertations/RGSD424.html Year: 2019 Country: United States URL: https://www.rand.org/pubs/rgs_dissertations/RGSD424.html Shelf Number: 155450 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Enforcement Drug Legalization Drug Policy Marijuana |
Author: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) Title: European Drug Report 2019: Trends and Developments Summary: The Trends and Developments report presents a top-level overview of the drug phenomenon in Europe, covering drug supply, use and public health problems as well as drug policy and responses. Together with the online Statistical Bulletin and 30 Country Drug Reports, it makes up the 2019 European Drug Report package. Table of contents -- Preface - Introductory note and acknowledgements - Commentary - Chapter 1: Drug supply and the market Chapter 2: Drug use prevalence and trends Chapter 3: Drug-related harms and responses Annex: National data tables Details: Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2019. 95p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed June 6, 2019 at: http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/edr/trends-developments/2019_en Year: 2019 Country: Europe URL: http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/edr/trends-developments/2019_en Shelf Number: 156230 Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addiction (Europe) Drug Abuse and Crime Drug Abuse Policy Drug Control Drug Offenders Illicit Drugs |