NCJ Number
177405
Journal
On Good Authority Volume: 1 Issue: 3 Dated: June 1998 Pages: -
Date Published
1998
Length
4 pages
Annotation
A survey conducted as a gun addendum to the national Drug Use Forecasting study gathered information on the use and prevalence of firearms among arrestees in Chicago.
Abstract
The study examined the percentage of Chicago adult male arrestees reporting ownership and use of firearms; the types of firearms possessed; whether firearms were used during the commission of current offenses; and the relationships between gun ownership, drug use, arrest charge, and gang membership. Fewer than 20 percent of the Chicago arrestees had ever owned a gun, but 67 percent said that their neighborhoods had lots of guns. More than half the participants said they had been threatened by a gun; one-fourth said that they had been injured by gunshots. Being in a gang and selling illegal drugs were related to an increase likelihood of ever having owned a gun and of being in a setting where guns were common. The average participant was a 28-year-old single black male. About 40 percent did not have either a high school diploma or a GED. Ninety-nine percent of the top arrest charges were felony offenses, particularly drug possession, larceny/theft, assault, and weapons offenses. Eighty-three percent of the sample tested positive for any drug; 58 percent tested positive for drugs other than marijuana. Comparison of Chicago and national data, figure, and table