Copping Crack: The Travel Behavior of Crack Users

• NCJ Number: 161065
• Journal: Justice Quarterly Volume: 12 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1995) Pages: 499-524
• Author(s): L E Pettiway
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 26 pages
• Grant Number(s): R01 DA05672
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: A version of this paper was presented at the annual meetings of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, held in Chicago in March 1994.

Annotation

This study distinguishes between the spatial behaviors of crack users who travel various distances to acquire crack in Philadelphia by comparing the importance of sociodemographic, economic, and drug-use variables and characteristics associated with the crack-buying event.

Abstract

The research also describes the nature of crack use as it relates to the amount of crack used, the amount of money spent on the drug, the locations where it is purchased, the locations associated with the places where crack-buying trips originate, the temporal character of crack use, and the frequency of use. Considerable attention has been directed to the incidence and distribution of crack in urban areas. In response to public concern about the presence of crack in residential neighborhoods, law enforcement agencies have implemented various law enforcement strategies aimed at reducing or eradicating drugs from urban environments. These strategies, however, have failed to consider crack users' mobility patterns. Because any effort to reduce crack consumption and distribution should consider these patterns, this research assessed the journey to purchase crack and suggests some areas of future research. Initially, the research determines how far crack users travel to purchase drugs and considers whether crack users who travel less than .5 miles on average differ significantly from those who travel more than .5 miles. This study examines whether this difference is due to individuals' socioeconomic factors to characteristics associated with the drug-buying event. Discriminant analysis shows that crack users travel varying distances to purchase the drug. In explaining these differences, gender is an important lifestyle indicator, and the tendency to "cop" in the user's residential neighborhood is a major event characteristic. Characteristics associated with the crack-buying event are generally more important than individual characteristics in explaining the distances traveled. 6 tables and 60 references