Crime Trends and the Effect of Mandated Drug Treatment: Evidence From California's Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act

• NCJ Number: 226769
• Journal: Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 37 Issue: 2 Dated: March/April 2009 Pages: 109-113
• Author(s): John L. Worrall; Scott Hiromoto; Nancy Merritt; Dan Du; Jerry O. Jacobson; Martin Y. Iguchi
• Date Published: April 2009
• Length: 5 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Rand Drug Policy Research Ctr
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined crime trends before and after the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act (SACPA) was implemented in Orange County, CA.

Abstract

Results found an increase in drug arrests among SACPA clients, which would seem to support the Orange County Grand Jury’s (and local police agencies’) concerns that the legislation could have been responsible for increases in crime. While there was little evidence of any consistent direction in crime following SACPA implementation, there was some limited evidence of an increase in two categories, namely, calls concerning commercial burglary in Santa Ana and paraphernalia arrests countywide. This would seem to partially affirm critics’ concerns that crime increased at least in certain categories, pursuant to SACPA. Noted was that the paraphernalia increase might not reflect an increase in crime committed, but rather arrests. Data were collected from weekly counts of the number of calls for assistance for select drug, property, and violent offenses from the city of Santa Ana; daily counts of assault, property, and drug crime from the Fullerton Police Department; and monthly Orange County arrest data obtained from the Criminal Justice Statistics Center in the California Department of Justice. Tables and references