NCJ Number
170572
Date Published
1998
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This discussion of the relationship between research and drug policy-making in the United States shows how the same findings from a study of the relationship between drugs and violence were interpreted and used to support two different claims regarding what should be Federal drug policy.
Abstract
The study at issue examined the drug-relatedness of the more than 1,700 homicides reported to the police in New York State in 1984. The research showed that crack-related homicide was largely concentrated in communities and neighborhoods that were in or near drug markets. It found that during the time when crack was being introduced to U.S. cities, an extraordinarily high proportion of homicides were drug-related. It concluded that crack-related homicides involved mostly known drug settings or people known to be associated directly and indirectly with drug use or drug trafficking or both. Most of those were related in a systemic way through the drug business; most psychopharmacological drug-related homicide cases were alcohol- related. The Drug Policy Foundation used the findings to support its position that drug users are not a source of criminal violence, so policy-makers should not criminalize those who use drugs. The Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York used the findings to support its position that since drugs are related to violence, when drugs are involved in other crimes, police may need to violate certain protections otherwise granted to citizens under law. The news media claimed that drug- related homicidal violence had spread so alarmingly that all citizens were at equal and greater risk of victimization. The news media were wrong. From the research, the claim could have been made that the increasing level of homicidal violence was largely a product of uncontrolled and volatile drug markets. In that sense, the problem of drug-related violence would have been defined in terms of its focus on particular communities faced with drug problems. It would have favored programs that target communities in trouble, such as drug treatment programs, programs to care for people with drug-related health problems, and education and training programs. Because of the many ways that objective findings can be interpreted to support a preconceived policy, researchers should include policy recommendations in their research reports so as to guide the thinking of policy-makers in accordance with the objective findings.