Drugs and Homicide in New York State

• NCJ Number: 131364
• Author(s): H H Brownstein; P J Goldstein
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 12 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Corporate Author: National Development and Research Institute, Inc. (NDRI); New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; New York State
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Methodology for data collection is developed in a study examining the relationship between drugs and homicide in New York.

Abstract

A tripartite explanatory framework was produced to identify types of drug-related homicide as psychopharmacological, economic compulsive, systemic, or multidimensional. The first phase of the study was retrospective. Data were collected during 1986 from police records of all homicides committed in New York State in 1984. Of the 1,459 homicides committed in New York City in 1984, about 25 percent were identified as drug related. Of the 309 committed elsewhere in the State, over 40 percent were identified as drug related. This indicated police records did not contain information about the drug relatedness of homicide cases unless the information was directly pertinent. Beginning March 1988 and for the eight months following, information about the drug relatedness of homicide cases was recorded during active case investigation. This prospective approach will provide information on types of drug used by homicide perpetrators and victims as well as the specific role of the drugs in the homicide event. 4 notes