NCJ Number
247632
Date Published
February 2010
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This report details the process and impact assessment of the High Point Drug Market Initiative in High Point, NC.
Abstract
This process and impact assessment of the High Point Drug Market Initiative found that violent crimes declined an average of 7.3 percent following the implementation of the drug market initiative; property offenses declined 9.1 percent; and drug and nuisance offenses declined roughly 5.5 between the pre- and post-intervention periods. In addition, the assessment found that the decline in the trend in violent crime and in drug and nuisance offenses was marginally statistically significant, indicating that the change occurred as a result of the intervention and not by chance. The High Point Drug Market Initiative uses a strategic problem solving intervention aimed at eliminating drug markets and their associated violence. The initiative uses a highly focused deterrence strategy along with police-community partnerships to provide sources of social support to the subjects of the deterrence strategy while at the same time working to maintain informal social controls within the neighborhood in order to prevent the reemergence of the drug market. The assessment compared trends in violent, property, and drug/nuisance offenses for the 37 months prior to the intervention to the same trends for the 37 months following the intervention. The findings from the assessment indicate that the intervention had a significant impact on the level of violent, drug, and nuisance offenses in High Point. An assessment of a similar intervention was conducted in Rockford, IL. The findings from both assessments suggest that the drug market initiative is a promising intervention for use in addressing the problem of illegal drug markets. Tables, figures, references