Neighborhood Crime Victimization, Drug Use and Drug Sales: Results From the "Fighting Back" Evaluation

• NCJ Number: 215536
• Journal: Journal of Drug Issues Volume: 36 Issue: 2 Dated: Spring 2006 Pages: 393-416
• Author(s): Julie M. Ford; Andrew A. Beveridge
• Date Published: 2006
• Length: 24 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Using evaluation data from the Fighting Back program--a comprehensive community-based drug prevention program--along with spatial hierarchical models, this study determined whether drug use and the presence of visible drug sales led to increases in assault, burglary, and theft.

Abstract

The study found that neighborhood disadvantage, the presence of visible drug sales, and drug use were related to burglary victimization rates. For assault, only neighborhood disadvantage and visible drug sales were statistically significant. For theft, only visible drug sale were linked to its rate of occurrence. Over the 10 years of the operation of Fighting Back in 12 communities, there were no changes in the patterns of criminal victimization rates for reported burglary, assault, and theft. There are two types of explanations for these findings: that crime encourages drug dealing or that the presence of drug dealing attracts other types of nondrug crime. It is clear, however, that both drug dealing and other forms of crime are signs of social disorder and ineffective or absent formal and/or informal social control. Researchers conclude that any association between race and crime is related to the fact that African-Americans are more likely to live in disadvantaged areas than are White Americans. A telephone survey used random-digit sampling procedures to assess the drug-related and alcohol-related behaviors and attitudes in the 12 target sites and in the 29 comparison sites. The sampled sites were disproportionately poor, urban, and had a greater proportion of African-Americans. Data obtained in the Fighting Back evaluation contained information on the offenses of burglary, assault, and theft. The measure of drug use was a composite of the respondents' reports of their drug use in the past 12 months. The measure for visible drug sales was respondents' reports of seeing drugs sold in their neighborhoods. 4 tables, 3 figures, 8 notes, and 67 references