NCJ Number
125243
Date Published
1990
Length
40 pages
Annotation
After reviewing the relations between drugs and crime, models of the drug market, and limits on the criminal justice system's ability to cope with a high volume of drug cases, this essay assesses typical drug-enforcement strategies by State and local governments with attention to such strategies in New York, Los Angeles, and Detroit.
Abstract
The link between drug use and crime by users has been documented in a number of studies. Research also shows that interventions which decrease drug use by drug-involved offenders can reduce their offense rates. Typical law enforcement tactics intended to undermine State and local drug markets are the targeting of high-level drug dealers; widespread, street-level suppression of the retail drug trade; focused "street" crackdowns; the suppression of gang activity; the control of drug-user crime; and the targeting of drug dealing to minors. Theory and experience agree that neither the targeting of high-level drug kingpins nor unfocused retail-level enforcement is likely to counter the drug problem under big-city conditions; yet local drug enforcement consists primarily of a mix of these two strategies. Crackdowns that focus on particular neighborhoods have been effective, but displacement effects have yet to be examined. The use of police personnel to educate youth about the dangers of drug use can reduce the rate at which adolescents are initiated into illicit drug use. Appended outline of drug enforcement tactics and 72 references