NCJ Number
161674
Date Published
1990
Length
18 pages
Annotation
Information from a specialized corrections agency database formed the basis of an analysis of the relationship between drugs and homicides in New York State.
Abstract
Information was collected by means of interviews with 430 murderers incarcerated in State correctional facilities for homicides for which they were arrested and charged in 1984. The self-report data on the relationship between drugs and the homicides was compared with police records reviewed for an earlier study called Drug Related Crime Analysis- Homicide. Homicides were considered drug-related if it was psychopharmacological, the consequence of ingestion of specific substances by the perpetrator or victim; economic compulsive to support costly drug use; or systemic, related to the normally aggressive interaction patterns in the drug distribution and use systems. Results revealed that 97 percent of the sample was male; the median age was 25 years. About half were black, 29 percent were Hispanic, and 22 percent were white. Approximately 1 in 5 of the homicides had a psychopharmacological dimension, 1 in 10 had a systemic dimension, and 1 in 20 had an economic compulsive dimension. Alcohol was the drug most likely to related to homicides with psychopharmacological dimensions, and cocaine was most likely to be involved in homicides with economic compulsive dimensions. About one-fourth of the homicides were mainly drug-related. Findings cannot necessarily be generalized to other populations. In addition, a review of commonly used databases indicated that they have only limited usefulness for understanding the relationship between drugs and homicide. Tables and 31 references