Crime and Drugs
Because of widespread public and political concern over drug-related crime, there has been an urgent need to understand the drugs-crime relationship. However, despite numerous studies on this topic, only recentlyhave significant empirical advances in our understanding emerged.
Authors of a comprehensive literature review published in 1980 concluded that the drugs-crime relationship was far more complex than originally believed (Gandossy et al.). While acknowledging significant contributions of previous research, the authors felt that methodological problems in the studies they reviewed had obscured an understanding of the linkage between drugs and crime. As these and other reviewers have observed, perhaps the most serious of these weaknesses was the use of official arrest records as indicators of criminal activity. Studies using confidential self-report methods in settings in which there is immunity from prosecution have consistently documented that less than 1 percent of offenses committed by drug abusers result in arrest.
With a subsequent emphasis on confidential self-report data, studies conducted since 1980 have permitted more realistic estimates of the extent of criminality among drug abusers. In addition, victims of violent crime are now being asked whether they perceived the offender to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The annual Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) National Crime Victimization Survey asks this question of crime victims.
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