Drugs - Drugs In Context Of Crime

Let's conclude this chapter by trying to see the impact of drugs — and the effort to control their consumption and distribution — on the criminal justice system. We will use just a few measurements: crime rates measured as arrests, incarcerations at the state level, and the costs associated with state drug corrections.

The graphic shows the official crime rate at the bottom of the chart; this the measure used by the nation to measure the intensity of crime. As shown in Chapter 1, only selected violent and property crimes are included in the "crime rate." The crime rate, overall, has been going down (a decrease of 4.8% 1984 to 2000). But if we add drug-related arrests to the official crime arrests and chart them, we more than double the number of arrests — as shown by the snow-capped peaks in the graphic. The official and the drug crime rates, in combination, have increased 24.7%. Thus the much publicized "dropping crime rate" is accompanied by a rather sizeable shadow of rising drug-related lawlessness. Drug arrests, taken by themselves, have increased 123% in this same time period.

We are, of course, somewhat comparing apples and oranges here. The official crime rate includes the most severe crimes, not least homicides that took place in wars between drug gangs and robberies and burglaries committed by addicts trying to get money for the next injection of heroin. The drug arrests, by contrast, are predominantly for the possession of illegal substances, usually small quantities of marijuana. The commonality is that both the official crimes and the drug offenses are — against the law. They require justice system employees to handle and tax dollars to resolve. The principal disconnect is that literally millions of people are scoffing the drug laws. Meanwhile only a small minority is involved in the official, indexed crimes. The drug component of crime, therefore, shows up a social conflict — and an intensifying social conflict as the next graphic shows.

In 1984, drug arrests were 6.1% of all arrests. By 2000, drug arrests were 11.3% of all arrests and thus significantly more important. Similarly, in 1984, 7.7% of all individuals in state-run correctional systems (were most prisoners are sentenced) were institutionalized because of drug offenses. In 2000, this rate had increased to 20.9%. More than a fifth of state corrections existed to service drug offenders in 2000. During this period, the number of drug users actually declined. To put some dollar figures against this, consider that in 1984, states expended about $1.25 billion on drug offenders in their correctional systems; in 1999 they spent $6.74 billion. The expenditures are in constant, 2000 dollars. The increase in expenditure was 439%. Correctional expenditures at the state level, of course, are but a fraction of what society spends on the war on drugs.

Arrests and Prisoners

Sources: Arrest data: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States, annual, Uniform Crime Reports, downloaded from http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/dcf/enforce.htm. Expenditures: Trends in Justice Expenditure and Employment, NCJ 178277, Table 10 [Online]. Available: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/data/eetrnd10.wk1 [Mar. 27, 2002].