In the US, illegal drug use can be tied to crime, especially violent crime, in many ways. Possessing, manufacturing, and distributing drugs are a crime by itself and set someone up for the potential for being an abuser. There are also drug crimes such as trafficking and the production of drugs, which has long been a problem, especially in Mexico, where drug cartels are the ringleaders, crime is very organized, and gangs carry out violence more often than not.
Statistics show us that in 2002 in the US, about “a quarter of convicted property and drug offenders in local jails had committed their crimes to get money for drugs, compared to 5% of violent and public order offenders.” For State prisoners (in 2004) it was much the same with “property (30%) and drug offenders (26%) more likely to commit their crimes for drug money than violent (10%) and public-order offenders (7%).” These statistics took a different spin though when looking at the Federal prison system where “property offenders (11%) were less than half as likely as drug offenders (25%) to report drug money as a motive in their offenses” (Wikipedia, 2010). In 2004, very little percentage of State and Federal prison inmates had actually committed their first offense to get money for their drug purchases; however, these numbers are increasing over the years little by little.
Patients reporting to two emergency rooms in Canada with violence-related injuries were most often found to be “intoxicated with alcohol and were significantly more likely to test positive for benzodiazepines (most commonly temazepam) than other groups of individuals, whereas other drugs were found to be insignificant in relation to violent injuries.” Ethanol is the most accessible intoxicant in o...
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...angerous but more often than not produces much more of a violent reaction. A drug like Rohypnol can make abusers forget who they really are and what they are doing. “It has been proposed that criminal and violent acts brought on by benzodiazepine abuse may be related to lowered serotonin levels via enhanced GABAergic effects” (Wikipedia, 2010).
“There is no consensus with respect to any direct-or even indirect- connections between drug use and violence” (Boyd, Elliott, Gaucher, 69). There is however a link between drug usage and crime in general – just not violent. “The role of drug use with interpersonal violence has been underestimated. The drugs of greatest relevance are usually legal – principally alcohol and prescription pharmaceuticals” (Boyd, Elliott, Gaucher, 69). It is the status of illegality and not the drug itself, which is responsible for violence.
Drug policies stemming from the War on Drugs are to blame, more specifically, the mandatory minimum sentencing mandates on petty drug charges that have imprisoned millions of non-violent offenders in the last three decades. Since this declaration of war, the percentage of drug arrests that result in prison sentences (rather than probation, dismissal, or community service) has quadrupled, resulting in an unprecedented prison-building boom (Wyler, 2014). There are three main reasons mandatory minimum sentencing laws must be reformed: (1) They impose unduly harsh punishments on relatively low level offenders, leading to the mass incarceration epidemic. (2) They have proven to be cost ineffective fiscally and in crime and drug use reduction. (3) They perpetuate a racially segregated criminal justice system that destroys communities and discourages trust
Today, half of state prisoners are serving time for nonviolent crimes. Over half of federal prisoners are serving time for drug crimes. Mass incarceration seems to be extremely expensive and a waste of money. It is believed to be a massive failure. Increased punishments and jailing have been declining in effectiveness for more than thirty years. Violent crime rates fell by more than fifty percent between 1991 and 2013, while property crime declined by forty-six percent, according to FBI statistics. Yet between 1990 and 2009, the prison population in the U.S. more than doubled, jumping from 771,243 to over 1.6 million (Nadia Prupis, 2015). While jailing may have at first had a positive result on the crime rate, it has reached a point of being less and less worth all the effort. Income growth and an aging population each had a greater effect on the decline in national crime rates than jailing. Mass incarceration and tough-on-crime policies have had huge social and money-related consequences--from its eighty billion dollars per-year price tag to its many societal costs, including an increased risk of recidivism due to barbarous conditions in prison and a lack of after-release reintegration opportunities. The government needs to rethink their strategy and their policies that are bad
What personality traits are more prominent in violent offenders than in non-violent offenders? If there were a clear-cut way to peer into the mind of a violent offender than it would have been done already. The value of specifically identifying the personality traits of violent offenders is huge. Research has shown that reduced central serotonin (5-HT) functioning is related to impulsiveness, aggressiveness, and violent behavior (Retz, Retz-Junginger, Supprian, Thome, Rösler, 2004). This is important because if the levels of serotonin could be regulated than the level of aggression could be controlled. This would be very beneficial to the rehabilitation efforts of prison and jail officials.
With different types of violence happening in all aspects of human life, and our perpetrators seemingly getting younger it brings to bear the question what role substance use has in crime. Crime comes in many forms, for example Cyber Bulling, Assaults, Intimate Partner Violence to name a few.
Drug violators are a major cause of extreme overcrowding in US prisons. In 1992, 59,000 inmates were added to make a record setting 833,600 inmates nationwide (Rosenthal 1996). A high percentage of these prisoners were serving time because of drug related incid...
Substance abuse is a national problem. Prisons are overcrowded with these types of offenders. People will do anything to get these drugs ranging from petty theft to murder. People with substance abuse problems know no boundaries. All they think about is how they are going to get that drug for that day. Substance abusers do not care who they hurt or why they hurt them. A lot of people that are addicted hurt the people they love the most like children and parents. People in the prison system that has been convicted of violent crimes most of them say that they were under the influence of some type of drug or alcohol.
The war on drugs in our culture is a continuous action that is swiftly lessening our society. This has been going on for roughly 10-15 years and has yet to slow down in any way. Drugs continue to be a problem for the obvious reason that certain people abuse them in a way that can lead to ultimate harm on such a person. These drugs do not just consist of street drugs (marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy), but prescription medications as well. Although there are some instances where drugs are being used by subjects excessively, there has been medical research to prove that some of these drugs have made a successful impact on certain disorders and diseases.
Substance abuse, a mental disorder, is also seen as a large risk in violent behavior (Silver 2006). Hiday (1995) asks the questions of the direction of this correlation. Does mental illness lead to violence or is it vice versa? THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS Silver (2006) asserts the importance of using t... ... middle of paper ... ...
... (2009). Violent offenses associated with co-occurring substance use and mental health problems: evidence from CJDATS. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 21(7), 51-69.
There is no one causal factor, or single identifying marker that determines violent behavior in individuals. While studies show characteristics associated with violent offenders, no single variable predetermines such offenses. It is instead a number of factors that come in to play, that have shown an association to such reactive aggressive behavior. Factors such as environmental demographic (Hughs, 2008) (Barnes, 2012), biological and genetic predispositions to mental illness (Miller & Barnes, 2013), prenatal brain development (Michalska & Kinzler, 2011), abuse, psychological factors, and many other variables that somehow coincide to create a recipe for such violent actions. Strides to determine these factors, and what sets the stage for such pathology is as important as it is controversial. The closer we get to arrive at possible causal factors, the closer we are to preventing such acts from happening, and providing help and better treatments for those with such disorders early on.
The war on drugs and the violence that comes with it has always brought around a hot debate about drug legalization. The amount of violence that is associated with drugs is a result from harsher drug laws and prohibition.
Dorn, R., Volavka, J., & Johnson, N. (2012). Mental disorder and violence: is there a relationship beyond substance use?. Social Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology, 47(3), 487-503. doi:10.1007/s00127-011-0356-x
One of the most prevalent misconceptions, Benson and Rasmussen, contend is the notion that a large percentage of drug users commit nondrug crimes, what might be called the “drugs-cause-crime” assumption implicit in the government’s drug-war strategy. If true, then an effective crackdown on drug use would reduce nondrug crime rates.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The use of illegal drugs in the United States is considered by some to be the biggest problem in our society. Over 40% of high school seniors use some kind of illegal drug, and in a recent 1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse showed that the three most common drugs are Marijuana used by 11,100,000 people, Cocaine used by 1,500,000 people, and inhalants that is used by 991,000 people nationwide.