Drugs and Crime Final

What is interdiction?

• catching things that are trying to be smuggled into the country

  • smuggling control, catching people at borders

4 types of supply reduction efforts

• source control

• interdiction

• street-level

• correctional system

Source control: supply reduction

• getting rid of the sources where the drugs are grown internationally

  • Burning coca fields

interdiction: supply reduction

• keeping or intercepting drugs from crossing the border

street-level supply reduction enforcement

• efforts from police to make arrests

correctional system - supply reduction

arresting dealers and traffickers reduces supply

Supply reduction approach

Idea is if we can eliminate or reduce the supply of drugs, that there will be less drugs around for people to use int he first place

• also increases the price → reduce use

3 main strategies for source control

• crop eradication: give money to foreign govs. to burn/spray defoliants

• control of precursor/refining chemicals: spray anhydrous ammonia

• certification of foreign nations: for cooperating with drug control → get foreign aid and certification

What do we spend most of our money on fighting the war on drugs?

-       Law enforcement, drug interdiction, and international control

Legal issues related to search and seizure, customs, coast guard, etc.?

-       US customs and border protection agency can search anything they want that is coming into the US without probable cause

-       US coast guard has maritime responsibility within 12 miles within the coast of the US and search any boats all they want

-       Other military branches

• Mostly support the others or can surveillance, not supposed to use military as law enforcement like patrolling to arresting people themselves

-       Posse comitatus act 1878

• Revised in 88’- allows use of national guard and prohibits military use in domestic law enforcement

Four main strategies for street level enforcement against drug dealing?            

• Reverse sting operation: where police pose as a seller

  • risks of entrapment

• controlled buys: bought by an informant “snitch”

  • buy-bust: seller is arrested now

  • buy-walk: seller is arrested later

• undercover buy: bought directly from police

  • potential issue of entrapment

• knock and talk: may knock on door if they think they are cooking meth and need to look around the home where they would ask for entry under some other pretense

Legal issues related to two types of forfeiture? 

-        Confiscation act of 1962

-       Two types of forfeitures/seize stuff

•   “In personam”: criminal forfeitures

  •   Post-conviction: so, the person is guilty, and item was acquired during the commission of the crime

    • Enforcement can then sell their belongings, ex: car, jewelry, etc.

    • Makes profit for cops/lowers desire to sell

o   “In rem” or in reality, enforcement saw you using this; (civil forfeitures)

• Pre-conviction, just had to demonstrate the item itself was used unlawfully in commission of a crime

·      Ex: your car has coke in it take your car and drugs and sell them

• If you’re driving a car that is not yours they will still take the car

• No conviction/charge is needed for this/ no due process

What is a mandatory minimum sentence? How do they work? 

-       Legislature sets the minimum sentence, not judges choice

o   Usually based on the type of drug, weight, and # of prior conviction

o   “entire” (at least 85%) of sentence must be served without parole

o   Sentence reduction is possible, but only is “substantial assistance” was given to the prosecution of another defendant

• Ex; snitching on big fish

What are the main components of drug courts and what do we know about how well they work? 

-       Alternative to standard sentencing

• Community based treatment/supervision, designed for non-violent offenders w/ substance use issues leading to crime

-       Scientific evals show there is better treatment retention and lower recidivism rates (during their programs and when they finish), and save money

What are the 3 Dimensions of Harm assessed by Nutt’s drug dangerousness classification? What was measured in each of the 3 Dimensions?

•   Physical harm

  • Acute, chronic and injection harms

• Dependence

  • Intense pleasure, psychological, and physical dependance

• social harms:

  •   Intoxication risks, health care costs and other social harms

What were the top 5 most and bottom 5 least dangerous drugs?

• Top 5 most:

  • Heroin

  • cocaine

  • barbiturates

  • street methadone

  • alcohol

• bottom 5

  • Anabolic steroids

  • GHB

  • ecstasy

  • alkyl nitrates

  • khat

Some LEGAL drugs ended up scoring pretty high…which ones, and why? (UK)

-       Alcohol is only age restricted but in top five, tobacco is in top 10

-       Alcohol is second worst impact on society

Three policy perspectives according to Reuter…How are the Owls different in what they want? 

• Hawks: get tough, enforcement dominated only

• Doves: more treatment and less enforcement

• Owls: want the right mix of polices for the max effect

  • Think drug use will happen regardless so how can we reduce its harms

    • Ex: needle exchange to reduce HIV

What do hawks think of owls policy suggestions?

hawks think they encourage drug use, and drug abuse treatment “bails out” drug abusers

Inciardi and Saum’s arguments against legalization?

1. more widespread use, so more users

2. the users cannot support themselves, drug habit = no job

3. so, more economic and psychopharmalogical crime

   1. more users = more bad happenings

Four possible policy alternatives

o   Prohibition/banned

o   Regulation; limited, including medicalization

o   Decriminalization (not arrested)

o   Legalization/no limits

Be prepared to think critically about their statements trying to convince you to oppose legalization

o   Don’t be swayed by rhetoric

o   Drug use an crime are complicated problems

• It is hard to deter addicted users

o   Treatment and prevention can work

o   No one approach will be fully successful

o   Science can help us make better policy decisions

Effective Law Enforcement Practices (Eck & Wartell, 1999; Smith, 2001) What did Sherman conclude about drug crackdowns in general? When can they work and when backfire?

o   Drug crackdowns work for drunk driving, NOT for drug dealing

o   Programs can be too expensive to maintain

o   Deterrent effect may linger, but eventually decay

What were the main results from the Kleiman (1988) study? 

o  After many arrests from street level dealers, there were:

•   Less robberies and burglaries

• And 85% more treatment admission

• More arrests of dealers constricted the market

  • Led to more violence among remaining dealers due to competition

• No reduction in drug dealing

What did Eck & Wartell conclude about involving rental property owners in the process of trying  to clean up “drug houses”? How did they design their study? 

o    Design

• Looked at arrests and drug sales for 30 months after programs

o   More evictions of suspected dealers

o   Less drug dealing and less crime at meeting sites

o   Owners need help with screening tenants and on site management

o   Police need citizens help in responding to drug problems

Describe the “blitz to bloom” program in Richmond, VA, according to Smith (2001).

How did Smith (2001) design the study and how did he measure outcomes? 

-       Design: intensive crackdowns = blitz, followed with community efforts, bloom

o   neighborhood cleanup, fixed street lights, etc.

-       Measures: crimes reported to police from 10/98-10/99, calls for service from 11/98 – 10/99

-       Pre and post in highland park as well as other area with similar features

What was the outcome of the Smith (2001) study? Did it work? Why or why not? 

-       Crimes reported to police: 92% drop in April vs the prior 6 mo.

-       Displacement: crimes move somewhere else, but nearby areas didn’t have significant increases?

-       Diffusion: program benefit occurs elsewhere

-       Residual deterrence: no significant changes 6 mo. later

-       Calls for service: 18% fewer in April, no change 6 months later

• Increased calls in nearby areas

• Short lived effect and program did little

What did the study show about displacement and diffusion of crime? 

-       Arresting dealers may not help when crime gets displaced or replaced to other location or by other people

-       Involving citizens helps

• Landlords, code enforcers

-       Using more patrol t put pressure on markets and disrupt them, esp. the smaller ones

Definitions and examples of supply-side vs. demand-side programs

-       Supply side approaches: reduce supply -> increase prices to reduce use

• Interdiction, source control, law enforcement

-       Demand side approaches: reduce demand, also reduces profits

• Prevention and treatment

What did we spend most of our money on fighting drugs in the 1980s?

-       Law enforcement

o   3B of the 4B budget was for LE

o   1B was for interdiction

According to Reuter what was the impact of increased interdiction on drug prices?

-        Increase spending on interdiction did NOT increase interdiction on the amount of cocaine seized

o   In 1987, still only got an estimated amount of 25% of imports

-       Cocaine price declined on the street, and supporters blamed how they did the interdiction not interdiction itself

Why does interdiction not produce much in terms of long-term increases in drug prices?

-       Smugglers are adaptable

• They can change their ways to get their goals on income

-       Multiple routes in the US

• Like undetected small planes over the border, on ships, through small amount of people driving into the border

-       Low costs of supplies/labor outside the US

• The drugs are worth much less in other countries before they get here

How much can we expect to accomplish in terms of drug prices by even more interdiction?

-       The RAND study estimated it would be hard to get even 5% reduction in coke use with more interdiction efforts

o   So not much

Can using the military help much? Why or why not?

-       Not when it is brought through small amounts in vehicles and by undetected airplanes

-       Smugglers don’t want to invade “en masse”

• Sneak across in small number or in legitimate commerce

• Military could be used to restrict entry from Mexico but we want free commerce and tourism

• Military can be used to spot targets but there are numerous small single targets to stop

What does Reuter suggest we do in terms of drug policy?

-       Spend more money on treatment programs

• These reduce demand which also reduces the smugglers profits

-       Spend less on interdiction and enforcement -> prevention and treatment

-       Spend more on research and how to effectively treat and prevent drug use

What does recent research by Keck & Correa-Cabrera suggest about the effectiveness of drug  interdiction efforts?

-       Examines relation between border enforcement and amount of drugs seized

-       Data from border patrol

• Traffic checks, observations, transport checks

• Also from US GAO

• Drug price from DEA STRIDE system, congressional research service

-       Their drug seizure percentages remained low for MJ, coke, and heroin

-       Border enforcement correlates for marijuana and cocaine, not heroin

-       Decreased process of heroin and coke

Does effectiveness depend on the drug in question? interdiction

-       No, pretty low across all drugs tested

What about impacts on street-level costs of drugs?  interdiction

-       Decreased for heroin and coke, no changes for mj

What do we know about where most drugs are actually seized (at ports of entry vs. in areas  between formal ports)? 

-       Planes in cargo

-       On ships

-       The Mexican border

Has the amount of drugs seized changed dramatically over the decades? 

no

Types of prevention: primary, secondary, tertiary, and examples of each

-       Primary prevention(universal): not targeted at specific risk factors

• Ex: school programs

-       Secondary prevention

• Target at those with specific risk factors

  • Ex: kids with drug dependent parents

-       Tertiary prevention

• Treatment for those suing

  • Were “preventing” relapse

Definition and relevance of the term “resilience”

-       Resilience: ability to resist negative impact of risk factors in a person’s life, through the positive effects of protective factors

•   Risk factors: parental use, family disruption, trauma

•   Protective factors: school bonds, prosocial role models

ONDCP priorities for national drug policies…do these match our resource allocations? 

1.     Reduce ODs, focus on fentanyl

2.     Secure the global supply chain against drug trafficking

3.     Stop the flow of drugs across our borders and into communities

4.     Prevent drug use before it starts

5.     Provide treatment that leads to long-term recovery

6.     Innovate research and data to support drug control strategies

-       There is now about half of spending going towards treatment and prevention but still half is going towards law enforcement

Failed efforts at prevention? 

-       Reducing availability of drugs

• Interdiction and enforcement

-       Punitive measures (mandatory minimums)

-       Scare tactics (“reefer madness”)

-       Objective information approaches

• Can increase short-term experimental use

• High vs. low risk kids has some effects for

-       Self-esteem enhancement

-       DARE

Distinctive features of LST that make it work better

-       Cognitive component

o   Info on immediate consequences, actual use rates

-       Decision-making component

o   Critical thinking, problem solving, media resistance

-       Stress reduction component

o   Anxiety reduction, relaxation training

-       Social skills component

o   Assertiveness, peer resistance skills

-       Self-directed behavior change component

• Personal goal setting

Three predictors of teen drug use

-       Degree of stress teens experience

-       Frequency with which they are bored

-       Amount of money they have to spend

5 stages of change and their relationship to effective treatment delivery

1.     Pre-contemplation

a.     Denial or no intention to change

2.     Contemplation

a.     Aware of problem, maybe thinking about changing

3.     Preparation

a.     Considers change in next 30 days, some in last 12 m

4.     Action

a.     Actually, changes behavior/environment

5.     Maintenance

a.     Drug-free for 6 months, developed new skills

Treatment works, but what are some outstanding issues in research and program  implementation?

-       Requires a lot of money

• Many people need treatment but rarely any of them get it, so were not meeting the needs

What were the topics and main findings of the research by Bouffard and Taxman presented in lecture? 

-       Some of the fault fell onto the prison system itself and its lack of communication causing some of the clients to leave the program early

-       The study could have been much more effective if the staff involved were proactive about their jobs and their connections with probation and parole officers

-       Topics include: giving treatment to offenders while in jail so they can continue treatment when back into the community

What did the TOPS, DARP and DATOS studies find in terms of reductions in drug use and  crime?  

-       Large drops in drug use and crime for those in drug treatment

-       Being in treatment for at least 3 months improved effects

-       Benefits, like less recidivism are greater than the initial costs of giving the treatment as well

Why did the DATOS study need to be done in the 1990s? 

-       DATOS: drug abuse treatment outcome study

o   Because of the increase in cocaine users in the country at the time as a result of policies supporting drug treatment

Before DARE changed its curriculum and goals in 1997, what had the research shown that it accomplished and failed to accomplish?

-       That it didn’t work

-       It improved drug attitudes and knowledge about drugs

What is unique (strengths of) about Clayton’s study of DARE ?

-       It studies the original DARE before it changed in 1997

-       Published in major medical journal – preventive med

-       Looked at long term effects of DARE, 5yrs

What were the findings of Claytons study of DARE?

-       It made no difference in drug use 7^th grade and higher

-       Overall increases in drug use over time of this study

o   DARE may have slowed the increase but not by much/ not for long

How does LST differ from DARE and what do we know about its effectiveness?

-       LST focuses on the risk factors for drug use and addresses them in program (cognitive, social, personality, biological etc.)

-       DARE just addresses common sense ideas

Why is it important to find (and use) effective prevention programs for drugs?

-        Because it is cost effective and reduces recidivism

-       Most fed money went to DARE because it is a “feel good” program despite evidence it does not work

Know how drug treatment-oriented courts eventually grew out of attempts to improve case processing times for drug cases

-       Drug courts came to be because of growing number of drug cases in the 80s

• Courts were swamped with what best to handle these and move them quickly

  • Many cases were possession of small drug amounts but waited on lab to test the drugs they had

  • Time consuming pretrial motions

  • A need for immediate supervision and treatment for these people

o   Backed up court system with long processing times

o   Imprisoned too many people and ahd to let out other criminals because the drug offenders had mandatory mins.

What changes did they make for the beginning of drug courts?

-       Special drug divisions in reg criminal courts

-       Expedited processing of drug cases

-       Deferred prosecution w/supervised drug treatment

o   Needed to identify the people that were addicted (treatment) vs the people trying to sell drugs for money

-       Increased coordination of court and treatment

What were the outcomes of these early attempts at expedited case processing?

-       Court: more efficient, better control of caseload

• Judges, prosecutors, and defense all felt this was more efficient

• Fewer defendants failing to appear

  • Fewer bench warrants for missing their date

-       Treatment services (some offered): more effective

• Individualized case plans

•   Improved coordination and communication of services

• Ensured timely/effective treatment interventions

-       Corrections: reductions in costs

• Fewer pretrial delays

• Lower costs for pretrial detention

What are the distinguishing features of drug courts? (Key Components) What do we know generally about their effectiveness?

-       Needs all ten of these to be considered a DRUG court, 1-7 are daily

1.     Integrate treatment with criminal justice processing

2.     Use a non-adversarial approach

3.     Identify participants early

4.     Provide a continuum of treatment services

5.     Monitor abstinence with frequent drug testing

6.     Use of graduated sanctions and rewards

a.     Don’t get kicked out on the first screw up, but continued mistakes can result in jail or getting kicked out

b.     Rewards for progress

7.     Ongoing judicial interactions

8.     Monitor/evaluate program goals

a.     Scientists looking at effectiveness throughout the program

9.     Continuing education for personnel

10.  Forging community partnerships

a.     Supporting drug addicts in community

What are the unique features of Gottfredson’s study of the Baltimore City Drug court? What were her main findings from this study?   

- Goal is to reduce addiction and crimes for money

- Diversionary drug courts: if one does entire treatment, their charge goes away on their record

- Post-adjudication: person pleads guilty, sentence is to complete treatment

- Unique features:

o Randomly assigned those who went into treatment while the others went to jail and compared their impacts long term

- Findings: groups were similar to each other (better for results)

o Graduates took about 18 months

o Drop outs lasted ~12mo

o Only ~50% of drug court offenders got “certified” treatment

o Drug courts don’t like using methadone for treatment

- Results: treatment matters

o DC with no treatment was the same as the control group who got regular probation or parole

o DC had fewer re-arrests and charges

 Work for all types of addicts

Differences between institutional and community corrections?

-       Institutional corrections: jails and prisons

-       Community based corrections: probation, parole, halfway houses, drug courts

What are intermediate sanctions? 

-       Intermediate sanctions: punishments that are not traditional punishments

o   Ex: community service, house arrest, boot camps, fines

What are the 4 main potential goals of corrections

-       Retribution: philosophical only, eye for an eye

-       Incapacitation: unable to do crime while restricted

-       Deterrence: fear will reduce crime/recidivism

-       Rehabilitation: fixing underlying problems will reduce crime/recidivism

RNR principles and how they are used in corrections

-       The risk principle: use validated risk/needs-assessment tool

o   Match high-risk or need people to high intensity services or supervision

-       The need principle: focus on dynamic factors or “criminogenic needs”

o   Criminal attitudes/personality traits

o   Deviant/criminal peers

o   Substance abuse/dependence

o   Employment or educational deficits

o   Unstructured leisure time

o   Weak family support

-       The responsivity principle

o   General responsivity: use things that work

• Ex: CBT, research based

• Specific responsivity: tailored to each person

  • Specific needs (addiction, housing, job search )

  • Services must also address barriers to success, like transportation or childcare issues

  • Gender and cultural responsivity may also help

What percent of incarcerated people have addition needs and what are TCs? Do these work?

-       TC: therapeutic communities: long-term, residential program concentrating on mutual support

o   Structured intervention with more privileges when more progress is made, intensive and effective

-       65% of inmates have a substance use disorder

Know the different types of community-based programs (reentry, intermediate sanctions, deterrence and rehab-based programs, halfway houses, etc.)

-       Reentry programs: 95% of ppl in prions are eventually released, up to 80% recidivate, most within 1^st year

• These programs help inmates TRANSITION into the community

  • Job placement, drug-free housing, treatment, mentoring

-       Intermediate sanctions: between prison and trad. Probation and they divert others from prison

• Drug courts, halfway houses, intensive supervision, probation

-       Deterrence-based intermediate sanctions: focus on supervision, drug testing, threat of penalties

• Drug testing house arrest, electronic monitoring, boot camps

-       Rehabilitative-based intermediate sanctions: teach skills that individuals can use to change their behavior

• Drug and alcohol treatment, mental health treatment, drug courts

-       Restorative-justice based intermediate sanctions: individuals work to restore damage done to victim/community

• Victim restitution and community service hours

-       Community residential centers/halfway houses: less expensive alternative to incarceration

• Focused on substance abuse, employment, education, other needs

•   Can be effective, similar recidivism to prison but cheaper

-       Sober living centers: stable housing, less services

What do we know about the operation and effectiveness of drug courts? 

-       They are for non-violent offenders with drug crimes

-       Goal: reduce drug use and recidivism

-       Adult DC tend to show some reduction in recidivism and drug use

• Limited evidence for juveniles

• Cost effective

-       Success has led to use of DC for other issues

• Drunk driving, child support, veterans, etc.

Types of community supervision (probation, parole) and conditions of release.

-       Probation: instead of prison

-       Parole: early release of prison

-       Standard conditions: imposed to most defendants, travel limits, no substance use, no known felons

-       Special conditions: individualized for risk level

• Therapeutic: mandated treatment for drugs, mental health

• Deterrence based: drug testing, electronic monitoring

-       Enough technical violations = revocation, or withdrawn from program

What is intensive outpatient treatment?

-       IOP: type of substance abuse treatment delivered in the community, typically in group format

• More intensive/frequent than regular outpatient treatment

• Less intensive/expensive than a residential treatment program

• May include participation in self-help groups like AA or NA for added community support