Henry H. Brownstein

Drug-Related Homicide in New York: 1984 and 1988

This article reports findings from two studies, Drug Related Crime Analysis 1 (DRCA-H1) and Drug Related Crime Analysis 2 (DRCA-H2). Both addressed the need for routine and systematic collection of data about the drug-relatedness of homicide. DRCA-H1, conducted in New York State in 1984, focused on assessing the usefulness of existing police records for researching this subject. DRCA-H2 involved data collection during ongoing police investigations in New York City between March 1 and October 31, 1988. Both studies were structured and their findings analyzed in terms of a tripartite conceptualization of the drugs/homicide nexus. Comparing the findings of the studies reveals that existing police records are generally inadequate for providing insight into the complexities of the drugs/crime/violence nexus. However, findings from DRCA-H2 show that it is possible for researchers to work effectively with police to collect critically needed information, without causing significant disruption.

THE RELATIONSHIP OF DRUGS, DRUG TRAFFICKING, AND DRUG TRAFFICKERS TO HOMICIDE

ABSTRACT While the relationship between drugs and homicide has often been documented, its full extent and complexity are not well known. Using data from a study of 414 homicide events committed in New York City during eight months of 1988, this analysis explores that relationship. In addition, data are analyzed for 266 perpetrators and 236 victims of those cases. By conservative estimate, more than half of the homicide events were found to have been Drug-related. In addition, it was determined that many that were not drug-related either took place at a known drug location, involved perpetrators and/or victims who were known by the police to have been involved with drugs and Drug trafficking or involved perpetrators and/or victims with prior official criminal records for Drug sales or possession. The findings suggest that lethal violence or homicide to a large extent is focused on communities of people directly or indirectly involved with drugs or drug trafficking.

Trauma, Drugs and Violence Among Juvenile Offenders

Abstract Trauma typically occurs when one experiences a situation where life has been threatened or lost. If the trauma is not resolved, negative residual effects may result in alcohol and drug use, involvement in violent activities as well as the development of mental health problems such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Findings from a National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded study examining the link between trauma, drug use and violence among youth are presented. Results from interviews with 414 juveniles remanded to the Office of Children and Family Services (formerly New York State Division For Youth) for assault, sexual assault, robbery or homicide, document the trauma experienced by these youth, as well as how it correlated with their drug usage and participation in violent, illegal activities. Discussion of these findings, their implications for understanding and intervening, and recommendations for future research are highlighted.

Drug Use by Homicide Offenders

This article uses data derived from interviews with 268 homicide offenders incarcerated in New York State correctional facilities to examine their drug use prior to and at the time of the homicide, and their perceptions as to whether and how the homicides were related to their drug use. Most respondents who used a drug were not hard-core users of that drug. About one in five of the respondents could be considered polydrug abusers. Thirty percent of the sample believed that the homicide was related to their drug use. Alcohol was the drug most likely to be implicated in these homicides. The implications of this research are discussed.

A Conceptual Framework for Operationalizing the Relationship between Violence and Drug Market Stability

The existence of a relationship between violence and drug market operation and activity has been well established in the research literature. In recent years increasing attention has been given particularly to a hypothetical relationship between violence in a community and the relative stability of local drug markets. Unfortunately attempts to study this nexus have been hampered by an uncertainty in the literature about how to conceptualize the stability or instability of drug markets. In this paper, narrative data from interviews collected during a variety of studies of drugs and violence are used to conceptualize drug market stability. It is argued that any definition ofdrug market stability must consider both structural and interactional measures.

The Role of Marijuana in Homicide

In this paper we examine the relationship between marijuana use and homicide. Data derive from interviews with 268 individuals incarcerated in New York State correctional facilities for homicides that occurred in 1984. We found that in terms of lifetime use, marijuana was the most commonly used illicit drug in this sample; that about one-third of respondents who had ever used marijuana used the drug in the 24-hour period before the homicide; and that almost three-quarters of those respondents were experiencing some type of effect from the drug when the homicide occurred. A total of 18 respondents (7% of the total sample) said that the homicide was related to their marijuana use. We examine the reasons these respondents gave for this relationship and the other substances they reported using at the time of the homicide. We also demonstrate that from the perspective of a conceptual framework that specifies the ways that drugs and violence may be linked, there are various nuances in the ways that marijuana and homicide are related. We discuss the implications and limitations of using self-report data from perpetrators of violence for our understanding of the drugs-violence connection.

Toward the Operationalization of Drug Market Stability: An Illustration Using Arrestee Data from Crack Cocaine Markets in Four Urban Communities

Despite the hypothesized link between the stability of drug markets and violence, drug market stability has yet to be operationally defined. Our aim in this paper is to demonstrate the need for reliable and valid measures of drug market stability and to test preliminary measures of market stability using existing data. Using calendar year 2000 data from interviews with 1,440 respondents from the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) program in four cities (Manhattan, Chicago, Portland, and San Diego), we illustrate that it is possible to operationally define the relative stability of these illegal markets. Capitalizing on the existence of comparable data collected from arrestee respondents in the same four cities in 1995, we illustrate how researchers might measure change in market stability over time and space. Our illustrations using these data suggest that drug market stability is not a simple and singular phenomenon, but rather a complex concept requiring multiple measures to elucidate.

The Utility of Correctional Data for Understanding the Drugs-Homicide Connection

Research on the drugs-homicide connection is hampered by data sources that have only limited utility. Following a review of these data sources, this paper examines the drug-relatedness of a sample of homicides perpetrated in New York State as revealed in a specialized correctional department data base. Drug-relatedness is defined according to a tripartite model of the general relationship between drugs and violence. Even though the corrections data base incorporates detailed quantitaive and qualitative data from a variety of criminal justice sources, it was found that drug-relatedness was probably underestimated in the data base. About a quarter of the homicides were clearly drug-related. About two thirds were classified as not drug-related, although some of them may have been. In 10 percent of the cases there was an indication of drug-relatedness but there was not sufficient information to make a classification according to the model. The paper ends by assessing the utility of this correctional data base for understanding the drugs-homicide relationship.

Illicit Retail Methamphetamine Markets and Related Local Problems: A Police Perspective

In this paper we examine whether features of the operation of retail methamphetamine markets affects communities in three domain areas (public safety, health, and economy). We use data from a national survey of law enforcement agencies (n= 1,367) with narcotics officers to examine the operational characteristics of methamphetamine markets. We found that the operational features of a market (the source of methamphetamine and the most common location for selling methamphetamine) can have a significant impact on the types of public safety, health, and economic problems that communities are experiencing. In particular, jurisdictions distinguished by largely semi-private markets (strip clubs and bars) are more likely to be characterized as localities that have a large public safety and health problem. Jurisdictions that are supplied by multiple local and international sources (compared to a single source) were more likely to be characterized as jurisdictions that have problems in the three domains.