Comparison of Drug Control Strategies in San Diego, June- November, 1989: A User's Guide to the Machine-Readable Files and Documentation, Codebook, and Original Instruments

• NCJ Number: 146225
• Date Published: 1992
• Author(s): S Pennell; C Curtis
• Length: 126 pages
• Grant Number(s): 88-IJ-CX-0034
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored

Annotation

Since law enforcement drug control policies and strategies in recent years have shifted focus from high-level drug dealers to street-level drug dealers, this study assessed the consequences for offenders of various drug law enforcement strategies employed by the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) and profiled factors that characterized street-level and mid-level drug dealers, drug users, and the drug market. Data set archived by the NIJ Data Resources Program at the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data, located at URL http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/nacjd.

Abstract

Data were obtained from police and court records of 1,432 drug arrests made over a 6-month period between June and November 1989 by three special sections of the SDPD. In addition, data were collected through personal interviews conducted at the time of arrest with a subsample of 123 persons arrested for drug charges. Drug law enforcement strategies of interest in the study included search warrants, body wires, police decoys, surveillance, police officer buys and sells, wiretaps, and sweeps. Measures of the consequences of arrests included property seizures, convictions, and sentences. The interview portion of the study provided information about characteristics of drug users and drug dealers, offender opinions about drug use and drug sales, and the drug market. Although data resulting from the analysis are tabulated separately, a data completeness report, a codebook, and the study instruments are included. An appendix contains additional information on data documentation procedures. 1 reference and 8 tables