NCJ Number
219088
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 51 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2007 Pages: 264-278
Date Published
June 2007
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Using data from New York City, this study examined the influence of social control variables suggested by Donald Black (1976) on crack and powder cocaine dispositions.
Abstract
The results provide some support for Black's theory that the quantity of law applied in various contexts is related to five social characteristics that vary from setting to setting. The social variables are stratification (the unequal distribution of material living conditions); morphology (form and structure of a setting); culture (values, ideology, and morality); organization (how social life is organized); and alternative forms of social control (normative aspect of social life that defines right and wrong). Powder cocaine is known as the "White man's drug," whereas crack cocaine became known as a drug of choice among poor minorities. This led to increased penalties (more law) for those who were caught using crack, even though crack and cocaine are essentially the same drug. It was clear throughout the analyses that minorities and those charged with crack offenses were more likely to receive harsher penalties in New York City than those charged with offenses involving powder cocaine. The one departure from Black's theory was the finding that males received harsher penalties for both crack and powder cocaine use than females. Black would have expected females to receive harsher sentences because they departed further from conventional social expectations for women compared with men. Study data came from arrests by the New York City Police Department during a crackdown on cocaine-related crime in the early 1980s. A total of 9,975 powder cocaine arrests with case-outcome data were identified. In June 1986, the practice of marking arrest reports was expanded to include arrests that involved crack possession or sale. For 1986, there were 4,145 crack-related arrests with case outcome data identified. 3 tables and 47 references