NCJ Number
91052
Date Published
1983
Length
20 pages
Annotation
Measures to control access to drugs, guns, and alcohol have only limited potential for crime control, but several limited efforts in these areas would be feasible.
Abstract
Although these commodities all have plausible criminogenic effects, it should not be assumed that efforts to control them tightly will significantly reduce crime. In fact, in some areas, tight controls of criminogenic commodities will increase rather than reduce crime. Tight restrictions generally create black markets, which depend in turn on violence. Current policy regarding drugs is designed less to reduce crime than to reduce the number of chronic, intensive drug users in society. Although this policy may have a long-term effect on crime, its immediate effects are to increase street crime. To control street crime, we should emphasize heroin over other drugs and should focus existing capacity for supervising and treating drug users on heroin addicts who commit large numbers of street crimes. A useful policy concerning guns would be to focus enforcement efforts on keeping guns out of the hands of likely criminal offenders and off city streets. Much statutory policy now exists to support such a policy. Federal legislation is unlikely to succeed if local enforcement efforts fail. Higher taxes and other generally restrictive policies would reduce instances of public drunkenness and consequently some drunken violence. However, this would make much legitimate drinking inconvenient. A better approach would be to renew police interest in public drunkenness laws, in order to prevent drunken people in public from being victimized or from victimizing others.