NCJ Number
162528
Journal
Cato Journal Volume: 14 Issue: 3 Dated: (Winter 1995) Pages: 509-517
Date Published
1995
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article seeks to determine the effect on the homicide offense rate of changes in the percentages of arrests attributed to drug offenses.
Abstract
To the extent that communities divert law enforcement resources from violent crimes to illegal drug offenses, the risk of punishment for engaging in violent crimes is reduced. A reduction in this risk would be expected to increase the incidence of violent crimes. The empirical results obtained from this study are consistent with a priori expectations that homicide offense rates are higher in communities that devote a greater percentage of their policing resources to the enforcement of drug laws. These results are used to estimate the value-of-life loss due to the war on drugs. The data used to estimate the model are from 57 cities in 32 States, and reflect 1985 experience. If these estimates of the increased value-of-life cost of the war on illicit drugs are even approximately correct, current drug-control policy is substantially more expensive than indicated by the observed out-of-pocket drug-control expenditures made by the criminal justice system. Footnotes, tables, references