Female Victims of Drug-Related Homicides

• NCJ Number: 162149
• Author(s): R A Arnold; P J Goldstein; H H Brownstein; P J Ryan
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 34 pages
• Sale Source: National Development and Research Institute, Inc. (NDRI)
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC; Paper presented at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting, Baltimore, Md., Nov. 9, 1990

Annotation

The social circumstances of homicides and their relationship to drug abuse were examined for 71 female victims, who were among a sample of 414 homicide cases in New York City in 1988.

Abstract

Data collected by precinct detectives were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods within the context of the literature on the illegal drug business, female homicide victims, and women and drugs. The analysis also used Goldstein's framework, which characterizes drug- related crimes in three ways: (1) psychopharmacological, (3) economic-compulsive, and (3) systemic. Results revealed that the female victims were murdered mainly within the context of the drug business by a husband, boyfriend, or drug dealer. This systemic violence resulted form the normally aggressive patterns of interaction within the systems of drug use and distribution. The victims were classified as cocaine-crack addicts working in the drug business, relatives of cocaine-crack addicts, or robbery victims of cocaine-crack addicts. Findings indicated that drug-oriented relationships, not always outside the family, are increasingly important in understanding homicides involving female victims. Findings also revealed the importance of social circumstances surrounding the homicide, as well as the drug-relatedness of the event, for understanding the relationship between drugs and violence against women. 61 references (Author abstract modified)