NCJ Number
206892
Journal
Criminology & Public Policy Volume: 3 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2004 Pages: 401-434
Date Published
July 2004
Length
34 pages
Annotation
This study examined drug offenders who are incarcerated in Federal and State prisons.
Abstract
The survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 1997 is a nationally representative survey of Federal and State inmates conducted regularly by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). It collects self-reported data on a wide variety of offender characteristics, including current offense and sentencing information, criminal history, socioeconomic status, incident characteristics, alcohol and drug use and treatment, health status, and conditions of confinement. The 1997 survey is the most current available in a series that has been filed every 5 to 6 years since 1974. Between June and October 1997, 4,041 Federal and 14,285 State inmates were interviewed using the computer assisted personal interviewing methods. The focus group was on 4,787 offenders with a controlling drug offense plus 205 additional inmates whose conduct was primarily drug-related, money laundering, conspiracy, participation in criminal enterprise, or weapons possession. The subsample was made up of 4,992 drug offenders, which included 205 recoded cases. The study found that only about 1.6 percent of Federal and 5.7 percent of State inmates could be described as “unambiguously low-level.” And not many were kingpins. Three types of findings are reported. First, the number of incarcerated drug offenders by individual aspects of dangerousness, culpability, and harm. Secondly, these factors are combined to generate a series of estimates using various definitions of the number of “low-level” drug offenders since 1997. Lastly, the findings examined how sanctioning severity levels varied across the country. There are ample opportunities for further research. Data used in this survey were from 1997. The Inmate Survey being fielded in 2003 will offer more recent data when it becomes available. Comparing the findings over the years may reveal interesting changes. In addition, drug-specific replications of this study may be more informative. Tables, figures, references, and appendix