NCJ Number
166127
Date Published
1997
Length
211 pages
Annotation
This report estimates the cost-effectiveness of mandatory minimum sentences for crimes related to cocaine distribution; the estimates are made relative to the cost-effectiveness of spending additional resources on drug law enforcement without mandatory minimum sentences and on drug treatment.
Abstract
The first part of the report covers drug control and criminal justice policy issues, while the second part of the report applies mathematical modeling techniques to the cost- effectiveness analysis of mandatory minimum sentences for cocaine-related crimes. The central effectiveness measure is reduction of cocaine consumption, although consideration is paid to reducing cocaine-related crimes and decreasing cocaine spending. The cost-effectiveness of additional expenditures on drug law enforcement is estimated in relation to the average drug offender apprehended in the United States. Flows of drug users are tracked among light, heavy, and no use categories, and the response of the cocaine market to price is analyzed. The authors conclude mandatory minimum sentences may not reduce cocaine consumption since they do not focus on high-level drug dealers and drug demand. If reducing consumption is the goal, more can be achieved by spending more money on arresting, prosecuting, and sentencing drug dealers to standard prison terms than by spending money on sentencing drug dealers to longer, mandatory prison terms. Additional information on Federal mandatory minimum sentencing laws for drug offenses and the cost-effectiveness analysis of drug markets and crime is appended. 90 references, 50 tables, and 25 figures