Methamphetamine: Quick Facts--Trends in Measures of Methamphetamine Activities in Illinois' Eighth Judicial Circuit

• NCJ Number: 215741
• Author(s): Robert W. Bauer; Christopher Humble; Idetta Phillips
• Date Published: February 2006
• Length: 48 pages
• Corporate Author: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
• Sale Source: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
• Publication Format: Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Downloaded on September 27, 2006.

Annotation

This report examines the emergence of methamphetamine in Illinois’ Eighth Judicial Circuit and statewide through an examination of various law enforcement and drug treatment indicators, and pays particular attention to how methamphetamine’s production and use has progressed across the State’s diverse geographic regions.

Abstract

Report highlights include: (1) between 1994 and 2004, arrests for total drug-law violations increased from 162 to 944, while total drug arrests increased 57 percent statewide; (2) 5 of the 8 counties within the Eighth Judicial Circuit are covered by multijurisdictional drug task forces; (3) the quantity of methamphetamine seized by police in counties within the circuit increased from 151 grams in 1994 to 945 grams in 2004; (4) methamphetamine submissions from counties with the circuit accounted for a decreased proportion of statewide methamphetamine submissions, decreasing from 13 percent in 1998 to 7 percent in 2004; (5) between State fiscal years 1996 and 2004, the number of new court commitments for methamphetamine offenses from counties within the circuit increased from 0 to 16 commitments; and (6) admissions to treatment for methamphetamine abuse from counties within the circuit accounted for a slightly increased proportion of statewide methamphetamine treatment admission, increasing from 6 percent in 1994 to 7 percent in 2004. Illinois’s Eighth Judicial Circuit includes Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Mason, Menard, Pike, and Schuyler counties in west central Illinois. As of 2004, there were 28 law enforcement agencies in the 8 counties. This report was developed to provide an overview of the extent and nature of methamphetamine use and abuse in Illinois’ Eighth Judicial Circuit. The analyses compares methamphetamine trends in this circuit to drug trends in Illinois and examines how selected measures used in the analyses could be more effectively identifies, gauged, monitored, and evaluated. Tables, figures, and maps