There has always been a close association between drugs and crime. Drugs have been seen as a way out of suffering in one’s life and so as long as there is suffering there will always be a market for drugs. The struggle to keep one’s self sane when away from a substance they need can cause them to do crazy and even violent things to others. Things like murdering someone because they did not have proper control of themselves is not something unheard of by any means. These people can been seen as both victims and criminals, as they were not in a sound state of mind when doing these actions, however them doing the actions does not mean they should get off scot-free. The users are only one side of the coin, the other is the drug dealers. The dealers do not have to be selling purely illegal drugs, they may be selling prescription drugs too, but in the pursuit of their own survival in a struggling life, they turn to selling substances to others. By doing so they can even amass a fortune, but this is still a crime, and what people will do to try to get all this potential money can span from robbing to murder. The articles I read from different media support the fact there is indeed a tie with crime and drugs, being that an increase of drugs on the street leads to more crime.
The Huffington Post had an interesting article that discussed the racial component to crimes and drugs. Stating that blacks were sentenced much more frequently for drug related crimes than whites, though
There are too many people in prison in our country and any people in prison today are non-violent drug offenders. The American war on drugs has targeted people in poverty and minorities, who are more likely to be involved in drug use. This has created a pattern of crime and incarceration and “...[a] connection between increased prison rates and lower crime is tenuous and small.” (Wyler). The prison system in our country today focuses on punishment for the inmates rather than rehabilitation for life after their release.
Thomas Riggs reported inside of the Gale Encyclopedia, “Racial profiling by U.S. law enforcement agencies has resulted in higher arrest rates among African Americans.” African Americans racially are founded to be the majority in prisons. The problem becomes why are minorities left to serve time behind bars more often. An answer to this question would be non violent drug crimes are the major influence of this epidemic. From decades ago during the 80s, a new drug evolved into a popular wave that caused thousands in poverty stricken neighborhoods affected but its repercussions. The drug dealers in these neighborhoods sold the drug, crack, but soon after were arrested and sentenced to jails for unimaginable years for one incident of a crime. There are reports of African Americans being more likely to be sent to jail on the account of drugs than Caucasians. You find out that white people produce and sell the same drugs as the minority but results from facing the judicial system one race of people will have leanen consequences than the other. Systems from centuries ago are continually being implemented whether from being written or simply just because of history repeating itself with its social
Also, many scientific studies support the connection between drug use and crime. One study investigated state prisoners who had five or more convictions. It was found that four out of every five of them used drugs on a regular basis. With that being said legalizing drugs would definitely increase crime and social problems.
The chapter directs this blame towards cartels and syndicates. My perspective was that gangs were the predominant users and thus would want to ensure that they were also the sellers. It goes on to state that even the once believed violence is often from other conflicts not directly associated with drugs (29). Tita and his colleagues document that most homicides with the involvement of drugs is in regards to quantity/quality issues (30). Again, I would have considered that due to drug withdrawals gang members would become quickly agitated and resort to violence more often in relation to the transactions involved to support
CRIMINOLOGYDoes drug use cause crime, does crime cause drug use or is the relationship entirely co-incidental?INTRODUCTIONIn this paper I will look at the amount and type of crime caused by drugs, the relationship between drugs and crime and the relationship between alcohol and crime.
In most states, African Americans see a much higher incarceration rate than other races. In all five states that I found Blacks and Hispanics see more incarceration than Whites do. On top of that, African Americans see 4 to 5 times more incarceration than Whites (Nellis 2014). A big problem is that a higher percentage of blacks are arrested than whites when they commit the same crime. There are many factors as to why blacks are incarcerated more than others. One of these factor is hard drug laws. Blacks are 4 times as likely to be arrested for drug offenses and 2.5 times more likely to be arrested for drug possession (Nellis 2014). The problem arises when one realizes that blacks and whites use drugs at the same rate. Research found that race
A common belief is that drugs cause crime; and in the criminal justice system there are terms used for crime that is related to or due to the use of drugs. First there are “drug defined offences”, in which is the possession, use, sale, or manufacturing of illegal drugs. Second, is “drug related offences”, which occur when drugs are either the motive or the incentive. This occurs when a person is either under the influence of a drug and commits a crime; commits a crime in order to get money for drugs; or commits a crime due to the distribution of drugs. The final term is “drug-using lifestyle” in which individuals do not have a legitimate economic income and are involved in the illegal manufacturing and distribution of drugs (Pacitti, Balleine, & Killcross, 2013).
. Refined Position: The overwhelming demand for certain drugs and the liberations policies has made full across the country. However, the decriminalization of drugs has become a global advocacy not only for personal use but for the thousands of medical users. Furthermore, the decriminalization of drugs can reduce or totally eliminate the illegal sale of drugs, criminal penalties, minor crimes, costly courts cases and help ease the fear of personal possession.
A lot of people link drug abuse with crime, at times even with violent crime. This association comes from psychopharmacological association that imply that people may engage in criminal acts after taking some kind of substance known to undermine their judgment as well as self-control result in paranoid thoughts and distortion of inhibitions (Sewell, Poling and Sofuoglu, 189). Though all substances that affect the central nervous system might result in this kind of relationships, scientific information indicates that some type of drugs have a more strong effect than others. Such drugs are alcohol, cocaine, phencyclidine and amphetamines (McCauley, Ruggiero, Resnick and Kilpatrick, 136). Inversely, cannabis and heroin are less associated with desire to commit
There are many people that are conflicted in this country on how to properly deal with the issue of drugs and how they should be handled. There are some people that firmly believe that legalizing all drugs will solve a lot of our country’s problems. The advocates for legalizing drugs believe that this would benefit everyone by making our streets and homes much safer due to the fact that drug addicts will do anything for their next “fix”. Drug prices increase with the restriction of drugs by law enforcement and the addicts are desperate for money and will commit a string of muggings, burglary of homes and cars or even murder to finance their habits. The higher the price of their drug the more they will need to steal to buy their supply.
Crime is becoming rampant due to drug usage. Drug usage is becoming rampant due to those wanting to escape from responsibility. Escape from responsibility is becoming rampant because of the tyranny of the law and legal system in our country. The legal system and the laws and lawyers are becoming more active and domineering because of crime. It is a self-feeding system and as all self-feeding systems it needs to have a brake put on it at some point.
The reason for many killings and drive-bys. Since they set the prices of drugs (they are the few who are willing to risk selling them), they are often too high for some to pay. People who are addicted to drugs can’t always afford them. To support their habits, they resort to theft (and sometimes, murder in the process) to get money to pay for them. In addition, drugs usually come in from foreign countries. The money made by the cartels that supply the drugs is sometimes enough to control the economy and government of these countries.
Drug abuse and predatory criminality go hand in hand in a few, select social groups, while in others, drug abuse most often occurs without criminal behavior (other than the fact they’re doing drugs.) Despite what most might think, drug abuse typically follows predatory criminality. As drug abusers keep trying harder drugs due to necessity, the intensity of their criminal behavior escalates dramatically. When using more than one type of drug at one time, studies show that the frequency of criminal activity increases. But, when these drug offenders decrease the amount of drugs they put in their system, their rate of criminal activity also decreases, which shows that drugs can cause a person to commit crime. This shows that drug usage can cause crime and stopping drug usage can slow or even halt criminal activity.
Would it be morale to legalize drugs, and would it be right to do. The questions that I am going to look at from the point of view of the ethical principles of Mills , Kant , and Rawls, are is it moral for what are presently considered illicit drugs to become legally produced in the US. The next question will be is it moral for individuals to consume what are presently considered illicit drugs. I will also be stating my best arguments for my views on this subject and wither a criminal organization should be held responsible for supporting these problems.
Crime and drugs are a modern dilemma of today 's society. These both are related to each other in so many ways. Most of the people believe that crime has increased because of the use of illegal drugs and because of that, illegal drugs should never be legalized. This study will be focusing on what different types of crime are, and how can those be controlled . Also, how the legalization of drugs should be helpful in reducing the crime rate, and what would be the other benefits of it .