U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Relationship Between Illicit Drug Enforcement Policy and Property Crimes

NCJ Number
154322
Journal
Contemporary Policy Issues Volume: 9 Dated: (October 1991) Pages: 106-115
Author(s)
B L Benson; D W Rasmussen
Date Published
1991
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This article examines how increased police resource allocation for drug law enforcement has impacted property crimes in Florida.
Abstract
Some justify giving priority to controlling illicit drug markets by contending that drug users attempt to finance their drug habits through income from property crime. In Florida, however, the increased effort to control drug markets has been accompanied by increasing property crime. This pattern may be due to the scarcity of law enforcement resources, such that resources devoted to drug law enforcement have been taken from the investigation and prosecution of property crimes. This may have reduced deterrence for property crime; consequently, such crime has increased. Unobstructed property crimes may mean that drug users who engage in such crime have more money to spend on drugs, thus increasing the demand for drugs. The increased demand for drugs pushes drug prices higher, thus motivating drug dealers to take more risks. The targeting of property crime rather than drug crimes may be a more effective policy, since it could reduce the amount of money available for drug users to buy drugs and thus reduce the demand for drugs. 1 table and 31 references