Impact of Drug Enforcement on Crime: An Investigation of the Opportunity Cost of Police Resources
Because the relationship between drug enforcement and crimes against persons and property has been controversial, this paper revisits the empirical relationship between drug enforcement and Index I crimes (against persons), only it is now for a time period when aggregate drug enforcement measures and Index I arrest rates appeared, on the surface, to deny the trade-off. Cross-section data for Florida's 67 counties were obtained for 1994 through 1997, chosen in part because Florida had restructured its sentencing guidelines in 1993 to 1994. By controlling for other causal factors, this analysis provides additional empirical evidence about the potential trade-off between drug enforcement and Index I crime. Three tables provide definitions of the variables in the model, summary statistics for each year's data in levels, and summary statistics for the differenced data. This paper provides additional support and evidence that the opportunity cost of higher drug enforcement is increased Index I crime by considering a very different time period for Florida. It reiterates the idea due to consistent evidence that drug enforcement may promote crime by redirecting police resources away from Index I crime; this evidence is even more pertinent for efforts to curb drug use in light of some prevailing suspicions to the contrary. Tables, notes, and references
Article, 2001
Journal of Drug Issues, 31, (Fall 2001), 989
2001