New York Drug Law Evaluation Project, 1973

This data collection contains the results of a study
 created in response to New York State's 1973 revision of its criminal
 laws relating to drug use. The Association of the Bar of the City of
 New York and the Drug Abuse Council jointly organized a joint
 committee and a research project to collect data, in a systematic
 fashion, (1) to ascertain the repercussions of the drug law revision,
 (2) to analyze, to the degree possible, why the law was revised, and
 (3) to identify any general principles or specific lessons that could
 be derived from the New York experience that could be helpful to other
 states as they dealt with the problem of illegal drug use and related
 crime. This data collection contains five files from the study. Part 1
 contains information gathered in a survey investigating the effects of
 the 1973 predicate felony provisions on crime committed by repeat
 offenders. Data include sex, age at first arrest, county and year of
 sampled felony conviction, subsequent arrests up to December 1976,
 time between arrests, time incarcerated between arrests, and number
 and type of short-span arrests and incarcerations. Part 2 contains
 data gathered in a survey meant to estimate the number and proportion
 of felony crimes attributable to narcotics users in Manhattan. Case
 records for male defendants, aged 16 and older, who were arraigned on
 at least one felony charge in Manhattan's Criminal Court, in 1972 and
 1975, were sampled. Data include original and reduced charges and
 penal code numbers, and indicators of first, second, third, and fourth
 drug status. Part 3 contains data gathered in a survey designed to
 estimate the number and proportion of felony crimes attributable to
 narcotics users in Manhattan. Case records for male defendants, aged
 16 and older, who were arraigned on at least one felony charge in
 Manhattan's Criminal Court or Manhattan's Supreme Court, were sampled
 from 1971 through 1975. Eighty percent of the sample was drawn from
 the Criminal Court while the remaining 20 percent was taken from the
 Supreme Court. Data include date of arraignment, age, number of
 charges, penal code numbers for first six charges, bail information
 (e.g., if it was set, amount, and date bail made), disposition and
 sentence, indications of first through fourth drug status, first
 through third drug of abuse, and treatment status of defendant. Part 4
 contains data gathered in a survey that determined the extent of
 knowledge of the 1973 drug law among ex-drug users in drug treatment
 programs, and to discover any changes in their behavior in response to
 the new law. Interviews were administered to non-randomly selected
 volunteers from three modalities: residential drug-free, ambulatory
 methadone maintenance, and the detoxification unit of the New York
 City House of Detention for Men. Data include sources of knowledge of
 drug laws (e.g., from media, subway posters, police, friends, dealers,
 and treatment programs), average length of sentence for various drug
 convictions, maximum sentence for such crimes, the pre-1974 sentence
 for such crimes, type of plea bargaining done, and respondent's
 opinion of the effects of the new law on police activity, the street,
 conviction rates, and drug use. Part 5 contains data from a survey
 that estimated the number and proportion of felony crimes attributable
 to narcotics users in Manhattan. Detained males aged 16 and older in
 Manhattan pre-trial detention centers who faced at least one current
 felony charge were sampled. Data include date of admission and
 discharge, drug status and charges, penal code numbers for first
 through sixth charge, bail information, and drug status and
treatment.

Tags: convictions-law, courts, crime, crime-control, crime-prevention, criminal-justice-system, drug-law-enforcement, drug-law-offenses, drug-laws, drug-related-crimes, drug-use, evaluation, legisla, legislation, new-york-city, new-york-state, united-states
Organization: Department of Justice