DOI: 10.3886/icpsr09398.v1
title: Gang Involvement in "Rock" Cocaine Trafficking in Los Angeles, 1984-1985
title: Version 1

description: The purpose of this data collection was to investigate the
possible increase in gang involvement within cocaine and "rock"
cocaine trafficking. Investigators also examined the relationships
among gangs, cocaine trafficking, and increasing levels of violence.
They attempted to determine the effects of increased gang involvement
in cocaine distribution in terms of the location of an incident, the
demographic profiles of suspects, and the level of firearm use. They
also looked at issues such as whether the connection between gangs and
cocaine trafficking yielded more drug-related violence, how the
connection between gangs and cocaine trafficking affected police
investigative processes such as intra-organizational communication and
the use of special enforcement technologies, what kinds of working
relationships were established between narcotics units and gang
control units, and what the characteristics were of the rock
trafficking and rock house technologies of the dealers. Part 1 (Sales
Arrest Incident Data File) contains data for the cocaine sales arrest
incidents. Part 2 (Single Incident Participant Data File) contains
data for participants of the cocaine sales arrest incidents. Part 3
(Single Incident Participant Prior Arrest Data File) contains data for
the prior arrests of the participants in the cocaine arrest
incidents. Part 4 (Multiple Event Incident Data File) contains data
for multiple event incidents. Part 5 (Multiple Event Arrest Incident
Data File) contains data for arrest events in the multiple event
incidents. Part 6 (Multiple Event Incident Participant Data File)
contains data for the participants of the arrest events. Part 7
(Multiple Event Incident Prior Arrest Data File) contains data for the
prior arrest history of the multiple event participants. Part 8
(Homicide Incident Data File) contains data for homicide
incidents. Part 9 (Homicide Incident Suspect/Victim Data File)
contains data for the suspects and victims of the homicide
incidents. Major variables characterizing the various units of
observation include evidence of gang involvement, presence of drugs,
presence of a rock house, presence of firearms or other weapons,
presence of violence, amount of cash taken as evidence, prior arrests,
and law enforcement techniques.
description: All arrests of gang members for homicide and for sale of
 cocaine or possession for sale were included in the sample. An equal
 number of nongang cases was selected randomly in proportion to each
 station's contribution to the total number of nongang arrests for each
year. Nongang cocaine cases were oversampled.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Cocaine Sales: Arrest Incident
DS2: Individual Participants: Arrest Incident
DS3: Prior Arrest History
DS4: Multiple Event Incident
DS5: Single Event, Part of Multiple-Event Incident
DS6: Individual Participants
DS7: Prior Arrest History of Event Participants
DS8: Homicide Incident
DS9: Suspects or Victims of Homicide Incident
description: Cases were selected from arrest logs in the five police
stations in two jurisdictions of Los Angeles County. The two
jurisdictions were not selected to be representative of any geographic
area. Instead, the investigators sought to capture the phenomena of
interest at their highest points of concentration.
description: The codebook is provided as a Portable Document Format
(PDF) file. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems
Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader software, such as
the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the
Acrobat Reader is provided on the ICPSR Web site.