Did Drug Courts Lead to Increased Arrest and Punishment of Minor Drug Offenses?

Drug courts were implemented nationwide during the 1990s to expand alternatives to incarceration for individuals with substance use disorders that were charged with nonviolent felonies or misdemeanors. Although these courts were publicized as a facilitator of treatment and alternative to incarceration, researchers and advocates have suggested that this approach may have unintentionally intensified law enforcement focus on casual drug users and individuals with minor substance dependency. The primary objective of this study was to determine whether there is evidence that drug courts systemically increased the arrest and punishment of misdemeanor drug use and possession by conducting a series of panel data analyses among more than 8,000 city and county jurisdictions while controlling for economic, demographic, and nationwide law enforcement trends. Analyses in this study provide evidence that local police increased their attention toward minor drug offenses in jurisdictions where drug courts were implemented across the nation.     

Does illegality breed violence? Drug trafficking and state-sponsored protection rackets

Illegality does not necessarily breed violence. The relationship between illicit markets and violence depends on institutions of protection. When state-sponsored protection rackets form, illicit markets can be peaceful. Conversely, the breakdown of state-sponsored protection rackets, which may result from well-meaning policy reforms intended to improve law enforcement, can lead to violence. The cases of drug trafficking in contemporary Mexico and Burma show how a focus on the emergence and breakdown of state-sponsored protection rackets helps explain variation in levels of violence both within and across illicit markets.

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How do GM/non GM coexistence regulations affect markets and welfare?

This paper presents a theoretical economic model assessing the effects of the level of mandatory genetically modified (GM) and non-GM coexistence regulations on market and welfare outcomes. We assume vertical differentiation of GM and non-GM goods on the consumer side. Producers of non-GM crops face a probability of having their harvest downgraded if gene flow from GM fields raises its content in genetically modified organisms (GMOs) above the labeling threshold. The government may impose on GMO producers mandatory ex ante isolation distances from non-GM fields in order to decrease the probability of non-GM harvest downgrading. It may also introduce an ex post compensation to non-GMO farmers for profit losses due to harvest downgrading, with a compensation fund financed by GMO producers and/or the state. Assuming endogenous crop choices and prices, we study the effects of ex ante regulation and ex post liability on four outcomes: market equilibrium, the achievement of coexistence, and both global and interest group welfare.     

Made to measure? An analysis of the transition from Disability Living Allowance to Personal Independence Payment

As part of the government’s programme of welfare reform Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is replacing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for people of working age. This will have a significant impact on a wide range of disability benefit claimants. This article examines the government’s rationale for replacing DLA with PIP, the key technical differences between the two benefits and the role that disability benefits can play in reducing poverty. The introduction of PIP has led to considerable debate in the social welfare law sector about the scope, purpose and assessment of social security benefits for the disabled. These issues are explored with reference to the first Gray Review of PIP (2014) and the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Inquiry (2016) into the impact of the UK Government’s policies on disabled people.     

An introduction to the special issue on ‘Organised crime and illegal markets in the UK and Ireland’

This paper provides an introduction to the articles and report excerpt submitted to the special issue of Trends in Organized Crime on ‘Organised crime and illegal markets in the UK and Ireland’. The aim of the special issue is to draw together empirical research findings and theoretical accounts on various manifestations of organised crime in the particular geographic context(s), the evolution of organised crime, the links between organised crime, the legal sphere and paramilitary groups, as well as an account of the demographic profile and attitudes of citizens in areas in which organised crime groups thrive.     

All in Favour? Attitudes of Stakeholders and Drug Users Towards Judicial Alternatives

Different judicial alternative sanctions and measures exist on the three levels of the criminal justice system. These alternative sanctions and measures can be applied to a specific target group, namely drug users. The current study is a qualitative assessment of the application and execution of alternative measures and sanctions for drug users, based on semi-structured face-to-face interviews in which stakeholders (magistrates, judicial assistants and social workers) and drug users were asked for their attitudes towards these sanctions and the factors that influence them in their convictions and beliefs. In conclusion we can state that the interviews have increased the insight in the attitudes of decision makers, social assistants, judicial assistants and drug users towards alternative sanctioning. From the interviews we learn that there are strong similarities between the three profiles, which provide for a strong basis for the continued functioning of alternative sanctioning.

Conditional Rights,Benefit Reform,and Drug Users: Reducing Dependency?

United Kingdom government policy to increase social security claimants' entry to the labour market through conditions attached to unemployed, sickness and incapacity benefits now includes additional measures to activate particular groups such as lone parents and drug users. The latter are a prime target because of their high level of dependency on benefits and because social security rules are seen as having the potential to modify the behaviour of individuals with a lifestyle regarded as being at odds with the moral obligations of citizenship and incompatible with the government's realization of its wider economic and social goals. There are strict procedures for the identification of drug‐user claimants, enabling additional conditions to be attached to their benefit rights. This article discusses the general trend in benefit reform towards increased conditionality and evaluates the reforms affecting drug users, considering human rights and other implications. It concludes by reflecting on the status of conditional rights to social security as social rights.     

Sustained Outcomes? an Exploratory Study of Juvenile Drug Courts and Long-Term Recidivism

This exploratory study examined juvenile drug courts’ effect on adulthood recidivism. Utilizing a twelve-year average follow up time, adult recidivism rates were compared between previous juvenile drug court participants and a comparison group of juveniles who participated in traditional probation. Linear regression models indicated limited recidivism effects of drug court on arrests or convictions into adulthood. The findings suggest that gender and race may play a role in how justice-involved juveniles interact and experience juvenile drug court, highlighting the need for gender-responsive and culturally responsive policies, practices, and programs within juvenile drug courts. Recommendations are made regarding future research areas and ways to potentially improve long-term juvenile drug court outcomes.     

Agents’ response to inefficient judiciary: social norms and the law in transition

The paper questions the impact of rule-based governance in an environment with poor legal enforcement and general mistrust in the law-setting institutions. We conduct a quasi-experiment and a survey to prove that ??law on books?? can still play a role by triggering the social norm of ??obeying the law??. We furthermore expose and empirically confirm the role of the Corporate Governance Code as a signaling tool, and discuss why in a weak institutional environment the Code??s potential may be even stronger than in the developed market economies.     

Outcome Trajectories in Drug Court: Do All Participants Have Drug Problems?

Graduation rates in drug courts average 50% to 70%, but it is unclear what proportion of graduates responded to the drug court services and what proportion might not have had serious drug problems upon entry. This study cluster-analyzed urine drug screen results during the first 14 weeks of treatment on 284 participants from three misdemeanor drug courts. A four-cluster solution (R(2) > .75) produced distinct subgroups characterized by (1) consistently drug-negative urine specimens (34% of the sample), (2) consistently drug-positive specimens (21%), (3) consistently missed urine specimens (26%), and (4) urine specimens that began as drug-positive but became progressively drug-negative over time (19%). These data suggest that approximately one-third of the participants might not have had serious drug problems upon entry. Approximately one-fifth appeared to respond to drug court services, and nearly one-half continued to exhibit problems after 14 weeks. Implications for adaptive programming in drug courts are discussed.     

Asterix and Obelix in Drugland: an introduction to the special issue on ‘drug markets’

This paper provides an introduction to the articles bringing forward empirical research findings and theoretical accounts on drug markets, raising questions about the nature of the relationship between the organization of drug markets and the official frameworks surrounding them, and, importantly, about the complexity of this relationship.     

Parents and progeny: Inheritance and the transition to adulthood in colonial North Carolina, 1680–1759

There is now an abundance of research on the relative ages of transition to adulthood in colonial America, but, unfortunately, we are still not in a position to offer many generalizations from these myriad historical case studies. There are two reasons for this inconsistency. Some historians have been content to use parental mortality as a proxy for property transfer and we have been reluctant to consider marriage and child-bearing as events that involve, at a minimum, pairs of men and women. Instead, some historians have been content to examine these life course transitions as individual affairs. The article demonstrates the importance of these two points. Direct linkage of intergenerational property transfer has been found to be a powerful predictor of the transition to adulthood and the individual perspective has been found to be an insufficient level of analysis for understanding the social forces underlying the distribution of wealth and, consequently, the transition to adulthood.     

Eu search for regulatory answers to crypto assets and their place in the financial markets’ infrastructure

Crypto assets are no longer a niche topic for geeks but an important trend in financial markets and an uprising asset class. This is due to technological advancements, spike in token issuances, and Facebook's Libra project, now called Diem, among other things. Many potential benefits of crypto assets for the financial sector are widely recognized, including cost savings, improved efficiency and transparency. The rapid growth of the crypto assets ecosystem has intensified the focus of regulators. They are challenged to provide an adequate response, protect investors and customers, and mitigate risks while fostering technological development. Currently, at the EU-wide level, there is a regulatory gap, which contributes to legal uncertainty and weak investor protection. Several European jurisdictions have been proactive and successfully designed their own national regulatory solutions to crypto assets. Many European and international supervisory and regulatory bodies contributed to the debate and issued reports, analysis and statements highlighting risks and making regulatory recommendations. The European Commission took the first steps to assume its competence over all crypto assets within the EU and, after a comprehensive review of the entire crypto assets ecosystem, issued a proposal for a regulation on markets in crypto assets. This paper evaluates the EU's current regulatory approach to crypto assets against the background of the views and reports of several advisory and supervisory bodies and international organizations and against market developments.     

Does Clausewitz Apply to Criminal-States and Gangs?

Criminal-States and Criminal-Soldiers present unique problems for contemporary international political theory. This essay examines the applicability of the theory of war developed by Carl von Clausewitz to Criminal-States and Criminal-Soldiers. As modified by Aristotle's idea of justice as the basis for the political community, this essay proposes that Clausewitz's famous connection between politics and war holds where such states and soldiers evince political behavior. Some contrasting implications for states and state leaders are examined when such entities evince — and do not evince — political behavior.     

Does Mandatory Diversion to Drug Treatment Eliminate Racial Disparities in the Incarceration of Drug Offenders? An Examination of California’s Proposition 36

Objective

This paper addresses previous shortcomings in the literature on racial disparities in incarceration for drug offenders by taking advantage of a change in sentencing policy in California and a rich administrative dataset that is able to create a sample of comparable White and Black offenders.

Method

We use a nonparametric propensity weighting approach to identify similarly situated White and Black male offenders charged with drug-related offenses. We combine this approach with a difference-in-differences model to estimate the effect that a change in California sentencing law for convicted non-violent drug offenders had on racial disparities in prison and drug treatment dispositions.

Results

We find substantial reductions in the probability of a prison sentence after the policy change, but not differentially for Blacks. Blacks remain more likely to go to prison than similarly situated Whites after the policy, although the policy does lead to more referrals to treatment for Blacks.

Conclusions

This paper shows that even after comparing Blacks and Whites in similarly situated contexts that racial disparities in prison commitments remain after sentencing law changes that mandate diversion to drug treatment. The results suggests that addressing racial gaps in the commitments to state prisons will likely require more than shifting the eligibility of drug convictions for prison, as accumulated criminal histories are the primary driver of prison sentences. This means that expanding diversion options from prison alone will not reduce the racial gap in commitments to prison for drug offenses more than incrementally.