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| Drugs
and Crime Facts Public
opinion about drugsAs reported in the 2000
BJS Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, the percentage
of Gallup Poll respondents describing drug abuse as the single most important
problem facing our country peaked in 1989:
| Date
of poll | | Drug
abuse most serious problem |
|---|
|
| September
1988 | | 11 | % |
| May
1989 | | 27 | |
| November
1989 | | 38 | |
| July
1990 | | 18 | |
| March
1991 | | 11 | |
| March
1992 | | 8 | |
| January
1993 | | 6 | |
| January
1994 | | 9 | |
| January
1995 | | 6 | |
| May
1996 | | 10 | |
| January
1997 | | 17 | |
| April 1998
| | 12 | |
| September 1998 | | 9 | |
| May
1999 | | 5 | |
| March
2000 | | 5 | |
| January
2001 | | 7 | |
Among Gallup Poll respondents, the use of drugs was most often mentioned
as one of the biggest problems for schools in their communities. Giving
that response in 2000
were -- - 9% of public school
parents
- 10% of those with
no children in school
- 9%
of all surveyed.
When asked about spending
for various social problems, 59% of the respondents to a 2000 National Opinion
Research Center (NORC) Poll said this country is spending too little to
deal with drug addiction. In 1996 a Gallup Poll prepared for the Office
of National Drug Control Policy respondents were asked how best the government
should allocate its resources in its fight against drugs -- - 31% said "stopping
drugs from coming into the United States"
- 28% said "having
more programs to educate both youth and adults about the dangers of
drugs"
- 22% said "more
efforts by police action and criminal prosecutor to stop the drug dealers"
- 9% said "putting
more drug treatment programs in communities and neighborhoods"
- 6% said "more
efforts by police action and criminal prosecutor to stop the people
who buy drugs"
- 2% said "building
more jails and prisons for drug offenders."
NORC has asked adults
(age 18 or older) about legalization of marijuana since 1973. In 2000, 32%
believed that marijuana should be made legal, which compared to the peak
of 30% in 1978. College freshmen have been surveyed by NORC since 1968.
In 2000, 34.2% of those surveyed agreed strongly or somewhat that marijuana
should be legalized, down from a peak of 52.9% in 1977 and up from a low
of 16.7% in 1989. Of 2000 high school seniors -- - 31.2% felt using
marijuana should be legal, compared to the peak of 32.9% feeling that
way in 1978 and a low of 14.9% in 1986
- 60.9% reported
worrying often or sometimes about drug abuse, up from 65.5% in 1978
and down from 82.6% in 1990.
Source:
The Gallup Report, National Opinion Research Center, and the
BJS Sourcebook of Criminal
Justice Statistics, 2000.
Neighborhood crime
In May 1999 the Office
of Community Policing Services and the Bureau of Justice Statistics published
a joint report on criminal victimization and citizen perception of 12
cities across the United States: Chicago, IL; Kansas City, MO; Knoxville,
TN; Los Angeles, CA; Madison, WI; New York, NY; San Diego, CA; Savannah,
GA; Spokane, WA; Springfield, MA; Tucson, AZ; and Washington, DC. Residents
of these 12 cities were asked various questions about community attitudes,
citizen actions to prevent neighborhood crime and attitudes toward the
police and community policing. - Residents who
said they were aware of serious crimes in their neighborhood were asked
to identify the types of serious crimes that had occurred in their neighborhood
over the past 12 months. Of all residents who identified serious crimes,
people openly selling drugs (16%) and people openly using drugs (14%)
were among the types of crimes that had occurred in their neighborhood.
- Residents were
also asked about various activities which may have been present in their
neighborhood. They frequently said that illegal public drinking and/or
drug use (29%) and public drug sales (24%) were among the activities
that existed in their neighborhood.
- Residents who
identified a neighborhood condition or activity were asked if any of
these condition or activities made them feel less safe in their neighborhood
and, if so, which one impacted their feeling of safety the most. Between
17% and 36% of all the residents in each city said the conditions or
activities made them feel less safe. Across the cities, public drinking/drug
use (15%) and drug sales (17%) were among the conditions that affected
residents' sense of safety.
Source: BJS/COPS, Criminal
Victimization and Perceptions of Community Safety in 12 Cities, 1998,
NCJ 173940, May 1999.
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