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.
Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and Drug Abuse Council, Inc. New York Drug Law Evaluation Project, 1973. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1992-02-16. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07656.v1
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United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. National Institute of Justice (76-NI-99-0115)