Copping crack: The travel behavior of crack users

Abstract

Considerable attention has been directed to the incidence and distribution of crack in urban areas. In response to public concern about the presence of crack in residential neighborhoods, law enforcement agencies have implemented various law enforcement strategies aimed at reducing or eradicating drugs from urban environments. These strategies, however, have failed to consider crack users' mobility patterns. Because any effort to reduce crack consumption and distribution should consider these patterns, this research assesses the journey to purchase crack and suggests some areas of future research. Initially the research determines how far crack users travel to purchase drugs and considers whether crack users who travel less than .5 mile on average differ significantly from those who travel more than .5 mile. This study examines whether this difference is due to individuals' socioeconomic factors to characteristics associated with the drug-buying event. Discriminant analysis shows that crack users travel varying distances to purchase the drug. In explaining these differences, gender is an important lifestyle indicator, and the tendency to “cop” in the user's residential neighborhood is a major event characteristic. Characteristics associated with the crack-buying event are generally more important than individual characteristics in explaining the distances traveled.

A version of this paper was presented at the annual meetings of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, held in Chicago in March 1994. The National Institute on Drug Abuse of the Department of Human Services funded this research under Grant R01 DA05672. This article reflects the efforts of many individuals associated with the project: Sergey Dolinsky, Althea Heggs, Karen D'Arcy, Kevin McCann, Thurston Collier, Alexander Grigoryan, Alice DiFazio, Camille English, Venisha L. Bahr, Christina Jackson, Tracey Dixon, Joel Johnson, Susan Jones, Kimberly Bell, Theodora Morrison, Nancy Black, Vincent Brown, Linda Granger, Bernard Bryant, Patricia Tressell, Tor Jonassen, and countless undergraduate student workers. The author expresses his gratitude to George Rengert and Coramae Richey Mann for their valuable comments on earlier drafts of the article. Points of view are those of the author and do not represent the opinions of the Department of Human Services.

A version of this paper was presented at the annual meetings of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, held in Chicago in March 1994. The National Institute on Drug Abuse of the Department of Human Services funded this research under Grant R01 DA05672. This article reflects the efforts of many individuals associated with the project: Sergey Dolinsky, Althea Heggs, Karen D'Arcy, Kevin McCann, Thurston Collier, Alexander Grigoryan, Alice DiFazio, Camille English, Venisha L. Bahr, Christina Jackson, Tracey Dixon, Joel Johnson, Susan Jones, Kimberly Bell, Theodora Morrison, Nancy Black, Vincent Brown, Linda Granger, Bernard Bryant, Patricia Tressell, Tor Jonassen, and countless undergraduate student workers. The author expresses his gratitude to George Rengert and Coramae Richey Mann for their valuable comments on earlier drafts of the article. Points of view are those of the author and do not represent the opinions of the Department of Human Services.

Notes

A version of this paper was presented at the annual meetings of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, held in Chicago in March 1994. The National Institute on Drug Abuse of the Department of Human Services funded this research under Grant R01 DA05672. This article reflects the efforts of many individuals associated with the project: Sergey Dolinsky, Althea Heggs, Karen D'Arcy, Kevin McCann, Thurston Collier, Alexander Grigoryan, Alice DiFazio, Camille English, Venisha L. Bahr, Christina Jackson, Tracey Dixon, Joel Johnson, Susan Jones, Kimberly Bell, Theodora Morrison, Nancy Black, Vincent Brown, Linda Granger, Bernard Bryant, Patricia Tressell, Tor Jonassen, and countless undergraduate student workers. The author expresses his gratitude to George Rengert and Coramae Richey Mann for their valuable comments on earlier drafts of the article. Points of view are those of the author and do not represent the opinions of the Department of Human Services.