Soc. 2180: Study Guide - Test 4

Chapter 12 - Drugs and crime: What's the connection? & Lecture notes "Drugs and crime"

1. What kind of connection does Goode suggest best summarizes the relationship between drug use and criminality? Of concern here is an awareness of the various factors that must be taken into consideration in order to uncover the real meaning of this relationship.

2. Be knowledgeable about the differences between a correlation and causal relationship. Be aware of the concepts and issues that need to be clarified before the relationship between drugs and crime can be discussed.

3. Be aware of the methodological problems and limitations involved when studying the relationship between drug use and criminality.

4. Be aware of how Goode summarizes the literature on criminal behavior and how these generalizations are keys to understanding the drug-crime connection.

5. Know which drugs are the most likely to be implicated in violent crimes and which are the least likely. Know whether or not these statistical implications coincide with the general impression. In addition, know which type of user is most likely to commit a violent crime. Do a similar analysis concerning nonviolent crime.

6. Be aware of the three theoretical models regarding the connection between drugs and crime

7. Be familiar with the three theoretical models regarding the connection between drugs and violence

Chapter 13 – The Illicit Drug Industry & Lecture notes “Illicit and Licit Drug Industries”

1. What are three common myths about illicit drug trafficking?  What is the reality of the size, cost, and structure of the illicit drug industry?

2. What are the three models of drug trafficking?  What drugs pertain to each model?

3. Where do illicit drugs in America come from?  How do drugs get to/in America?

4. What are the social factors that facilitate the illicit drug industry?  How do these factors contribute to the illicit drug industry?

5. What are four views of illicit drug transactions between the seller and the user?

Chapter 14 - Drug control: Law enforcement, drug courts, drug treatment & Lecture notes "Education and intervention" & "Drugs, law, and the future"

1. Be aware of the statistics regarding drug use, drug crime, drug arrests, and incarcerations.

2. Be familiar with prohibition, the strict punitive argument, and the moderate punitive argument. Is prohibition effective? How? How not?

3. Be familiar with the ideology of the drug war.

4. What are the drug schedules in the Controlled Substances Act? How are drugs regulated by schedules?

5. Understand the Asset Forfeiture Fund.

6. Understand reactive and proactive policing.

7. Be familiar with drug courts. Are they effective?

8. What are the four major types of drug treatment programs (five if you count detoxification)?

9. What are the trends and patterns of use and the characteristics of users that relate to an understanding of treatment programs? (poly-drug use, alcohol use, split rate, SES and gender).

10. What are the differences between the different programs: self vs. mandated referrals, age of the users treated, racial make-up.

11. What are the basic criteria which need to be analyzed in determining a programs effectiveness?

12. What is methadone maintenance? What are the basic assumptions on which this approach is founded. What percentage of the treatment population participate? Why? How do these programs operate? What are the charges that have been leveled at these programs, i.e., racial bias, etc. Are these programs effective? How about costs? What are the problems and benefits of drop-outs. What are retention rates and what significance do they have in assessing these and other treatment programs.

13. What are therapeutic communities? How do they differ in treatment and ideology from methadone maintenance programs? How does Synanon differ from other TC's? How are TC's staffed, what is their "program?" Retention rate? Cost? Effectiveness? Do the same review for Out-patient drug free programs. Do the same for Alcoholics Anonymous. What is the history of this organization? How has it changed over the years? What is meant by the twelve steps?

14. Which program is the best? What works? What general conclusions about treatment programs does Goode offer?

15. What are the practical, political and ideological differences which distinguish those relatively in favor of and those relatively opposed to drug testing? How is testing done? In what types of jobs and in what employment circumstances is testing most likely. Where are the most significant problems in instituting drug testing. What is the cost of testing (social and financial)? How accurate are the tests? What are the problems?

16. What distinguishes primary-secondary and tertiary prevention programs? What has been the history of drug education in the USA? What is cognitive education? affect-centered education? Values clarification? Social inoculation? What have been the problems with these programs? Successes? What is significant about William Bennett's book, What Works: Schools Without Drugs? What would seem, at least for Goode, to be a viable goal for education programs? Why? What are the current trends signifying about drug educations immediate future in the USA? Why?

17. Review the TOPS and Datos studies. What were their findings?

Chapter 15 - Legalization, decriminalization, and harm reduction & Lecture notes "Education and intervention" & "Drugs, law, and the future"

1. What have been the significant legal events surrounding drug use in the USA during the Twentieth Century? What has been their impact on use and abuse?

2. What are the three models of drug policy that are part of out debate today? What do they imply about drug use, abuse and the social response to use and abuse?

3. What have been the problems with the "crackdown" on drugs; What are some arguments against prohibition? Focus on the USA's role in intervening in the affairs of other countries (see lecture notes, also Szasz on this point)? What is the probability of controlling drugs at their source? What is the push-down/pop-up problem? What are the problems involved in controlling the distribution of drugs within our own country? (See also Nadelmann's article in the Inciardi reader, pp. 464-474)

4. What is The Law of Criminal Justice Thermodynamics? How does it relate to understanding the enforcement of anti-drug laws in the USA. What are the problems entailed in "expanding the net of law enforcement?"

5. What is the difference between legalization and decriminalization?

6. What are the assumptions that lie behind the arguments for legalization and decriminalization? (What's the difference between the Apollonian and Dionysian views of human beings? What's Goode's position here? Yours? Why?) What is the rationale behind these assumption? (Be sure to include Szasz's perspective in you review)

7. What are the arguments against legalization/decriminalization? How does the information we have about the medical professions use of drugs apply to this analysis?

8. What are some issues to consider when evaluating whether drug use will increase under legalization? How would human nature, drug use and effects, the hassle factor, and continuance rates affect an increase in use?

9. What are the fallacies behind heroin maintenance? Does this mean that our current policies concerning heroin are appropriate?

10. How does the Apollonian-Dionysian distinction impact the issue of heroin/cocaine decriminalization? What would be some of the potential problems with the legalization/decriminalization of these two drugs? What's the difference between focusing on rate vs. absolute numbers of cases in discussing potential effects.

11. What are Goode's arguments for the decriminalization of marijuana?

12. What are the practical problems of legalization/decriminalization? (regulation, who sells, to whom?)

13. What is the implicit contradiction concerning government regulation that legalizers seem to ignore?

14. What does Goode mean by his idea of containment and harm-reduction? What is the rationale behind this proposal? What kind of policy proposals would it entail? Does this idea seem rational?

15. What are the trends in national policy towards drugs? Does it seem reasonable to expect significant change along the lines Goode presents in the foreseeable future? Why or why not? (See also Reuter's article in the Inciardi reader, pp. 474-484)

16. Be familiar with progressive legalizers and progressive prohibitionists.

17. Be familiar with the relationships between ideology and legalization.

P.S. Keep in mind that this is just a study guide, and answering questions on a study guide is always easier than answering questions on a test. So don't neglect a complete review of your notes or a careful read of all the pages you skipped in the book.

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Last Updated: Monday, April 3, 2006 12:36 PM