The need for better data and data collection systems to elaborate on the drugs/violence nexus was the primary impetus for the DRCA-H project, since Uniform Crime Reports, the National Crime Survey, and medical examiner data are not sufficient to determine the drug relatedness of homicides. The DRCA-H data anaylsis is structured by both a tripartite explanatory framework and a tripartite reporting framework. The tripartite explanatory framework suggests that drugs and violence may be related in three different ways: psychopharmacologically (violent behavior induced by drug ingestion), economic compulsivity (homicide in the context of efforts to obtain money for drugs), and systemically (homicides in the context of the drug trafficking subculture). This reporting framework suggests that there are three types of knowledge available to police officers that enable them to determine whether a particular homicide is drug related. This study examined the records of all police departments in New York State, including the State Police, which reported at least one homicide in 1984. A major finding is that in 1984, police departments throughout the State did not maintain records pertaining to the drug relatedness of homicides. Much more needs to be known about the complex interaction between drugs and violent crime. For the full report, see NCJ 111510.
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