NCJ Number
169964
Date Published
1996
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This report assesses the immediate outcomes or short-term results of North Carolina's drug task force activities during the period 1989 to 1992 and summarizes the overall effectiveness of that policy in reducing drug-related crimes.
Abstract
The report also summarizes the overall impact that drug task forces have had on the criminal justice system, particularly in the context of the overcrowded conditions of the State's correctional system and the legislated "cap" on the State's prison population. From 1987 to 1993 the North Carolina Governor's Crime Commission awarded more than $14 million to local law enforcement agencies to establish and maintain local multijurisdictional drug task forces all across the State. The intent of this interdiction strategy was to disrupt illicit drug supply networks and arrest, convict, and incarcerate drug dealers and traffickers, while at the same time seizing and confiscating the illicit drugs as well as the assets or profits of the illegal drug operation. During this period of intensive funding of drug task forces, the number of drug arrests, case filings, and admissions to prison statewide increased substantially. This period of rapidly increasing workload for the criminal justice system coincided with the imposition of a limit on the prison population by the North Carolina General Assembly. The "prison cap" combined with this surge in admissions meant that the average time served for many nonviolent offenders, including drug offenders, declined markedly. While the average time served was declining, the recidivism rate for all inmates, particularly drug offenders, increased steadily. Thus, although the multijurisdictional drug task forces apparently achieved their immediate and intermediate outcome objectives, their long-term effect on the supply of illicit drugs and on drug-related violent crime was marginal at best. In fact, it could be argued that with the "cap" on the prison population, making this interdiction strategy such a high priority and the arrests and case filings it generated may have been counterproductive. By incarcerating more offenders while reducing the amount of active time served, this initiative may have had a criminalizing effect on a particular segment of society. In accordance with the results of this impact assessment, the Governor's Crime Commission has adopted funding priorities with a more holistic perspective and has implemented more comprehensive initiatives to reduce crime and improve the criminal justice system. 10 figures