The increasing crime rates within the United States necessitate implementing measures that effectively address the issues exhibited within the country. The drug markets are one of the main areas that need addressing. The growth of the sale of drugs within the street markets and especially the sale of hard drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, and heroin necessitated the development of a strategy on understanding the drug problems to ensure that effective interventions can be established based on the information that is received from the research. Therefore, the article analyzed in this paper focuses on developing thorough understanding research of the situation within the American streets relating to drug crimes and hence creating an understanding of this criminal problem within the American public.
The characteristics of criminal offenders in incarceration as a result of drug-related crimes are highly significant. Out of every 50,000 people charged with criminal offenses in the District of Columbia, 14,544 people are involved in drug selling offenses, while 9572 people are involved in drug possession. The research further established that the individuals were youths within the community and comprised fewer whites and females. The majority of these charged with drug offenses were largely young black males. Based on the research conducted on the correctional facilities, these individuals were likely to exhibit lower education levels and employment rates than those charged with other offenses. Drug selling is a highly profitable venture, with the authors of the article suggesting that it pays the individuals better on an hourly basis than other average jobs on a daily perspective. The earnings are subdivided into two main categories, which include the drug earnings, which is money earned from the actual sale of the drug, and the complimentary earnings, which are identified as the other additional earnings that a drug dealer or seller accrues in their regular work in addition to partially selling drugs. As such, the venture can be viewed to be highly profitable in terms of financial gains.
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The authors of the article suggest that drug selling is continuing to gain significance in the economic perspective within America. While most of the individuals involved in the criminal practice exhibit less education and employment rates, drug selling acts as their economic activity that boosts their financial power—most young black males living in poverty turn to the critical activities to raise some income. Many of those involved in drug dealing earn more than they can achieve in legitimate activities hence increasing the tendencies of engagement in drugs. There is a various model that the researchers developed to strive and explain why the drug markets are gaining much significance among the public and why the earnings were that high for a practice that is deemed largely illegal and criminal. One of the main explanations is the risk factor associated with the process. Most drug users and dealers exhibit violent behaviors due to the impact of the drugs. This creates a risk of injuries to the dealers. This, coupled with the risks of homicide associated with the sale of such illegal substances, necessitates the increase in payments for those involved. Another contributing factor is the demand for drugs such as marijuana and cocaine have become popular within the market. Those classes of users to who the dealers accord more special treatment; for example, the affluent and regular users are provided with drugs in less hazardous areas than the less affluent users. This, coupled with other factors that include the high demand and the addictive tendencies of the drugs, is likely to raise the cost of drugs to the users hence creating a large pool of finances to pay the dealers. As such, the demand for the drugs, together with a minimal or limited supply of the drugs, is a major factor resulting in the increasing financial power of the drugs within the economic framework.
While the drugs have been identified to have significant adverse effects on the users and sellers, it is largely contributing to the creation of financially stable households among the young, poor, and poorly educated District males. The drug sellers can be classified into two, including occasional sellers, who sell drugs at most one day per weak, and the regular sellers, who sell drugs more than one day per week. This classification helps to ensure that the researchers identify the significance of the sale levels in conducting the research. Based on the interview and observation, more than three-quarters of the people charged with selling drugs are regular sellers, while only a quarter are occasional sellers. This indicates that the regular sellers are at a higher risk of being arrested than the occasional sellers due to various factors, including the exposure time to the illegal activities. Another factor is that those charged with occasional drug selling are likely to be offered probation compared to the regular drug sellers. This statistic indicates that the percentages of persons incarcerated with drug selling and dealing cannot be sued to reflect the violation of drug-related laws within the public. There is a significant number of occasional sellers to whom the public is exposed, hence creating vulnerabilities in addressing drug-related crimes. Policy development is one of the critical elements that can be used to ensure that the situation is curbed and the drug crimes addressed. By developing effective policies to curb the issues of taxation and unemployment rates, the government can address the issues of poverty and hence create an opportunity for the young people to embrace lawful approaches to boosting their financial stability hence help mitigate the drug dealing and selling processes.
Evaluative Criticism
The research makes significant contributions to the understanding of drug-related crimes within the community. It contributes to understanding the structure of the population involved in criminal activities and the characteristics of this population. With this information, it becomes significantly easy for the policy developers and other key stakeholders to handle the issue to ensure that drug dealing is addressed effectively. The research further establishes the triggers and motivators of the activities. It finds out that the high income earned by those involved in selling the drugs coupled with the poverty levels and poor education arere-key contributors to the increase in drug-related offenses. There is a need to address the wealth disparities, promoting an effective society that is free from drug dealing and selling activities that are largely criminalized. While the criminal justice system may use incarceration as a mechanism to address the issue, there is a need for a better approach that ensures arresting those involved; are helped to attain complete rehabilitation. From the research, it can be seen that most of the occasional drug dealers are within the community due to low incarceration rates of this category and the provision of probation terms to the offenders. The research, therefore, presents a perspective that can be used to understand this critical area in criminal justice and hence promote functionality within the society.
The research mechanisms contribute significantly to the validity and reliability of the data. While the research uses a specific sample in this case taken from the Colombia District, the approaches used are efficient in promoting the findings and therefore aid in making valid and reliable conclusions. The primary data collected from the Pretrial Services Agency and the researchers' interviews contribute to providing essential raw data that the researchers utilize in drawing their findings and conclusions. The secondary sources in this case range from research conducted by other agencies in the past and existing literature. This information contributes to understanding the theoretical models that can be used to justify and provide explanations to the researcher. However, although the research methodology is effective in addressing the needs of the study, there is a need to integrate more secondary sources in the discussion to ensure that the researcher can develop an understanding of the past research hence understand how it can affect the process of developing the study. Secondary sources, in this case, for example, would help to further address the element of disparities that exist among the society hence justifying the characteristics of drug crime offenders as found out in the research.
While the research makes significant contributions in understanding drug dealing as an element of criminal justice systems, there are areas that it fails to address. The research makes a shallow suggestion on the risk factors associated with drug dealing. There is a need to establish an understanding of the earnings versus risk factor on the psychology of the drug dealers hence establishing how these elements influence those involved in drug dealing. Another area of importance is providing recommendations to various stakeholders, which can be used to develop and implement strategies to curb the issue. Incarceration is one of the main responses from the government discussed within the article. However, the researchers identify that the approach is not highly effective but fails to present viable solutions. By including a sense of viable solutions to the research, the authors can conclusively play a critical role in promoting criminal justice and addressing the research topic more extensively and conclusively.
Conclusion
Drug-dealing criminal activities have increased significantly in the recent past. While the government and criminal justice system in America have put in efforts to address the issues, the research develops significant contributions in aiding understand the drug selling business in the American street drug markets. The article seeks to find out through examination of primary data and the use of interviews, why this industry is highly attractive and the logistics of the industry starting from the sourcing of the drugs, the characteristics of those involved, the earnings and risk factors of the trade and the motivations to those involved in selling the drugs. The research effectively uses primary data sources to provide the real picture of the situation but has shortcomings in that it fails to provide solutions that are viable to address the criminal justice problem identified.
Questions
The reading acts to address various issues in the drug market. The research questions addressed in the reading are:
What are the characteristics of the drug sellers and how do this characteristics explain the operations within the market?
How are the risk factors associated with drug dealing influence the earnings made by the persons involved in the activities?
How do the drug dealers, both regular and occasional sellers, establish the markets for the drugs?
What are the possible solutions that can be instituted to ensure that the sale of drugs is minimized among the involved population
